President Obama's Reaction to the Oil Spill

People	Objects	Activities
President Obama	It looks like there is a map of the United States behind President Obama.	Obama looks worried and upset.
From looking at the picture it looks like there are officials in front of Obama and they just told him about the oil spill and this was his reaction.	The map looks like it has points of locations on the map showing where the BP oil spill is at.	His hair is graying and he looks stressed.
There are, obviously, news reporters around trying to get his first impression of the incident.		Looking at the last picture and looking at this picture is a big difference because it looks like he found out and automatically went to help deal with the problem.

1.        I would infer that President Obama is stressed, he is worried about his country, and he knows that this is going to hurt his presidential campaign.

2.       From looking at the title of the article and looking at this picture and the one before I would ask why President Obama did not get credit for going to Alabama to help and going to deal with the problem as soon as he found out? I also want to know what was going through his mind when he found out about the oil spill.

Which picture gives you more confidence in the president's leadership abilities? Why?

The first picture makes me feel more confident about the president's leadership abilities because he looks happy and he looks confident. I would rather have a president who looks like he can conquer the world than to have a president who constantly looks stressed.

Obama Takes On Oil Spill

People	Objects	Activities
President Obama	There is a ferry in the background and they just got off the ferry.	This picture makes him look confident and at ease.  He looks like he is going to be able to take on the struggle with the oil spill.
Obama is surrounded by 8 people. There are also some crew members on the tower taking watch.	There is a crane in the background supporting something I would think.	The men look like they are discussing a matter with the oil spill.  Some look happier than others.
Obama is also surrounded by BP workers. I would think they are high office corporate men.	The American flag is flying high on the ship.  Makes the picture look really good because of the president looking so confident.	The men are walking with confidence as well. Makes them look like they can handle anything and everything.
It looks like President Obama is being followed by some news reporters too in the back staying away from the action but still there to listen about the gossip.	The tower in the back has crew members taking guard since the president was just on board.	The men could be going to a meeting or a news briefing on the oil spill.

1.       This photo makes me infer that President Obama is standing strong on the BP gas spill and he can go anywhere and be able to communicate through a problem regardless of the audience.  It shows that he is strong and that he loves America.

2.       The title and the picture show that Obama is ready for anything and can take on the hardships that face him as the United States president. I would ask why anyone would say something negative when he looks so calm and ready to deal with anything?

Art is Important and Necessary

Quote:

The language of art has become the next literacy-or the fourth R. We need not linger any longer over whether art should have a permanent and central place in our school curriculum. It should, and we need to move quickly to prepare students to be literate in the world that they are inheriting and rapidly shaping.

Response:

I really like this quote and I completely agree with it because it shows just how strongly Ohler feels about art being in the school curriculum. If these children are not presented with art in schools, they will not know how to let their creative side out.  If there is no creativity then cities and towns will look the same because architects are not going to WANT to make the buildings appear different. I feel like even though not everyone can be a famous artist, they should have the time and place to put anything they desire on a piece of paper and it be considered art to them.

Resource:

• Ohler, J. (2000, October). Art Becomes the Next R. Educational Leadership Magazine, 58, 16-19. Retrieved September 24, 2011, from https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vCKbHYY-gzXtLXnLak8i_hoV7TPAOfxNIamNrkWW3Pc/edit?pli=1#

Additional Resource:

I chose this picture because I felt like it was a good way to show that students really do like art and enjoy it.  If these students did not have art in the school curriculum, do you really think students would express themselves in a safe way?

Resource:

Bartolomei, K. (n.d.). Memorial Day Themed Sunday School Lessons for 4- & 5-Year-Olds | eHow.com. eHow | How to Videos, Articles & More - Trusted Advice for the Curious Life | eHow.com. Retrieved September 24, 2011, from http://www.ehow.com/info_11383701_memorial-day-themed-sunday-school-lessons-4-5yearolds.html

Digital Story Blog

In class we had to make a digital story of a teaching quote. In our story we had to explain our quote and what it meant to us. We could either do a text and music story or a narration story. I chose to do a text and music and my quote was "Who Dares to Teach Must Never Cease to Learn".

The digital story goes along with the second ISTE-NETS about creating digital media to teach students about problems in the world. This allows students to show their understanding of a concept while using different types of media. The students can then personalize their digital story how they want to.

The students would be so engaged in these digital stories because no matter what happens they have to think about what they are putting in the story and making sure that the content is correct.  This allows the students to be creative and remember what they put in the story.

If I were using digital stories in my classroom, I would use them to make sure the students got the concept and understanding of history.  It would be a good way to see if the students really understood in depth how bad the late 19th and early 20th century was for America.  I would see if they could make up a plan on how to get America out of the depression and see of all of the different videos and the creativity the students have.

My Photostory

Digital Storytelling: Journal Entry #4

Quote:

As with any art form, digital storytelling continues to evolve to accommodate new technologies, purposes, and creative visions. The important question for educators to ask is, “What does digital storytelling offer education?” The answer is “a great deal,” if we do two things:  focus on the story first and the digital medium later; and use digital storytelling to enhance students’ skills in critical thinking, expository writing, and media literacy.

Response:

I completely agree with this because I feel like if students have someway to express themselves and it’s educational it makes it easier to learn. Doing the story books is such a great way for children to really express themselves in different ways. They can pick the pictures and the music and not have to worry what other people think because it’s going to be good and their own individual idea. The students would want to continue to make the story books because they do get to play on the computer and they have a new way to express their ideas.

Resource: 

Ohler, J. (2005). The world of digital storytelling. (pp. 44-47). Retrieved from http://www.jasonohler.com/pdfs/digitalStorytellingArticle1-2006.pdf

Related Resource:

This resource gives readers reasons to use digital storytelling and why it is educational.  It also explains about a philosopher who uses digital storytelling everyday.

http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/

Make Beliefs Comix

Would Changing the Spelling Really Work??

Quote:
"Benjamin Franklin suggested changing the alphabet, and Andrew Carnegie provided money for people to study the problem. President Theodore Roosevelt issued an edict in 1906 that gave the Government Printing Office a list of 300 words with new spellings: problem cases like artisan, kissed and woe were to be changed to artizan, kist and wo. Roosevelt was largely ignored by the G.P.O., and the matter was soon dropped."

Response:
I feel like this idea would have been completely worthless. Even today when teenagers use text language, I feel like it is the worst idea to change the spelling of the words to make it shorter or make it look "cool".  Eventually kids are going to have to bring up Word on their computer and use spell check to figure out how to spell a word if those different spellings are used everyday and multiple times a day in text messages. The words that Roosevelt wanted to change did not even sound like the actual word.  A z sounds different than a s.  It would completely change the rules of the English Language.  I am glad that they did not change those words.

Resource:

SHEA, AMMON. "On Language - The Keypad Solution - NYTimes.com." The New York Times - Breaking News, World News & Multimedia. N.p., 22 Jan. 2010. Web. 10 Sept. 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/24/magazine/24FOB-onlanguage-t.html.

Related Resource:

This article goes through the reasons as to why Roosevelt wanted to change the spelling of certain words in the English language.  His reasoning was that the English Language was too hard to read and write. So he wanted to try and dumb down the English language to make our society seem smarter. Somehow, that doesn't sound like a genius idea to me.  I understand that some words can be confusing but that also seperates intelligent people from the people who really need help in spelling.

http://history1900s.about.com/od/1900s/qt/trspelling.htm

Resource:
Rosenberg, � (n.d.). Teddy Roosevelt Simplifies Spelling. 20th Century History. Retrieved September 11, 2011, from http://history1900s.about.com/od

I'm a "K" Learner

By taking the Vark Learning Styles Test I found out that I am a kinesthetic learner.  By a kinesthetic learner, I mean that I learn best when I am actually doing something.  I prefer to go on field trips and have hands on materials.  To help me learn I make flash cards and play a game with it and that way I am quizzing myself and actually doing an activity. I do feel like the test was accurate because I am a hands on type of learner.  I learn better when I am doing a math equation rather than trying to learn it by someone doing it on the board.

Audio and Visual do me no good so I get worried when it happens.

Reflection: Wordle and Poll Everywhere

Using Wordle and Poll everywhere was a fun experience in class.  We all asked a question that we were curious about on Poll Everywhere and we turned our responses into a Wordle.  Wordle collaborates the answers into a nice creative pattern for everyone to see.

Poll Everywhere is a great way to get teen learners engaged in the classroom.  This teacher set up a multiple choice poll on the first day of school and allowed the students to use their cell phones to answer so that they got the full effect of Poll Everywhere.  Letting the students do that not only got them engaged in the lesson but it also let the teacher find out how the students felt about her question.  The students were automatically more prone to listen to that teacher because of that one poll. 

I feel like Wordle and Poll Everywhere are connected to the ISTE-NETS by almost every point.  These two programs allow the students to be creative and to let them think for themselves.  It gives them the feel for a face to face environment and also a virtual environment.  It collaborates the knowledge of all students because it is an individual poll and the teacher gets the honest answer from the students and not from the child's neighbor. 

Since I am hoping to teach a fifth grade math class, I would set up many word problems for the students and once they answered I would show the polls and show how many of the students got it correct.  I would also have the students set up their own word problems and make sure the students answered at least 5 of the word problems from their peers.  This lets the student explore the site and use it for their own.  At the end of the day I would set up an open ended poll and ask the students what they liked about the assignment and what they didn't like about the assignment and when the students came in the next morning I would have the answers put together in a Wordle for the students to see and we would reflect on the assignment and let the students really give me their opinions.

Is text messaging ruining our English? Double Entry Journal #2

Quote:
Although journalists tend to sensationalize the linguistic strangeness of "online lingo," quantitative analyses of instant messaging conversations and text messages reveal that abbreviations, acronyms, and even misspellings are comparatively infrequent, at least among college-age students. For example, in a study I did of college students' instant messaging conversations, out of 11,718 words, only 31 were "online lingo" abbreviations, and only 90 were acronyms (of which 76 were LOL).

Response:
As a student, I started texting when I was in the 7th grade and have been ever since.  When teachers say that text messaging is being put on our papers that are being turned in, I disagree.  When I say I disagree I mean that when you get older, you understand what is allowed on an essay and what isn't.  I'll admit, as a young kid I used the "online lingo" a lot but as you get older it gets really annoying.  The only acronyms I use anymore are "lol" and "btw".  I know this isn't the same for everyone but I do know a lot of people personally who hate to read text messages that have all of the abbreviations in them because it becomes difficult to read. I'm glad that there was a study done on college-age students because it really does show that students do not use the lingo as much as teachers and adults think. 

Reference:
Brown, N. S. (n.d.). Educational Leadership:Literacy 2.0:Are Digital Media Changing Language?. Membership, policy, and professional development for educators – ASCD. Retrieved September 4, 2011, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar09/vol66/num06/Are-Digital-Media-Changing-Language%C2%A2.aspx 


Related Resource:
In the beginning of this video the comedian is commenting on how he likes texting but he hates when people talk how they text.  I also find this very annoying and pointless.  It only takes a couple more seconds to say the words out loud.  It also could hurt your chances of getting a job later on if you would happen to slip a "lingo" word in the conversation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOXZhlbvcnE


Reference:
ComedyTimeDir. (n.d.). Text Talk - Comedy Time - YouTube . YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . Retrieved September 4, 2011, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOXZhlbvcnE 

My Wordle :)

My Poll

Click here to take my poll