High Standards

Now that the school semester has come to an end,  I have time to reflect on my classes and school work.  As I sit and think, I have come upon a grand idea about classes.  You ready for it?? 
I think that it is wrong to hold students to such a high standard coming into a new class.  You see, we have no idea, for the most part, what we got ourselves into.  Some of us read the course outline, which gives us only a very small bit of information pertaining to the course.  School has turned into "how do we pass?" not "how do we learn?"Students are so concerned with passing tests and getting good grades, that we really aren't focused on learning to an extent.  Let me explain my thinking.
So in my lifetime, I have never been a good test taker... I hate how people don't study and always get good grades.  I study constantly and can never seem to get good grades on tests.  But! I've noticed that I improve slightly in my test grades from start to finish of the course.  That's because we don't really know what to expect.  There's really no way to know what the teacher is going to do on a test or a quiz, even if they try to give you tips or information about it.  The first day of classes, we all sit around and do the same thing... We introduce ourselves, we may have to say something about our interests or etc, then we all go over the syllabus.  The syllabus becomes your bible in a sense because usually the teacher puts all the due dates, dates that we come to class or don't have school etc.  Everyone abides by the same grading system, and we pray to be at the top of that scale.  But how can we be held to the same standards of grading from the beginning of the semester to the end of the semester? The information is so new, we haven't studied the information before, we don't know what the teacher is looking for in our answers, the list goes on.  I don't think that teachers can hold their students to such high standards in the beginning of the semester. I think there should be some wiggle room with scores.  Take my Communication disorders class, for example, my first test was 3 chapters worth of information and I failed it.  Even though I studied, I failed.  That's very disheartening because you work hard and it doesn't pay off. But I work my butt off throughout the semester and me, along with my classmates, get more settled in and realized what our teacher wants from us; then we begin to improve.  By the end of the semester I am passing all my assignments! Now take my edu 106 class: "new literacies". I had no idea what to expect in the class, although I thought I was pretty tech savvy but there was so much information to learn! I was lucky enough to have a teacher who understood that we needed trial and error before we could succeed at learning.  
I think a lot of people would agree with me that the atmosphere has changed in school; we are trying to pass, not trying to learn.  
I hope this makes sense. Thanks for reading!   

Online reading comprehension

"Small Differences Matter: The DNA of Online Reading Comprehension" By Greg McVerry relates and differentiates our genetic code to online reading and traditional reading.  

The differences seem to outweigh the comparisons but that seems to be because not all students have had the time to be able to learn how to work with the internet.  I can connect this part of the article to another article we had to read about how people who live in poorer areas, never get a chance to use computers.  Everything is online now and if you are unsure of the computer and how to use the internet, then you may be plagiarizing and using non credible sources.  

Although, children who do have a background of using the internet still outperform those children who do not have the background; but are they going about it the correct way?

I think students learn by doing and by trial and error & "skilled online readers “manipulate and

mold information to achieve a higher goal” (Kaku, 2014, chapter 7, 24:26)."

For our maker monday challenge, we discussed how we would teach children about how to synthesize, analyzes etc online.  Our group talked about synthesizing online information.  We talked about how we used to have to do papers on a person of our choice and our teacher would make us use at least three references and then we had to do that awful peer editing and make a bunch of rough drafts before we could hand in a final draft.  This exercise, our group agreed, was a great for learning how to synthesize online data even though we all hated it as kids.  The kids learn to take info from online and in books and other places and read them, put it into their own words, then make it into a paper. But only after a couple times did we really get how to take information from all different sites to  make one idea on paper.  The peer editing part touches on analyzing other people's information to see if it makes sense or if they're just copying other people's information and not making it their own.  The more navigational and comprehension strategies the students learn the better they will get.

https://medium.com/digital-teaching-and-learning/small-differences-matter-the-dna-of-online-reading-comprehension-707d880959ea#.6w7a3l55s

X-Ray Goggles on Robert Walkers Bio Page

While playing around with x-ray goggles on the internet... it really made me realize how easy it is to manipulate anything you see on the internet.  Last week I was able to tell everyone I won the lotto (even though I didn't) and people actually believed me! It really made me think twice about the articles I read online now. This week I changed a bio page of a scientist and made him extremely un credible. Check it out!

http://amandahasiotis.makes.org/goggles/amandahasiotiss-remix-of-robert-walkers-profile-science-20

Grades; the good and the bad.

Lately on facebook I've been seeing a lot of my friends, who are also in college, posting articles about grades. A few articles I've read because I have been feeling down in the dumps about the grades I've been getting. I study so hard all the time for all my tests or quizzes that I have. Sure just like every other student I may forget about something and therefore my study time isn't as great as it could have been but for the most part I study like crazy.  There no feeling quite like the one where you think you did awesome on a test or quiz and then seeing that you failed. It crushes you self esteem. The articles I have been reading basically are trying to help students understand that a couple bad grades are okay. Things happen. These bad grades don't define you. Although it would be wonderful to be a straight A student... it's not always possible.  Students today are stressed out beyond belief, we work we go to school and some take care of their families, some have kids, you never know what other people are going through. "In a report by Counseling and Psychological Services, 51 percent of clients report working, with six percent working more than 40 hours per week. A full-time student takes 12 credits and should set aside six to nine hours to study for each class. Therefore, a full-time student who works a part-time job should spend 48 hours studying, about 10 hours commuting, 35 hours working and a suggested 56 hours sleeping every week. That leaves only 19 hours out of the 168 hours a week to socialize, maintain a healthy lifestyle and attend to family obligations." (https://news.fiu.edu/2015/04/surveys-show-increase-in-stress-among-college-students/86911). How are we expected to pay our way through college while being a full time student and leaving time for us to study and sleep? You see right above here the hours needed. That literally leave no time to talk to friends or eat. Our money is going to school, rent, car, phone, and then they wonder why there is a freshman 15. How can we afford a 7$ salad when there is a 2$ burger and fries.  ( I could get into obesity here but I want to continue with stress.) I've read a lot about suicide in college students because of the stress they're under. "“According to the American College Health Association (ACHA) the suicide rate among young adults, ages 15-24, has tripled since the 1950s and suicide is currently the second most common cause of death among college students…" (http://www.resilientus.org/college-and-teen-suicide-statistics/). How many more students have to complain, speak out or attempt self harm for us to see that something isn't right? The pressure to be perfect isn't something we should be striving for.  I want to learn and experience new things while I'm in college. I want to make more friends and do fun things when I don't have to work. I don't believe I should be tied up in my house, staying up till 1 or 2 EVERY NIGHT trying to get my homework done and study. And if I am inside studying every night why am I not getting good grades? I've decided... bad grades will come and I cannot let it bring me down. I will keep trying my hardest and life will go on. To students everywhere... Life will go on. It will get better!

Nepal has a female president !

Have you heard?

I just did.

Nepal has a female president!

I hope you're excited.

I think this is a huge deal because of Nepal being such a male dominated area. 

I know its always a big deal when female politicians run for anything in the U.S. 
Her name is Bidhya Devi Bhandari, 54 years old, and was the deputy leader of the Communist Party of Nepal Unified Marxist-Leninist and that she served as defense minister from 2009-2011.
I was reading up on her background and found out that  she is an advocate for woman's rights and passed a new constitution makes it mandatory that one-third of that nation's lawmakers be women. It also requires that women are part of all government committees. 
An Article says Nepal is a very male dominated place to be and woman are usually working in the homes or out on the farms. This is such a huge step not only for Nepal but for women everywhere. This could open doors for other places to finally take the leap for women to be in big positions in the law or even other jobs.  Bhandari won her election with votes of 327-214. Also, she is only the second person to hold this position since Nepal abolished its monarchy and became a republic in 2008.
Not only is she the first woman president for Nepal, but the first president since 2008!
I also read an interesting fact about her. It said that she was elected to parliament after her husband was killed in a "mysterious car crash". 
Odd...
Anyways, this gives me hope that the world is changing with the times and I hope its all going to continue to get better. 
Im all for change and equality so i'm excited!
woohoo!

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/29/452833992/nepal-makes-history-by-electing-its-first-female-president

"Social Network Sites as Social Learning Resources"

So, another reading, another day.  The thing I took away from this reading that we had to do, was the idea of the meaning of "friend". You can have friends on facebook and on myspace (which they talk about in the article), on twitter and tumblr and so many more social networking sites (SNS).  The definition of friend according to dictionary.com is "noun 1: a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard. & 6. a person associated with another as a contact on a social networking website We've never met, but we're Facebook friends." 

We, as a SNS generation has made it so that the definition of friend has changed the meaning to something that relates to Social Networking.  It directly relates to someone we could have never met but still connect with on a SNS.  It kinda blows my mind, you know, the idea that the Internet is basically a whole different world but its such a "normal" resource that we use daily... no hourly... whether it be for school, work or for personal pleasure.  I personally can find that I can be a whole new person behind a computer (in a good way because I'm really shy in person) and have these great conversations with people I don't know, but if i was forced to do this in person I might freeze and not be able to go into the kind of depth I would be if I had a computer, phone or tablet in front of me.  

This reading assignment also made me think of how easy it is for people to get bullied.  Its such an awful topic but I remember being in high school getting lectured on how awful cyber bullying is.  It was a new topic to us because we hadn't really used many SNS before but man, it was a scary thought.  They would tell us stories about people who had committed suicide over comments people say on their pictures or profiles and I just wished I could have helped those poor people out.  I cant believe some people can be so cruel.  I have to be honest and say that I never imagined that computer would be such a huge part of learning.  Since Ive gotten into college, all my homework, reading and assignments have been  online, finding new sites to work on and such so much going on.  Since Ive taken my new literacies class, I have learned so many new sites that I can do cool things with.  I have used thimble, blogger, with known, hypothes.is, pixlr, flickr, twitter (in a whole new way with twitter chats) and so many more.  Moral or my post is, the SNS generation has really changed the meaning of friend and the way we are learning. All we have to do is keep an open mind about the Internet because it can be helpful for everyone. (Which I have learned recently too) Also, do not use the Internet for mean or hurtful things because it affects people beyond belief. Lastly, check out everything that can help you become a better student, worker, teacher or person! We can build our name up and there is so many sites out there to help. 

Confronting the Challenge Reading:

In our reading, "Confronting the Challenge", on page 6 there is a sentence that says "Not every member must contribute, but all must believe they are free to contribute and that what they contribute will be appropriately valued." This part of the reading spoke to me because I cant count the times where I wouldn't contribute anything because I felt like no one would even acknowledge it.   I always think about how there is so many kids out there who don't speak up because they feel that they wont be heard but what if that kid has the answer to world problems like cancer, sicknesses, crazy math problems, who knows! Anyways, I feel it is so important to make everyone feel like their thoughts are welcome because if they're not then we might never have came up with computers or social media which our world revolves around today.  On facebook, your status asks you what you are thinking, on instagram, there's no limit on how much you can write, on twitter... well i'm not sure why there is a limit on how much you can write but you can still tell people what you're thinking! As I've learned in our class, there is so many sites that are out there to help you create anything you need. When I participated in a twitter chat about education technologies, the amount of resources they were talking about was endless.  It is very easy to use these sites to create a learning environment for students and other teachers, whoever the audience may be.   On the other hand, students could be using all these tools to help teachers learn as well. Point is, don't limit yourself and you can accomplish anything!

Commuter Commission Group Project

Hey y'all, check out our group project on connected learning about the Commuter Commission at Southern Conn. State University! #commuterproblems 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qJgdd48nQ7zuWYFcMGDhREsrngsFkANYkwmukDwmkrg/edit?usp=sharing

My first twitter chat

So my first twitter chat was interesting.  I was most defiantly a noob. I've never witnessed a twitter chat before, and it was SO fast paced.  I was waiting for 8 pm to show up so I could participate in the #edtechchat. I had trouble figuring out who was the mediator person but once it got going I saw who was posting the questions.  I introduced myself, but no one said hello back to me.  

It was really hard to keep up with all the posts coming in. Other people were talking about a lot of different programs that they use, some of them i recognized because we used them in class, other I had no idea what they were talking about.  And by the time I went to ask what it was, they had already moved on to other questions.  
Some of the programs they talked about was : Google Classroom (which I decided to go follow on google+ for fun) & Professor McVerry was there talking about thimble and withknown and hypothes.is etc:

I wanted to feel apart of the convo so I just added a quick thought:

There really was so many ideas, some of the questions they asked was:

 I was a learner in this chat because I was getting so much information from these other tweeters, I couldn't keep up! I was looking things up (like google classroom which I mentioned before) and I saw other people asking questions and exchanging info so they could talk more about the new technology being talked about.  I noticed a bunch of different types of teachers talking. Art teachers, tech teachers, English and math teachers as well.  It really opened my eyes to how many people use technology in their classrooms for learning.  
Since this was my first chat, I don't have any advice for if anything could have been done better or not.  I plan to keep looking for other chats just to see whats going on in the twitterverse because I never realized how many people used twitter as a resource.  
It was an interesting experience!!

Traveling

Greece:

Oh my how I want to travel to Greece... Ive wanted to go forever. I guess a big part of it is that my nationality is Greek, and look how beautiful that it.  Ive heard stories about how I have long lost family over there, it would be cool to go searching for them... even though I don't know the language.  I wish I can learn the language, but I've always had trouble learning a second language. I took Spanish for YEARS and still cant understand or speak it.  I would also love to go to Spain, I had a chance to go with my Spanish class but it was too expensive.  

There's so much history in Greece to see; Acropolis, the temple of Poseidon, and temple of Olympian Zeus.  The sculptures the museums not to mention the beautiful beaches with crystal clear water and white sand. There's archaeological sights and historical sights and even castles!

If you're into the nature side of things then you can see caves, waterfalls, mountains, lakes and rivers. The climate can be quite mild so that makes for easy travel. I would love to go and see these beautiful islands and wild life. I love to experience different cultures and places.  Not to mention the food would be AMAZING. My grandma cooks Greek food from time to time and I love it.  Lemon soup, gyro, lots and lots of sea food (that I cant eat because I'm allergic *sad face*) souvlaki etc.  And since there are many mountainous regions, the food differs from region to region.   

You can even hike a volcanoes, watch for dolphins and turtles and bicycle through forests.

While I was reading up on it, I found some essential information to know:

The best time to go is April- June, in the spring time. Their electricity is different, and they use euros for money.

Although, I heard the government is in quite a pickle right now so I'm not sure if any time soon is a good time to go, but I'm saving up now so eventually I can go and maybe find some of my family!

Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/greece#ixzz3mtBZkrsJ

My college geography class:

So as I am sitting in my class, which has 300 people in it, I realize I need to blog about this class. I have a great teacher, really he is very nice, but man this class is ridiculous.  He requires a book for the class (that we haven't used yet) that is over $150. Also he requires this online program that cost us $24.00 for a couple months.  And I want to talk about this program, because it has caused nothing but problems in this class.  

In our Edu 106 class, we talk about new technologies and all about using new websites hat help us create our projects and our class activities; none of which cost me a penny.  This program (I will not name) is useless really.  We all bring our laptops to class, sign into the program, then the teacher comes in and tries to get into the program as well.  He takes almost 20 min to get into the program, with problems signing in and with southerns Internet not working, plus students going to talk to him etc.  NOW, 20/30 min into this class, students are sill asking questions about this program (like why are we using this program) taking up even more time! 

Now this program that cost a bunch that I can only use for a couple months, is really only good for him to take attendance.  For the first couple weeks that's all he was using it for.  Next he puts some power point slides out, which was good... but we can only see it when he puts it up. We cant see it while we are at home. How are we supposed to study? He gives a speech at the beginning of class about how he has been working with the people at this program and now with the IT people at the school and etc etc whatever. I find it ridiculous that I paid for this program and I CANT EVEN USE IT AT HOME for some copyright reasons.  The only time I get to see the slide, one at a time, is when I come and sit in class with the book we haven't used.  

I almost feel bad writing this but some teachers do this and maybe if someone reads my blog post, they will realize that students aren't made of money, and we really do use the materials at home to study.  

Then I go back to my New Literacy class where we have used like 10 different sights already to do multiple projects and assignments that I haven't had to pay for and these sights are actually there to help me learn. 

Okay... end rant. 

  

Stress

Ive been doing a lot of thinking about what I want to do with the rest of my life.  College makes you decide what you want to do before you even get there. I find it pretty stressful that I had to declare a major, even though Ive changed it so many times.  Now that I changed my majors so many times, Im "behind".  Ive already done 3 years of college before transferring to Southern, now I have another 5 years to go! I could be have been a Doctor if I went 8 years of school. But all ill have to show for my 8 years is a masters degree.  Don't get me wrong, thats great an all, but I could have been done sooner, working earlier, paying back money that I owe etc.  
There's so much pressure on getting your life together as soon as you're out of high school. I have one word for that... stressful.  Anyways, now that i'm going to school and taking all these classes, i'm starting to doubt myself. I took a Philosophy class a while ago, and there was one Philosopher we read about who said that it was important to do every type of job to really know about anything. (Sorry I cant remember who said it) I feel like that is SUCH an IMPORTANT idea. As students we get a little taste of what jobs are out there in high school. We see what our teachers do, maybe we want to become a psychologist because that class was cool. Or some people saw that criminal justice was an interesting class so thats what they pursue... I think it should be mandatory for kids to get out there and really see what is out there. Do all types of jobs or intern somewhere to get a feel for it. By the time we are done with high school we should have a decent idea of what we want to go for in college. It would save people money, time, and get them into a field they are interested in earlier. All students need more experience and I believe this would help greatly.
Thanks for reading my thoughts today!

Its Complicated Chapter 2

In It's Complicated chapter 2 "Why do youth share so publicly?" There is a quote that says "There’s a big difference between being in public and being public" and I knew as soon as I read that, this was what I wanted to talk about.  Im not sure why, I just feel like its such a correct quote. 
I guess it goes back to the other idea that is mentioned about teens wanting to fit in. Doesn't everyone want to fit in? The internet is such a good place for this because you can literally find anyone who has the same interest as you. You can find any information on things that you like.  You can do almost anything.  But there are times where you think you are being in the public when really you are being too public, and that can be bad, or vice versa.  
Lets be honest, we have all done a little too much sharing but thats okay. We just have to keep in mind that anyone can see what we have out there. I like to think everything I have is private but who am I kidding, nothing is private. I just hope that I do a good job with engaging the right audience... I guess. 
It seems I have a lot of conflicting thoughts... theres just so many pros and cons to the internet. I cant make up my mind about it.

I confused myself writing this post. 

It's Complicated Chapter 1

So in our reading from its complicated, the first chapter "why do teens seem strange online?" was pretty impactful for me.  The story about the application to an Ivy league school from a teen who was coming from such a horrible background and how impressed they were but then.. they find his online profiles. When they were talking about how maybe he was doing it to keep himself safe, it brought up many feelings for me. Its awful that a child would need to do something like that to keep himself safe, but the fact that someone was trying to justify his actions was, in a way, comforting. All we hear is "be careful what you put online, nothing is private, its on the web FOREVER." And this is all true. BUT, finally someone who is thinking something besides "oh this silly teen didn't think he would get caught in a lie".  
I think we all have to be a little more honest with ourselves because everyone is going to say something that might not be completely true to get themselves in a better position. Im not saying this is right or wrong, I'm just saying that its going to happen.  
Everything is online now. EVERYTHING!  It's a learning process for people. We can be someone completely different then who we are in real life. We can find people who have exactly the same interest and hobbies and dislikes as us. How cool? But like I said earlier, its always about "be careful what you put online, nothing is private, its on the web FOREVER." We get it, I mean at least most of us do.  
I think its still a learning process on the do's and dont's of the interweb still.  
I don't know if anyone else does this but I get updates from Facebook that show me what I posted like 5 years ago on a certain day, and sometimes its quite embarrassing. Im sure in 5 more years I will think the same thing about what I am posting now. But like I said, Im learning.  We all are.  

Me, Myself & I

Hey everyone:
Figured I would try out this blog thing!
I have no idea how to blog or what to write about... So the easiest topic is myself.
My name is Amanda. I am 21 years old and studying Communication disorders at Southern Conn. State University.  I am a dance teacher, if anyone wants to come take some classes.  I teach tap, ballet, jazz and Acrobatics.  Ive danced for 18 years and did gymnastics for 10 years. I love working with people and children. Im not sure what else to say about myself. I hope this is a good start to a blog! {Cant wait to improve}