A big thank you to all of the individuals who came together on this webcast on Wednesday, May 31, 2006.
Susan Ettenheim managed the stream for this live webcast at The Webcast Academy. Along with Susan, Paul Allison and Teb Lock hosted guests Bud Hunt and Chis Sloan. And if you’re counting, you will realize that when Susan tried to include Karen McComas and Richard Stohlman into our skype conference, we started having problems. Eventually Jeff Lebow from World Bridges and The Webcast Academy opened up a skypecasting room where many others could join including a student from Scotland and Harron Stone. I’ve edited out most of the skype crashes and other problems, but the sound quality is still not great in places.
The day after the webcast, Bud emailed me that he had “a blast,” and Karen told me that she “had a lot of fun,” so the connection happened. I hope some of the content comes through on this highly edited podcast. It’s half as long as the original, but I’ve left in a few minutes each time there was a crash because the process of doing these webcasts is one of the contents. Susan and I would like to apologize to Richard, Chris, and others who weren’t able to make it into our Skype conversation. We are working on a plan for including as many voices as possible, while avoiding crashes and drifting.
For more about what we were talking about, take a look at the post just below this one, and don’t miss Richard Stohlman’s response. There’s a lot there! Also, you can find links to the blogs, podcasts, and wikis that we talk about in this podcast on a list to the right.
Join us at the Webcast Academy (and Skype SusanEttenheim) Wednesday, June 7, 2006 at 9:00 pm EST for a discussion of these questions:
In response to last week’s webcast, Richard Stohlman wrote:
I am more and more clearly seeing the need for a separate technology class within a school…. as a sandbox for students to explore… [We need] a place in the day where students can experiment and socialize and maybe process. They need a class where applications become more important than content. Students need time/chance… to play.
This leads me to ask:
How does your school provide “a sandbox for students to explore?”
Tell a story.
Let us see this happening.
Can this be done within “core classes” or do we, in fact, need a separate class for technology.
What do you think of Richard’s description of a class where “applications are more important than content?”
Might this be a good definiton for the subject of English?
What about keyboarding, isn’t that a focus on applications?
How do we avoid teaching software when content is de-emphasized?
Shouldn’t all of our classes be places where students get “time/chance… to play?”
How do we find time for teachers to focus more on applicatons than on content? When do teachers get to play?
Richard reflects on what a refresing notion it is to see “students work as a resource for other students in other schools.”
Can you tell any stories about that happening in your school — with or without technology?
How does it help the learner to be writing and creating rich media for other students who are much like themselves?
How does it change your writing/creating process when you are presenting to an audience that is at least as smart as you are, maybe smarter?
In last week’s webcast/podcast, Bud Hunt describes a world in which each student has his or her own blog from k-12 and beyond! He/she would blog about math in geometry class and James Baldwin in English class, then we could collect these pieces together through using RSS feeds and aggregrators.
And yet, we also recognized that we wanted group blogs as well, perhaps focused on essential questions from different subject areas.
We decided that we had solved the queston, that we need both individual blogs and classroom, group blogs. We need group blogs that individuals and classes can dip in and out of, yet we also want students to get individual attention for their work.
As Bud invited in last weeks podcast, “Any software engineers out there…” who can help us resolve this individual vs. classroom/topic-based blogs problem? We’d love to hear if anybody thinks they have an intetesting take on this question.
If you listened to last week’s webcast/podcast, you probably had many other questions. Let us know what’s on your mind. Be ready to tell a story about these questions, and Skype in on Wednesday, June 7, 2006 at 9:00 pm EST. Just go to The Webcast Academy or Skype PaulRAllison (Susan Ettenheim will be out of town.). Join us this Wednesday at 9:00 pm.
I want to respond to some of what was said during the conference call tonight, and I would like to address the idea of a space separate from content classrooms where students can write and share and, yes, even play with technology. It seems to me that we are in the midst of a conversation that must at once criticize the current climate of our schools and find ways of working within in the models we have given to us.
Let me first complain. The system, as far as I know it here in Louisiana, is so focused on content and testing that we do not allow the student time to play. I think it is important for us also to remember that the classrooms we teach in are already partitioned rooms into which our students must pass and remain in order to learn one subject, separate from all other subjects. This is not “reality.” How many of us separate everything we do into neat little compartments never allowing for crossover? The classroom should be a place that holistically deals with the student. All connections to content are good connections whether that be at play or in serious classroom discussions. In an ideal world, I believe that the sandbox issue would be best utilized as a safe place for the student to express him/her self in any and every classroom. It is our undying efforts to assess everything that keeps this from being utilized effectively.
Real World: Since we must come to grips with the world we teach in, I assume that the best bet for students to believe that they have free reign to play with software and to write and share their thoughts in a safe place would be to have a separate time and space for the use of these programs. Our students are so programmed to believe that when I ask them to write about something that I will grade it, read it, judge it that they shut off their true feelings and write what they think needs to be heard. This is something that we must work toward correcting if genuine learning and true assessment is ever to occur in our classroom.
I will admit that I am a novice when it comes to the technology that was discussed last night. I do believe, however, that we must learn to embrace the idea of learning through play and begin to understand that the boundaries between content and play must be porous and permeable. Students should feel safe enough in every classroom to switch from one mode of operation to the other and know that what they think and feel is valid at all times. I see no clear answer to the dilemma for today’s classroom, but I love that I belong to a community of teachers who are concerned with such important issues.
In 2 Cents Worth » An Untold Story, David Warlick writes about a podcast (that I haven’t listened to yet–so many layers!) about an “award-winning Canadian educator, Clarence Fisher,” who:
left my Class Blogmeister classroom blogging tool and chose James Farmer’s LearnerBlogs. The interesting story is that he left for exactly the reason why scores of educators from around the world are signing up for Blogmeister. They want and need the control that blogmeister is designed to deliver. Yet, Fisher found that it was the control that was preventing classroom blogging from working to the degree that he wanted. Therefore, he switched to Farmer’s Wordpress-based blogging service for students, a system that is open, where student blogs immediately go public.
I too have felt the power of students being able to publish immediately to the public, yet I do hear stories like the one Pat Delaney told in last night’s webcast about Youth Voices Coast to Valley to Coast where students and teachers are more able to publish to the web because it is not immediately going out to the entire world.
One feature of WordPress that we might be able to use is the ability to password-protect individual posts.
I guess I’m wondering why we wouldn’t want to have more open systems for students. Why not use WordPress as opposed to blogmiester, elgg or other such systems?
My website includes my About Me project which is basic facts about me such as where I'm from, my favorite music, my best friends, countries I've been to, etc. My website also includes my Wonder Project (teens with eating disorders), my memory map (which links back to my description of my bubblr), and then my actual Bubblr which is about my first time in Athens, Greece. Hope you guys take a look because I worked pretty hard on it! *Nikki*
PS the link will be on Monday
<p><a href="http://blogs.writingproject.org/blogwrite265/2006/06/07#a1131">http://blogs.writingproject.org/blogwrite265/2006/06/07#a1131</a></p><p class="MsoNormal"> I see a school, about the same size as my school.<br />
Right now there are not many students coming out. But as time goes by<br />
more and more students are coming out. They probably all saw me, but<br />
none of them know me. Only some know me. At first I see some 9th and<br />
10th graders. But then 11th grade comes out. That's when all the<br />
"drama" starts. I know two 11th graders. But one of them I know well. I<br />
never go say hi to him. He says hi to me. Or else... I'm with my friend<br />
(I would never go to health pro. by myself), so he's comes up to us and<br />
he kisses me on my cheek and he says hi to my friend. I have 2 hours to<br />
chill. But my friend doesn't. So she leaves. So we're in the M15 bus.<br />
We go to <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">East 25th street</st1:address></st1:street><br />
and walk east. We talk while we're walking to the place he wants to go<br />
to. The weather is so nice. It's cool and the sun is out. We walk up a<br />
ramp and under us is the highway to F.D.R. There is no food there but I<br />
can smell the cologne on him. We go to a place that is near the water<br />
side. It's so beautiful. We talk and watch videos that are on his<br />
phone. One of the videos is a comedy scene. We both laugh because we<br />
know whats going to happen. <br></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br />
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br />
I, my sister, my mom, and my dad are on <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">74th Street</st1:address></st1:street> and <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">74th Avenue</st1:address></st1:street>.<br />
Were going to go eat in the Indian/Bangladeshi/Pakistani/ restaurant.<br />
There are so many people on the block. So many people are going in the<br />
restaurant to go eat. There are so many boys there. Cute boys. LoLz.<br />
Well, we're going inside the restaurant and we're eating. We finished<br />
eating, and then we go outside. Me and my sister walk pass this guy<br />
that we always see every week, but this time he talks to me. It's crazy<br />
because he never said a word to me. Every week I usually look at him,<br />
but this time he's looking at me. And he won't stop looking. I'm down<br />
the block and I turn around. And he's still looking.<br><br />
My dad usually takes the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Williamsburg</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Bridge</st1:placetype></st1:place>, and then from there he takes the exit to <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Roosevelt Avenue</st1:address></st1:street>. But for a couple of months that exit has been closed.<br><br />
When we go to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Jackson</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Heights</st1:placename></st1:place><br />
it's always cold, because we always leave the house late. But that day<br />
it was different. The weather was different and something else was<br />
different. I couldn't figure out what though. Oh nooooo......it's<br />
raining. I blew out my hair...LoLz. <br><br />
I hear Hindi music. But I hate the song they're playing. (Memories...)<br><br />
Remember that boy I was talking to? Well he not only was staring at me,<br />
but he said 'wassup'. As I walk pass him, he stares at me. An unusual<br />
stare. A stare......I LIKE. Since were in a restaurant theres food<br />
there. But mainly desi food. Which taste good!<br><br />
Since me and my sister walked together, she heard what he said.<br><br />
"Did he just talk to you?" My sister said.<br><br />
"Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I said<br><br />
"Oh crap". My sister responded.<br />
</p><br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><br />
<o:p> </o:p><br />
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br />
I see a bridge at the other side of the river. I think that's <st1:place w:st="on">Long Island</st1:place>.<br />
That's what my friend said. There's a staircase there and we sit there.<br />
He takes out his cell and he shows me a video of a performance he went<br />
to. It's good. I feel like throwing up because I'm so close to him and<br />
his scent is going into my lungs. I feel very sick and tired. But I<br />
don't show it. After a while we go down the stairs and there's a bench<br />
there.<br><br />
There is a woman and he child close by. There isn't any food there, just the smell of the water and his scent.<br><br />
<br><br />
I look at the time. Oh My God! Its 3:20 I have to get home in 40<br />
minutes. It seems like a lot of time but I reached my house at 4:10. We<br />
took the bus.<br><br />
Everyone was looking at us. But I dont pay them any mind to them. We<br />
weren't doing anything. (Seriously). He's just there talking on his<br />
phone. And he's drinking his diet sprite. He's cracking jokes. They're<br />
so funny.<br><br />
<br><br />
"My dad works in a restaurant and when a person comes in he looks at<br />
them and decides whether or not to give them a special sandwich that<br />
turns them fat.<br />
</p><br />
<p class="MsoNormal"><br />
OK, maybe its not that funny, but the way he said it made me laugh.<br />
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br />
</p>
<p><a href="http://blogs.writingproject.org/blogwrite265/2006/06/07#a1130">http://blogs.writingproject.org/blogwrite265/2006/06/07#a1130</a></p><div style="text-align: center; width: 595px;"><iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://bubbleshare.com/album/35057.11dfd19c126/mini?interval=5" style="width: 595px; height: 469px;" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9px;"><br />
<a href="http://bubbleshare.com/album/35057.11dfd19c126/overview" style="font-size: 100%;">This album</a> is powered by<br />
<a href="http://bubbleshare.com/" style="font-size: 100%;">BubbleShare</a><br />
- <a href="http://bubbleshare.com/album/35057.11dfd19c126/share#add_to_bl" style="font-size: 100%;">Add to my blog</a><br />
</span></div><br />
<p>I am leaving my apartment door. As I<br />
put the key into the hole to lock it, I see the words 7A. That is my<br />
apartment number. Now as I take about 10 steps east. I press the red<br />
elevator button. I wait about 2 minutes and walk inside and press G.<br />
This takes me to the ground where I open the door to exit the building.<br />
I now have to decide which way I go to get to the <st1:place w:st="on"><b>East River</b></st1:place>. I start<br />
out by walking east of <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on"><b>292 Delancey<br />
Street</b></st1:address></st1:street><b>.<br />
</b>I<br />
walk until I get to the corner where I see the first school I ever went<br />
to. It was my Head Start, Henry Street Settlement. I then make a sharp<br />
right where I then reach another location where senior citizens stay<br />
at. I could smell the heavy Old odor they carry ^_^. I then reach<br />
<st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Baruch<br />
Drive</st1:address></st1:street> where I see my friends<br />
also heading towards the <st1:place w:st="on">East<br />
River</st1:place><br />
for a baseball game. As I get tired walking towards Houston where I<br />
make that right, I stop at the Blue Truck to get e a Gatorade where the<br />
old school which was called P.S.97 is called BARD high School now. I<br />
keep walking north. When I get two blocks away from the baseball field<br />
at the<b> <st1:place w:st="on">East<br />
River</st1:place></b>, I look both<br />
ways making sure no cars are coming my way. As the 14D comes by I<br />
lightly jog across the street to go down the hill. I can hear the other<br />
people that had games talk about how nice they are. As I walk around<br />
with my Gatorade I then dump it into the garbage can. I could hear the<br />
Dominicans singing their little cultural songs as certain batters have<br />
to bat. As it is m y turn to bat up. I then see the pitcher look right<br />
into my eyes. AS the ball came all I heard was the dirty umpire scream<br />
STRIKEOUT. I want to hit him for screaming out a wrong call. I was<br />
feeling sticky from the hot humid air which didnt make me feel right.<br />
It was a bout 82 degrees. I was hoping that the rain came down. AS my<br />
team had won that game I made it quickly to my bag g where I got<br />
undress and put on my casual clothes. I had to hurry because I wanted<br />
to make it to Delancey where I had to take the J train too got to<br />
<st1:place w:st="on">Brooklyn</st1:place><br />
where I usually live. I then left the field el. I hop into a cab which<br />
was called Delancey Car Service. I feel very cool in here as the nice<br />
cold air hit me from the air condititioner. I could also smell that<br />
good leather which I was sitting on. As I was about to get out the taxi<br />
driver said out 8 dollares" which meant 8 dollars. I gave him the<br />
money and made a right where I walk down the stairs to the train<br />
station. It felt like a furnace in here. I took out my student metro<br />
card and swipe. It read that I had one ride left. As I walk down<br />
another set of stairs, I made a left then went up another set of stairs<br />
where the J train was waiting on the Platform. I took the right into<br />
the cart where I could feel that good air conditioner smell. AS the<br />
train went about 40 MPH. I then fell asleep and walk up just in time<br />
where I got to the stop I needed to get off. It was <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Myrtle<br />
Avenue</st1:address></st1:street>.<br />
I walk down the stairs with the heavy crowd then it left me on the<br />
corner of the street which was Broadway and Myrtle. I walk right to<br />
Styverson. I walk north until I reach Pulaski. I made a right on<br />
Pulaski and walk to my building <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on"><b>383 Pulaski<br />
Street</b></st1:address></st1:street>.<br />
I could here all the teenagers argue and they roll dices and win money.<br />
I open my door and notice the nice fresh air. I notice no was home so I<br />
got onto the computer where the monitor burn my eyes from looking at<br />
it. The END<br />
<p></p>
It's very warm and beautiful at the Yankee
Stadium. Many people are taking pictures of the Yankees symbol. The
New York Yankees are the bomb. They are the best. Many people are
eating hotdogs and drinking soda. There are many colors like green,
white, blue, red, black. People are singing that stupid baseball song.
I hate it.
Central Park
The
temperture is at the eighties and it's humid because it rained last
night. Many people are having picnics. People are eating sandwiches,
and hot dogs. They are drinking soda and water. There are different
colors surrounding me like green,blue,white,black,yellow and many more.
There is a guy with a boombox. The music is loud as hell. He's
listening to some hip-hop song, which I think is called Conceded. He's
bobbing his head. It looks like he's about to break his neck. It smells
like mud.
Home Sweet Home
My house is so fresh so
clean. It smells like vegetables. Music is coming from my brother's
room. There are many colors in my house like
black,white,yellow,blue,orange.
It's very warm and beautiful at the Yankee
Stadium. Many people are taking pictures of the Yankees symbol. The
New York Yankees are the bomb. They are the best. Many people are
eating hotdogs and drinking soda. There are many colors like green,
white, blue, red, black. People are singing that stupid baseball song.
I hate it.
Central Park
The
temperture is at the eighties and it's humid because it rained last
night. Many people are having picnics. People are eating sandwiches,
and hot dogs. They are drinking soda and water. There are different
colors surrounding me like green,blue,white,black,yellow and many more.
There is a guy with a boombox. The music is loud as hell. He's
listening to some hip-hop song, which I think is called "Conceited." He's
bobbing his head. It looks like he's about to break his neck. It smells
like mud.
Home Sweet Home
My house is so fresh so
clean. It smells like vegetables. Music is coming from my brother's
room. There are many colors in my house like
black,white,yellow,blue,orange.
Once you enter the place you see all types of rides and longer lines .
You walk right through straight to were you get your tickets at then
you keep walking through into you in the big park with all the rides
.You see all the colors of the rainbow because each ride is different
color that way you could located on the mapthey have . You here alot of
loud noises from the rides and kids yelling and adults because they are
scare on the ride or just yelling for fun . You see a lot of kids funny
a round ;like a bunch of animals trying to get on lines before they get
to long.
Then if you leave to go to Magic Kindom it's the same mess again the only difference is there nice and cute animals .
I go here every morning for school and I almost know everyone in the
school . Well it was a saturday when they took a munch kids to Six
Flags and we took a School Bus . The reason for thjios is because I
went to class on Saturdays to get extra help on math for the test we
had to taks and pass with a high score . If we went every single class
we got to go to Six Flags for free .
I met a friend on 14th Street and 8th Avenue, New York, NY. When I got
up from bed I recieved a phone call from my friend saying we should go
to Six Flags and I was really excited so I said yeah we should so then
we met up with eachother then we met up with my brothers girlfriend and
my brother wanted to come along to it was the 4 of us. Then we were
headed for New Jersey
I won Bart at Six Flags, New Jersey! When we were at Six Flags we
didnt know which ride to go on we looked around for alittle bit and
finally we found a ride we all wanted to go on which was the Nitro. The
ride was really good and I was getting alittle scared but I love
rollercoasters. It seemed like a long ride and I was dying to get off
because I had to use the bathroom. When we finally got off I felt like
I wasn't walking my legs felt so weird. After that we won some stuffed
toys they were so cute and I wanted to win spongebob but I didnt
instead I won Bart from the Simsons. We thought that weather was going
to be nice and it was raining alittle bit but it wasn't bad it was just
drizzling.
When we left we went back to manhattan we were so hungry we went to Mc
Donalds on 14th and union, we were hungry because of all that fun we
had so we sat down and relaxed and I was so tired because we had to get
up early in the morning to go cause we had to travel to New Jersey.
After eating we headed back home and I was so tired that I went to
sleep right when I got home I was so tired the rides wore me out.
Murderer!!!
Took my life
Ended it
Ok yeah i was suffering
But...
You killed me
Murderer
You raped me
Murderer
You gaged me
You hated me
You made me something I didn't want to be
Murderer
How do you feel now?
No remorse
Not a glint of guilt falls underneath those
Brown eyes
Those eyes that once gave comfort to me
Those eyes showed me love
Murderer
You killed me
No longer alive
Empty inside.
Murderer...!!!
How do you feel?
How does it feel to be...
You?
I know it hurts to be...
Me
With every step I die a little More
Murderer!!!
So how does it feel??
The Possibility of a draft is seeming like less of a possibility and more of a reality. The Army is stimulated by fewer and fewer recruits every month, and with plunging recruitment numbers all over the country it seems as though the only possible solution would be pulling our troops out effectively ending our occupation. According to an article in USA Today, a high-ranking military analyst was told that recruiting was likely to fall off a cliff in 2005, and it has. From 2004-2005 the Army signed up only 5,114 new recruits falling short of their goal of 7,050. The 1,936 person deficit is only a sign of further struggle for recruiters in 2006. All ready in 2006 only Virginia has met its quota for potential soldiers according to a story published by NPR.
I asked my class what they thought of the draft. The responses I got, on the emotional level, ranged from anger to joking, and from apathy to introspective thought. I wasnt really surprised to see that nearly everyone in my class was completely against the draft, outright. Only one of my classmates was for the draft. And when I asked the person why she was in favor of it she said, Its a necessary evil.. One of the most interesting responses I got was from my teacher, he said that while he wasnt necessarily for the draft he was, In favor of civil service. He said that he thought we owed something to society. Which brings up an interesting point. Do we owe our country our lives? Is it a matter of willing to die for freedom? Or is it a matter of having to die for freedom. Being entered into the draft doesnt automatically mean that you will die but the US is putting you in a great amount of danger and that seems wrong to me. Especially in a war whose basis has lost most, or even all as I am concerned, of its credibility in the . I may be persuaded to fight for my country if I felt like my life was in danger and my fighting against the aggressor was making my family safer. But Im not motivated to do so in the case of the war in Iraq. The war in the first place was without warrant, and none of my countrymen deserve to die for some bureaucrats ruthless search for oil.
I wonder why teens care so much about their body image. Throughout my research on this topic I learned a lot about why, and how teens try to change how they look. It was really interesting to hear the guys point of view becasue I pretty much know why girls want to look better.
"Worrying about how our bodies look is a real issue in our society. The average person sees between 400 to 600 ads per day, and one out of ten of them relates directly to beauty and image." sad and author from http://www.teen-matters.com/bodyimage.html. How would you feel if you had magazines, and commercials telling you everyday that you are not good enough. Sometimes it leads to anorexia, bulima and steriod use. All three of these things can have disatorious effects. The same website also gave me very interesting facts like, this year alone, a thousand people will DIE from anorexia nervosa.
Dr. Susan Bartrell from http://www.focusas.com/BodyImage.html says that "most models are thinner that 98% of American girls and women." I also learned that most teenage girls would list their appearance as one of the most important things to them, this is sad. Some reasons for this are pressures from boys, friends, and parents. Anywhere from five to ten million girls in the U.S.A. have an eating disorder.
"When it comes to body weight and shape, teenagers are one of the most vulnerable groups." says an author from http://www.annecolins.com/teen-body-shape-weight.htm. And Samantha Goldstein from http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/briefs/childrenshealth/hb says that "boys who perused fashion, health, and men's magazines were also more likely to take such products regularly, includin weight loss drinks, protein powders, and shakes, creatine, amino acids, and growth hormone, and steroid."
I learned a lot from writing this paper, not only about girls and our obsessiveness with our appearance, I also learned that guys care to, sometimes they care too much.
Unexpected teen pregnanacies and deaths occur quite frequently all over the world. The leading cause for early deaths and parenthood is drugs and the most common abuse drugs for teenagersis alcohol. When large amounts of alcohol is consumed over a short period of time the drinker makes decisions that they will regret later.
By reading articles and real stories I noticed that out of the five stories 3 of the girls in the stories were molested or raped. Usually these crimes can be reported but when the victims and their attackers are drunk or under the influence of drugs or alcohol, it is hard to report a rape because the victims and attckers were not supposed to be drinking in the first place and had no control over the situation.
After asking the class about their experience with alcohol all of them admitted to having a drink at least once. A student who I'll refer to as S. was drinking whiskey when his friend caught him and told S's parents. As a result S. lost his parents' trust.
In the school year of 2008-2009 the government and major soda companies have agreed to stop selling soda in schools. "This is a bold step forward in the struggle to help 35 million young people lead healthier lives," former President Clinton said at a news conference. "This one policy can add years and years and years to the lives of a very large number of young people." (http://www.libertypost.org/)
In my research of the freshman class 19/22 people believed that soda should be available for purchase. 16/22 people who believed soda should be able to be purchased at schools participate in physical activity daily. "Banning sodas in school? Where does the nanny type government end?" www.mclaughlin.com/ our class seems to agree with this statement from mclaughinlin.com. "I dont think soda is the main problem, said freshman Pat Thompson, the problem is all the deep fried foods they sell.
I found that the majority of soda drinkers in the country are 21 or older. Thats why major soda companies are taking their sodas out of school. I usually just buy a Gatorade, said freshman Ian White. What surprised me most in my research was that kids dont buy soda that often when I asked how often kids buy soda at school most of the responses were Once a month, Never, and every three weeks.
The president of the American Heart Association, which also argued for the change, says it's only the beginning of a major effort to reduce childhood obesity. http://www.wtvynews4.com
The government is trying to find a scapegoat for teenage obesity the real problem is the fatty chips and deep fried chicken they are selling at lunches, banning sodas in school is pointless its like trying to fill death valley with a spoon.
A clique is a small group of friends; usually ones that are much alike. Usually a clique consists of a "Queen Bee," and all of his/her followers. The queen bee can be very manipulating to all of the followers. I think that cliques are an accident just waiting to happen. Why get stuck in a clique when you could be friends with everyone? I think that a clique brings drama to kids. Like if someone isn't allowed to hang out with another girl cause they're not in the same group, then that will hurt someone and that can effect a persons life tremendously. "Yes, we're exclusive, but it's just popularity. Im the queen but i'm not mean. People exclude themselves. Nobody has the power to do that. I'm perfect and i'm not in denial." This is a passage in the book, Queen Bees and Wannabes. I did a study in my class asking what stresses kids the most and 3 out of 5 people said school and friends! I took this as a shock. I found that when you say somehing hurtful it will really impact someones life. I am not an expert or anything, but I am in highschool and I know what it is like to be in cliques or be excluded from one. For some advice, be kind to everyone and invite them to hang out. If you are going through something like this then you should read the book Queen Bees and Wannabes, you will find that the stories you read really happen today in schools all across the world!
My question was why do teens use drugs and alcohol. I asked the other students in my class why they thought teens used these substances. There answere's were all alike and had the same meaning. Some of these answeres were: "Becuase there influenced", "Because there bored", "To rebell against parents", "Cause its fun" and "To escape and detach themselves for something." Those were the most common said. People do drugs and drink, because it makes them feel good or erases feelings, but that's only the beginning. All drugs change the chemicals we have naturally in our brains and when the brain starts changing, adding to, subtracting from its own chemicals, that's a problem because those chemicals control our feelings and actions. I found this information at, National Children Coalition How do u know if someone that you know is using drugs or alcohol? I found this at Knowing. I also asked the studenst in my class if they knew anyone who uses drugs and alcohol, everyone said yes except for one. You can be influenced by your peers with drugs and alcohol. I found this at peer pressure.
Hello all of you! I have just completed my first website, and it is quite amazing. If you go to it, you can see the project I worked extremely hard on, My Wonder Project!. It was a very nice project, very easy to get creative with. They started as small prjects, short sentences, piecing together what we wanted to learn about. Little by little, using RSS news feeds and web searches, I learned alot of heroin and using my resources on the web. I really liked looking at the blogospheres because the opinions of people really shaped my project. I also found the invisble web very interesting. It was a shock to find a whole world online that I never knew about, and I'll be sure to use my new skills and resources for the future.
Visit My Website!!!
Love, Abeline
I first arrive at an airport and then I make my way on to a plane heading towards New York. When I get out I first see my father and I also see a car. We then get on the car and it starts to move and I hear my father saying something in spanish to the driver. As the car moves I start too see alot of people and buildings in the streets. As we get out I see a big building with a brownish color and we then walk into the building. I noticed that its hot outside. I hear alot of people talking outside and inside the building. I smell alot of food outside and I can see that people are playing the game dominios. As I go into my new apartment I wait until my father puts up the beds and when he does I go to it and fall alseep. The next day me, my father, and brother went out side to explore New York. We first went to the east river and we saw some red circle thing. I saw people running on it back and fourth and then later I found out that its a running field.
In Youth Voices a Blog site I came across these three different but
alike blogs about teens in trouble and things that teens do. In the
first two it was talking about smoking and drinking or abusing drugs.
The last one was about ditching school I feel real strongly about all
these topics and I responded to each blog. Here are my three
responses...
Dear Alex,
I enjoyed reading your blog about "Teen Smoking" and I personally think
this is a really serious situation. Because it turns out that a lot of
teens think smoking makes them look cool and others do it because they
feel they have to.
"Each kid said that they tried it because of curiosity and also that their friends were doing it."
In my school, we have people coming from all over every year talking to
us about smoking, teen violence, sex and alot of other things. They
always teach us about that first try about you'll feel and what not to
do when your in such a situation. I learned that when you try something
for the first time and like it, most likely you are going to become
addicted and that is where most teens problems come from. I feel too
many teens look at other teens who may be older or just more popular
and think their cool and they get this crazy feeling to want to be like
them. I asked one of my friends why did he start smoking and he said he
saw other people doing it and also because of depression and stress and
that sort of relaxed him when he was upset or stressed out or sad. I
think that that is no excuse? There is plenty of other things that can
be done to help depression and stress and even controlling your anger
but smoking should not be on the list.
I feel that I should do a survey in my school to see how many teens
smoked and there excuse for still doing it or done it. It would be
really interesting to get the info on all schools and maybe someone
could make a change.( stop selling cigarettes)
I highly agree with you when you said these strong words:
"Teens need to be careful of their decisions so they wont regret it in the future"
Thats what I always say about anything and its amazing to hear it
repeated. I strongly enjoyed reading your writing about teen smoking
and I look forward to reading some more of your things. I will be sure
to keep you updated on that survey, in the mean time you can visit my
site and respond to some of the things that I write about: East Side
Dear Madison,
This is another big problem when it comes
down it because I think that most kids do it because they want to be
accepted or there is something going on with them that they feel they
can't talk about so they use that as an excuse to smoke or drink or
shoot up. Then when they get addicted to those things they hurt
themselves and they feel insecure like no one can help them and then
they have no way of getting help. And though it may be true your peers
can have a big part in making you do something like drugs or drinking
but in the end it is your decision to do it or not. In the end if you
do end up doing it then there is no one to blame but yourself because
you chose to take that one sip that turned into a problem or you chose
to get that one high that started the whole thing for you.
I think that as soon as you do that there is no going back because it's
stuck with you for life and there really isn't much you can do because
then that addition takes over your life you feel like you need that
thing all the time when all that is really your brain telling you that
you do but you don't. I can't wait to keep reading more on what you
guys write because it was really informing and gave me information on
things I didn't know that much about. So THANKS A BUNCH!
can't wait to hear more from you.
-Bernadette NEW JOURNALISM 2008 -
Dear Luigi,
I liked your blog about WHY ARE KIDS
DITCHING SCHOOL because one I think that this is a really serious
subject. Kids just don't go to school any more and they don't feel like
going and they think that that is a good enough excuse. I think if
you're not dying on your death bed or have the flu or some other
contagious disease then why aren't you in school trying to learn so you
can make something of yourself. Even if they are ditching to stand up
for the rights of the immigrants that still is no reason for you not to
be in school do that after school or on the weekends but make sure you
get your education because then you will never amount to anything more
then a cashier at McDonalds what kind of job do you think you're going
to get if you only have a high school degree or worse are a high school
dropout. I know what most kids are thinking "I'm only gonna ditch one
class." then one class turns into two and two turns into all and then
you just don't go to class any more then you drop out of school because
you don't wanna deal with it any more. I think that this is something
that you should go deeper into and keep researching and maybe our
classes could do a thing together and compare our results with the
number of kids who ditch school on a regular basis just because they
don't feel like going. This blog really made me think and I can't wait
to see what else your class does because I think you are touching base
with some serious issues that are not really being thought about. SO
keep up the GOOD work!
I can't wait to read more.
-Bernadette NEW JOuRNALISM 2008-
Thank you for listening to or reading my responses I hope that you enjoyed it. You can visit these websites. Youth Voices and East Side BLoggers 2008.
I have visited Youth Voices Coast to Coast: NYC and Utah page and
responded to 3 different news items that you should really pay
attention to. One of then was about people not realizing what they need
in their community. Even if it's just about a new stadium that a team
might need. That's what Seth wrote about and from my point of view I
feel that it's important. (Seth wrote it.) Another topic I feel should
get some props is about teen smoking, because teen smoking needs to be
taken seriously. Props Alex, very good topic that needs to have
something done about it. Last but not least, Dan's writing about banned
sodas in school needs to be recognized. They need to stop selling
fattening foods and realize the main cause of obesity. Here are my 3
response.
Hello Seth,
I just finished reading your writing about is there going to ever be a
real Real stadium? Now you got me asking the same questions. Their
could be a couple of problems with this. These are my opinions. The
community or the person in charge of this type of thing may not have
enough money to build it. Maybe its out of their wage. Another reason
could be is they don't have the time. They could be working on
something else in the community that may be more significant to the
community. ( Or fit their profit) Another possible reason could be that
no body is paying attention to how much the team really needs the new
stadium. It could be very possible.
I agree with you when you say:
"Right now Real is not doing well, but with their stunning win over last years MLS champions, that all might change."
Anything can happen so I am glad that you aren't getting your hopes
up.Sometimes I do but then I find a way to stop thinking like that and
have some faith.
I also agree with you when you say:
"most people liked the team despite their setting the winning drought record for the MLS."
Nobody's perfect and everybody makes mistakes. I cant think of team
that I know of that has won every game or even ALWAYS started out
strong and ended strong.
I really enjoyed reading your writing because I really like baseball
and its interesting to hear thoughts about the topic. Maybe sometime,
you could respond to things that I write on my school web page: East Side
Dear Alex,
I enjoyed reading your writing about Teen Smoking and I personally think this is a really serious situation.
"Each kid said that they tried it because of curiosity and also that their friends were doing it."
In my school, we have people coming from all over every year talking to
us about smoking, teen violence, etc...and they always teach us about
that first try. I learned that once you try something for the first
time and like it, most likely you are going to become addicted and that
is the majority of problems with teens today. I feel too many teens
look at other teens and think their cool and they get this crazy
feeling to want to be like them. I asked one of my friends why did he
start smoking and he said he saw other people doing it and also because
of depression. Do you agree with me that that is no excuse? There is
plenty of other things that can be done to help depression but smoking
should not be on the list. Just my opinion.
I feel that I should do a survey in my school to see how many teens
smoked and there excuse for still doing it or done it. It would be
really interesting to get the info on all schools and maybe someone
could make a change.( stop selling cigarettes)
I highly agree with you when you said these strong words:
"Teens need to be careful of their decisions so they wont regret it in the future"
Thats what I always say about anything and its amazing to hear it
repeated. I strongly enjoyed reading your writing about teen smoking
and I look forward to reading some more of your things. I will be sure
to keep you updated on that survey, in the mean time you can visit my
site and respond to some of the things that I write about: East Side
Dear Dan,
I just finished reading your writing about Banned sodas in school. I
really enjoyed it. I heard about this but I never really took it into
consideration. I never really thought about what really is the problem
with obesity today.
I agree with you when you say:
"I dont think soda is the main problem, said freshman Pat Thompson, the problem is all the deep fried foods they sell.
I really don't think its the soda because I have a friend who drinks
soda all of the time and isn't best or near it. I really do feel it has
to do with mostly the types of food you eat and how you plan your diet.
The soda adds on but its not the biggest problem or the main concern.
One thing that you said that I just now learned was:
"I found that the majority of soda drinkers in the country are 21 or
older. Thats why major soda companies are taking their sodas out of
school."
I didn't know that. I saw someone give their baby soda once,so that was a big surprise.
Overall, I don't think they should be taking sodas out, I think they
should take the fatty foods out. plus, most kids don't drink soda that
much.
You should check out my school web site and read some of the writing that I write: East Side
I think the most interesting thing about these 3 news items is that
they're all very important topics that may need to be discussed more
than others. I really feel that teen smoking was the strongest
becausethat's an issue that still hasn't been dealt with enough.
Overall, I like them all and that's why I responded to there writing.
Should gay or lesbian people be allowed to get married? This is a question that has rocked our country for years and years. People of homosexual orientation have been fighting as hard as they could to have the right, the privledge, to get married. Too bad they no longer hae this priveledge. Well they are still fighting and not much is happening...where to go from here? I decided to learn about this subject further by asking the kids in my class what they thought about gay or lesbian marriage. Most people in the world think homosexual equal rights for jobs is just fine, but for marriage statistics say otherwise. To my surprise, most of the people i asked were all for it. This surprised me for two reasons: 1) if most people are for gay marriage, then why is it suc controversey? and 2) in a generation of kids that love to use the words "gay" or "fag" as an insult, why would they be for it. well they should be, i think. In my oppinion i dont see why 100% of people are for gay marriage. people shouldnt be defending their tradiional beliefs but they should fight for love. if these people are in love why shouldnt they get married?
I read 3 news items on Youth Voices Coast to Coast this week. There are three blogs that you may find interesting. A student named Marc wrote a blog about my space. The next blog was about how people use drugs and why teens are using drugs and alcohol by a student named Madison. The last blog was about how some schools are banning soda from lunch time by a student named Dan. These students are from Memorial High School in Utah.
The blog that Marc wrote about really brought me to the attention on my space being banned from school computers. I think that most adults always put restrictions on about everything you can think of. They always take away sites that allow teens to chat online with one another. I mean there are some individuals that use sites like my space to promote drugs, violence and sex and I feel for some people's concern. Maybe the site should only be allowed fro teens who are sixteen and over then most parents wouldn't have to worry.
The blog that Madison wrote about really stood out to me the most. The reason I say this is because many teens are influenced by drugs and alcohol in so many ways. Family I think is the biggest influence for teens to start using drugs and alcohol whether it's a death in the family or a person in the family that does it and you think its okay to do because that particular person does it. For teens though it may be that they are peer pressured into doing it. They want to be accepted into the "cool crowd" or relieve them of stress.
The blog that Dan wrote about was really interesting. He writes about how his school banned soda from lunch time. The school complains that the sugar in soda makes their students sluggish, over-weight, and tired. When it's time for lunch I see 1/3 of our grade drinking soda at lunch. Most of my friends that I know drink juice, ice tea, lemonade, or water. Soda is way too unhealthy because it contains so much sugar. I agree with you that the fried foods are the reason why most kids in school are suffering from unhealthy disorders like obesity and diabetes. Schools are encouraging students to eat healthier in order to help them have energy to conquer their academic activities or physical activates.
Well I finished my three blogs that I've read from Memorial High School in Utah. You should really check out this site: http://blogs.writingproject.org/blogwrite265/ because there are other stories from students from Utah that haven't been read yet that probably is great to read and respond to. Well this is Miguel from East Side Community High School signing off and saying read those blogs.
<p><a href="http://blogs.writingproject.org/blogwrite265/2006/05/30#a1075">http://blogs.writingproject.org/blogwrite265/2006/05/30#a1075</a></p>We, as in Kathy, Danny, Damitisous, Abe, and me all wanted to go out to<br />
dance. It was at Seaport on the west side, to dance salsa. There were a<br />
lot of people there! But there was this really old guy dancing and he<br />
could dance better then all the other guys there put together. Danny<br />
said " Rosey go dance with him, he needs a partner." And me being the<br />
smart one started to hide because he was looking for a partner and was<br />
looking my way. " AHHHHHH Abe hide me!!" I yelled. It was fun. We got<br />
to dance the night away! Well at least from 5 to 11.<br><br><br><br>We got hungry and decided to left to get something to eat. The closest<br />
thing around there was Mcdoalds and no one wanted to go there. So we<br />
decided to go to 77 street to go to eat in BBQ's. We went walking<br />
really faster over there and ate our food. There were mostly of<br />
hamburgers with french fries, or rice with chicken and other stuff. We<br />
had a nice time hanging out , laughing, talking and yelling. But it was<br />
getting late and us people have to have our beauty sleep.<br><br />
<br> <br />
<br><br>Central park. It was around 1:30 pm. you couldn't see anything,<br />
hear anything, but you could smell horse poop and beer. You could some<br />
people running (who runs at this time of the day) and homeless people<br />
walking around. Kathy, Danny, Damitisous, Abe, and me. We were all<br />
there trying to get to the 5 train on the other side of the park. "Ay<br />
Dios mio, nos vamos a morir, yo tu vas a ver", that's what Kathy said.<br />
" Don't say that! We'll get out of here. Only have to try to find the<br />
road to get out of here. It could help to actually have lights around<br />
here" Danny said.<br><br><br><div style="text-align: center; width: 595px;"><iframe marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://bubbleshare.com/album/33914.adcf8d27856/854400/mini?int" style="width: 595px; height: 469px;" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 9px;"><a href="http://bubbleshare.com/album/33914.adcf8d27856/854400" style="font-size: 100%;">This album</a> is powered by<a href="http://bubbleshare.com/" style="font-size: 100%;">BubbleShare</a> - <a href="http://bubbleshare.com/album/33914.adcf8d27856/854400/share#ad" style="font-size: 100%;">Add to my blog</a></span></div>
Dominican Republic is the place to be, there I get to do everything I want to do it's always summer time over there, it never gets cold I get to listen to my favorite song because there nothing gets old I get to play in the beach everyday if i want eat and go to places its a lot of fun.
It was the end of 7th grade and summer vacation was beginning. I
got straight A's on my report card so my sister rewarded me to a week
vacation in Orlando. In the summer of 2001 began my first vacation to
Orlando, Florida. This place was filled with so much amusement and
attractions. It was like another New York City except its warmer and
has a lot more pools. Also it contains adventure theme parks for
families to enjoy their fun.
One of my most favorite spots in Orlando is Islands of Adventure.
This park was split into various islands of attractions and roller
coasters. I have two favorite rides that I enjoyed going to Islands of
Adventure.
Spider-Man 3D Adventure Ride was great. You go inside a car and you
wear 3D goggles. Throughout the ride, you encounter Spiderman�s
greatest foes like Dr. Octopus, The Shocker, The Vulture, Venom and
Mysterio. Once we fall to our doom, Spiderman comes and rescues us and
the battle rages on.
My second favorite ride was the Popeye Rat Barge. The adventure
begins when Popeye loses Olive Oil to his enemy Bruno. He kidnaps her
and Popeye follows him. We are on a boat and we follow Popeye to Olive
Oil�s rescue by braving through harsh rapids and bumps against the
wall. We also go down a waterfall and end with a big splash. I had a
wonderful time in Orlando, Florida. I went back to Florida the next
summer.
East
River: I see a bridge that I have to cross to get in the East
river see the sun beaming in and lighting up the whole park as if
it was a secret place the only music I hear is birds chirping. I see a field
where you see a baseball park and see kids and adults having fun. I hear them
laughing as if that was the best place ever. I do not smell nor do I think of
food I keep walking and when I stop I see the water and the sun reflecting
off the water.
Tompkins
Square Park:
I see tons of trees and they are all green trees and some falling but it's like
a utopia the only thing that would be missing is a lake. I also see four courts
where I see six people playing ball on the first court the other team look
frustrated. The second court I see only one person by foul line shooting free
throws by theres something in his eyes thats different from every one else
there is a look of determination in his eyes almost as if there was a look of
peace. The third court I see a father and son playing and the whole time there
playing Iam herein the father say to his son "you can do it". I hear
no music expect the ball hitting on the floor or the ball making that sound
after you make a shot.
School
Park: I see the sun
beaming down and kids boys and girls playing volleyball beyond that I see three
courts one single on and another one that is a full court. I hear allot of
laughter from the girls playing volleyball I turn left to see them
