PLN27

"Dangerously cold weather keeps icy grip on Colorado"
By Kieran Nicholson

In the article "Dangerously cold weather keeps icy grip on Colorado" by Kieran Nicholson, it talks about how the cold weather is affecting people in Colorado and how we are almost cold enough to break the record. Over these past couple days the lowest the temperature has gotten was to -16 degrees without the wind chill put into consideration. The record low for this week was - 20 degrees in the year 1919, and the average temperature over the years has been somewhere between 45 and 17 degrees. People say they are having car problems in this cold weather because sometimes their cars just do not start in the morning, so that might make them late to work or wherever they are headed. Another thing that is being affected by the cold is people's electronics because one person said they left their Ipod in the car over night and that night it dropped below negative fifteen degrees! When the person got to their car in the morning their Ipod was too frozen to work and to this day has not been able to be turned on. Clearly, there has been some cold weather in Colorado over the past week and people are being effected by this in many different ways.

PLN26

"Public policy analyst calls for legalization to aid U.S. economy"

By Ben Kage

In the article "Public policy analyst calls for legalization to aid U.S. economy" by Ben Kage, it tells about how much the legalization of marijuana would help the economy. There were statistics done in 2005 which said that marijuana was the number one cash crop of the U.S. and it produced a little over 35 billion dollars in the market every year. The case of whether to legalize this drug or not still has not been decided, even though more people are opening up to it as a medical prescription. The doctor will give you a prescription for it if you have cancer or to relieve severe pain, in some cases medical marijuana halp breast cancer be fought off. This matters to people all over the world because if it was legalized then the economy would be able to make all of that money they are losing back, which in time would make the economy rise. People get put into jail for smoking marijuana which costs the city and government lots of money each year that they could be spending on something else. The article also showed that marijuana was better for people than smoking cigarettes because it does not have tar and nicotine in it. A couple of the major reasons they have not legalized it is because the alcohol business might crash and so would the tobacco companies. They should not legalize this because it might hurt people's academic scores if it has a long term effect on the brain and we would not want am irresponsible country if people can not make decisions that are good. Clearly, there is a big argument if marijuana should be legalized or not.

PLN25

"Usain Bolt Adopts a Cheetah"
By Associated Press

In the video "Usain Bolt Adopts a Cheetah" by Associated Press, Usain Bolt travels to Kenya and adopts a cheetah from a wild animal reserve. The three time Olympic gold medalist, Usain Bolt, traveled to Kenya not too long ago for a safari. While he was on his safari he talked about seeing huge bull elephants, tigers, lions and cheetahs. He liked the cheetahs so much that when a cheetah in an animal reserve gave birth to a cub the staff members let him adopt it. The fastest man in the world just adopted the fastest animal in the world and he gave it a very fitting name, Lightning Bolt. He makes a speech to some of the staff and the governor about how great his experiences were in Kenya including the people, animals and also the safari ride. Clearly, Usain Bolt fell in love with cheetahs while in Kenya decided to adopt one while he was there.

PLN24

"Browns would give LeBron a shot, if he is serious"
By The Associated press

In the article "Browns would give LeBron a shot, if he is serious" by The associated press, it says that if Lebron wanted to play football for the Browns they would draft him and give him a shot. There was a commercial for State Farm insurance and it showed LeBron getting drafted and holding up his new football jersey and then it showed him playing football but still having some basketball characteristics and then a man woke him up and said hurry up everyone is on the bus and it was all a dream. The Brown's coach saw this and said that if LeBron wanted to try and play in the NFL that the Browns would have a spot for him as tight end or wide receiver. Some people think that if he goes out and tries to play football he will get hurt very quick because you have to condition your body to take that kind of a beating and he would just get torn up out on the field. LeBron says he was not thinking about going to play football and that if was just a commercial he did. This matters to football because what if he was an amazing player and he went into the hall of fame or something, then people might get kind of upset since he switched from the NBA to the NFL. What would his basketball team do if he switched all of a sudden? He should not go play football because he would get hurt to easy and he is a great basketball player who can not just leave his team behind. Clearly, he will not go play for the Browns anytime soon, he is just equipped well enough.

PLN23

"Golden Burglar Makes Himself at Home in Victim's Shorts"
By The Denver Post

In the article "Golden Burglar Makes Himself at Home in Victim's Shorts" by The Denver Post, they talk about how a man was found in a house by the homeowner and the burglar made him self at home. Last week a man in Golden, CO came home to a white Lexus in his garage and the things in his house were all rearranged like someone broke in but nothing was missing. The homeowner went into his bedroom and got his pistol then he went down stairs and saw another man sitting in the homeowners boxers on his couch watching TV and doing his laundry. The man was held up at gun point and confronted by the homeowner until the cops got to the house. The police reports said that the man was proabbly there all day because the laundry machine was running, he filled up the fridge with food that he bought before he broke in and there were materials for making crystal meth in the garage. The burglar got 5 charges against him and is in jail for a $50,000 bail. This matters to people because what if someone else came home to this guy but he actually hurt someone or stole some possessions from them and that you should make sure you house is safe and locked before you leave. Clearly, this man felt like making himself at home for a day in another person's home and you never know what to expect from people when you get home.

PLN22

"Put Forth our Best Writing Selves"
By Douglas Hesse

In the article "Put Forth our Best Writing Selves" by Douglas Hesse, he talks about how texting and online chat with Twitter or Facebook may be ruining our writing skills and destroying the english language.

PLN21

"South Park Creators Build Eco-Friendly Mansion"
By The Associated Press

In the article "South Park Creators Build Eco-Friendly Mansion" by The Associated Press, it talks about how the creators of South Park made a nature house in Colorado. The creators had a house built in Steamboat Colorado where some of them could escape from their work and just go into the mountains for a while and just relax with their families or friends. This house is valued at a little less than 5 million dollars and was built in 2007. The house has a ceiling made of Fir timbers from a rail trestle over the Salt Lake and recycled carpet through out the house. It over looks Steamboat ski resort and the whole valley plus when you go outside there is even a Japanese tea house with sliding doors where the workers can go and relax by themselves and meditate or just think about things. Clearly, the makers of south park had a good idea of making this house eco-friendly and were very creative while in the process.

PLN20

"Keystone Opens With a New Bridge"
By Bob Berwyn

In the article "Keystone Opens With a New Bridge" by Bob Berwyn, he talks about how Keystone Ski resort added a new bridge at the base of the mountain near the gondolas. During the summer Keystone built a new bridge over the river at the base of the mountain and it does not sound like much but this is a huge improvement. The mountain biking there was awesome this past summer but since the bridge was not there people who were riding there had to ride about a mile on the main road that leads into Keystone. As you can tell this was pretty dangerous, but no that they have the bridge up it will be a lot safer and quicker to get back on the gondola. It would take a lot longer for skiers or snowboarders to come back on the road because there would be traffic jams and maybe even people walking. This relates to me because I got to watch the bridge get built plus I mountain biked there all summer with my team and we had to ride on that road going back to the lift a bunch of times through out the day and that was the worst part about riding there. Clearly, Keystone will be much more enjoyable for everyone since the new bridge was finished.

PLN19

"Eagle County Man Injured in Summit County Avalanche"
By Tom McGhee

In the article “Eagle County Man Injured in Summit County Avalanche” by Tom McGhee, a guy was back country skiing when he triggered an avalanche and he was partially buried and injured. He was skiing down Bartlett Peak in Summit county on Saturday with a couple of friends and they were doing back country when the 19 year old man dropped in, took a couple of turns and triggered an avalanche. He was partially buried when his friends found him and they called 911 who sent a flight for life helicopter to the scene to pick him up. All three men were certified in avalanche rescue and emergencies since they were avid back country skiers. They did not release the injured man’s name or the injuries he received to the press but they did say the avalanche was 65 to 75 feet wide and 500 to 600 vertical feet up the mountain. This matters to people who ski because it just shows how prepared the men were and even the best skiers can have an accident where someone gets hurt in an avalanche because you never know when one will be triggered, and a lot of people are starting to ski now with all of this snow. Clearly, anything can happen to the most prepared people and in this case an avalanche struck and someone was injured in the process.

PLN18

"Wellness Day in Nata Primary School"
By: Nata village

In the article "Wellness Day in Nata Primary school" by Nata village, they are talking about how the students put together skits to show the staff and parents about health. This matters to Nata village because now the kids will know how to be healthy and take care of themselves a little better so there might not be as many deaths or sick people. The kids put together real life scenarios affecting their lives. They said poverty and alcohol abuse by parents or relatives is partially why students are not getting a very good education. The students even invited grown-ups form the village to come and share their profession and why getting an education at that age is very important. Clearly, these kids are learning more and doing things to help them learn about staying healthy and fit.

PLN16

"Secretary at Denver School Charged in Duct Taping of Boy"

By: Joey Bunch

In the article "Secretary at Denver School Charged in Duct Taping of Boy" by Joey Bunch from the Denver Post, says that a elementary school secretary duct taped a boy to make him settle down in her office. An elementary school kid was sent to the office for being disruptive in class and when he got to the office the secretary duct taped his mouth shut and his hands together so he would be under control. She is most likely going to be arrested for child abuse and some other misdemeanor charges, she will also be fired from her job at the school the principle says. The first grader's mom, Ashlye Tenner, thinks the charges are completely appropriate and she says she would not expect anything less than what they charged her with already. She should be punished like this because you do not just go around duct taping kids like this just to make them be quiet and she should have to pay the consequence of her actions so she will never do it again. Clearly, this school secretary made a bad choice by duct taping a kid to make him be quiet and she should pay for it.

PLN17

"Prosecutors want more Details in Balloon Boy Case"
By: The Associated Press (Denver Post)

In the article "Prosecutors want more Details in Balloon Boy Case” by The Associated Press (Denver Post), they are still trying to decide if the Heene family made a false emergency report or not but they need more evidence. This matters to people in Denver because everyone was scared that the boy, Falcon, was stuck in a balloon that the family made as a backyard experiment and people started looking for him. Even the police and fire stations went out to try and track down the balloon for the family but when they got it there was no boy in it and he was upstairs in the attic at the house. If they are prosecuted they will face plenty of charges including: making a false emergency report and lying to a police officer. When the boy asked why he did it he simply said he did it for the show. Investigators still have not figured out why he said this but they think it is because the family thought they were going to get a TV show out of this whole story so they could go travel and shoot the show. Clearly, the family made this false report on purpose because they knew the measurements of the balloon would not hold a person and the kid even came out and said he did it for the show so he did not even know he was not supposed to say that.

PLN 15

"Wondering About Writing Conferences"
By Anne smith

In the article “Wondering About Writing Conferences” by Anne Smith, she talks about what writing conferences are and if they are useful. A writing conference is when the teacher meets with the student to go over some of their writing together so the student can really get to know what they are doing right and wrong in their pieces, instead of just getting a graded and corrected essay from the teacher and just throwing it into their backpack and never seeing it again. She wanted to know if the students thought it was more useful to do a pre conference or post conference for the initial conference and if they thought it would be good to write an initial writing piece or not. It is better to write an initial piece because then you know where you stand in writing before the year even starts and when the paper comes back it will seem like it is not good at all because the student will have learned the correct way to write it by then and probably be really surprised. There should be a pre writing assignment at the beginning of the year and a post one at the end of the year, then there would be a writing conference and the teacher and student can compare the two and see you much they progressed as a writer over the year. Clearly, these writing conferences are very useful to the teacher and student in seeing where they stand when they write a paragraph or essay.

PLN14

"Rigor Redefined"
By Tony Wagner

In the article "Rigor Redefined" by Tony Wagner, he talks about what students will need to learn to be successful in the 21st-century. Students will need to work well with others and be critical thinkers to be successful no days. You need to be able to work well with others and in a group as a team and i connected this back to school because of how much group work schools have been doing lately. This article mattered to students because of the stuff they will need to start learning and how much group work there is, this also means that the teacher will have to change the curriculum to benefit the students the best sometimes also. I was thinking about the article "Keyboard vs Pen" by 21st Century Learning because students should be able to use technology and learn about it at school to be successful in the real world also. One of the most important things that was in the article was imagination because that will get you really far in today's world since people are looking for so many ways to improve and make lives easier. Clearly, there are things that schools need to focus on teaching the kids and helping them prepare for the present and future.

PLN13

"Keyboard vs Pen"
By 21st Century Learning

In the article "Keyboard vs Pen" by 21st Century Learning, they wanted to find out which method of writing worked better typing or pen and paper. While I was reading the article I was trying to decide which method I liked better, writing with a pen and paper or on the computer, and I decided it is a lot easier to write on the computer for me because I can just put down a bunch of ideas and delete them if I need to but I could not do that with a pen and paper. It is just a lot easier for me to get it looking like A quality work on the computer since I have all of this technology and it will spell check it and I can edit my work without erasing all the time and having to get new paper and start over which also makes me want to write it longer than I would with a pen because typing does not start to hurt your hand and wrist if you write as much as you would with a pencil and about the quality of writing you do or how good of a writer you are really does not depend on what materials you use. Clearly, I like writing with technology more than on paper but it also really depends on what you like better and what is easier for you.

PLN12

"Footprints In The Digital Age"
By Will Richardson

In the article "Footprints In The Digital Age" by Will Richardson, he talks about how students are creating their digital footprint in the new technological age. He says that students are learning to use technology by themselves and people are not teaching them how to be their own person anymore. Since we are not using the computer to the best of our abilities it is tough to be, "Googleable", is how Will Richardson put it which practically means that we do not have a good digital footprint for people to see when they Google us or even a digital footprint at all. This is very surprising that some people do not even have a footprint on the internet because you had to have signed up for something or at least posted something on the internet like a status on Facebook or blogged on something from any web site you were interested in, even if you reviewed and rates a product from a store and rated it with your name tying it all together and back to you. This article was almost the opposite of some of the other articles we have read in class like "Did you know" by Karl Fisch where it says everyone is learning to use technology so well that there will be computers that we make that will exceed the abilities of the human brain. They both relate to "The Machines are Using Us" by Dr. Wesch because it said that computers are learning from whatever we do on them and they are starting to get smarter and smarter as time goes on. So maybe in the future the computer will predict what we are going to put on the internet and it will check it to make sure it does not impact our footprint in a bad way. Clearly, we need to start creating our digital footprint at an early age and we need to be sure what we post on the internet under our names is good work.

PLN11

"2020 vision"
By Karl Fisch

In the video "2020 Vision" by Karl Fisch, he talks about how technology and education will change dramatically. This matters to education and students because of they way we might start learning in the future and the way technology will work in school. Teachers would have to change the way they teach and the school might have to find different staff members if they were better suited with technology and could use it better. This video also relates to Mr. Fisch's video "Did you know" because they are both about how technology and the world around us will change very rapidly, and it also relates to "A vision of students today" by Dr. Wesch, because of how the students are learning and how they have laptops but they are not doing school work on them. It was surprising how he could predict these things and some of them have already come true since he made this video a couple of years ago. Clearly, the world is going to change for the better and even not so good at the same time, we just have to know when so we can change with it and adapt.

PLN10

"Are we Selling it to The Wrong People?"
By David Warlick

In the article "Are we Selling it to The Wrong People?" by David Warlick, it says that what the teachers and schools are buying for the students are good materials and that they have good intentions but is it really what the students need to learn effectively? The staff in schools will buy text books and other materials for the students and then teach them out of that, but the students really are not learning as much as the teacher thinks they are because it does not fit our learning styles. In the conversation David had with some co-workers in a meeting they said that most of the tools and learning supplies including books speak the language of students today, but the actual ad was pitched to teachers not students so they really cant know if it is or not. Some people think that the students should get a say in what the school buys regarding materials since they are the ones that will be using it, but others say that students are still growing up and cant decide what they want yet so teachers should just teach them what the schools buy. Clearly, there is a big dispute about education these days and what is best for students in regards of learning in the class rooms of today.

PLN9

"What makes people want to play Rock Band and Guitar Hero?"
By Gary Marcus

In the article "What makes people want to play Rock Band and Guitar Hero?" by Gary Marcus, it talks about how Guitar Hero and Rock Band are some of the stupidest games on the video game market in a while. Gary says that they are some of the stupidest games on the market these days because it makes you feel like you have the power to create the song and that is why people will pay the $60 for some songs on a CD, not including how much the plastic guitar with the buttons costs. It does not even resemble a real guitar there are no strings, no frets not even cords for an amplifier and other additional pieces to change the sound. It also says that it takes not very much skill to do it because robots can ease through all of the songs on expert and you could probably teach a monkey how to play better than most people if you took the time, plus if aliens or other foreign people saw it that it would probably be one of the biggest wastes of time. You download this music from a disc you buy and its on your Xbox or whatever console you have and you cant even bring that music you paid for in the car, to the gym or anywhere you are out of range of the TV. Clearly, these are the least interactive and games that take the least thinking out of any in stores and that they take not very much skill or even effort to play the music on it.

PLN8

"A Vision of Students Today"
By Dr. Wesch

In the video "A vision of students today" by Dr. Wesch, he shows us what it is like to be a student at this time. Dr. Wesch makes a lot of examples of how tough school is these days and how much work we really have to do because it even says that they are working 26.5 hours a day in total on different things and that they have to multi-task to get it all done. This video also shows people that if we really do have technology at our finger tips we probably wont use it for educational purposes even in class, we would go to other sites like Facebook and be side tracked on other things. One of the big things that was on the video is that the students did not even use the textbooks they bought for hundreds of dollars or read most of the assignments that the teacher gave to read and most of it did not even relate to our lives, that is probably why they did not do it because it wont help them in life. Another bad thing is that they are saying that they spend all of this money on classes and some of them do not even show up for class which is really a waste of money on their part. Technology is distracting student from learning better because they are in such big classes that the teacher will not notice so then they can just go to their favorite web page or text their friends. Clearly, technology is distracting student from doing their best in school but it is also helping them at the same time.

PLN7

"Making it your own"
By Ask.com

In "Making it your own" by Ask.com, it talks about how you should make your bike your own when you get it and make it special to you. They were saying that no matter what you have to do you should make your new bike unique to you. When you get your new mountain bike it is all the same as every other model of your new bike and you should put some stickers on it, put different or your parts on it and change it up a little bit and adjust everything for you, then it is like nobody else's bike in America. It also says that when you ride it and you get scratches on your bike then it gives it even more of a personality because ever single scratch has a story behind it no matter how good the story is. This article relates to me because i mountain bike a lot and i have had some scratches on my bikes that actually did have a good story behind them. All in all you should make your things special to you and unique to you pretty much no matter what you have to do.

PLN 6

"Men's soccer tournament"
By Natavillage

In the article "Men's soccer tournament" by Natavillage, they held a soccer tournament in Africa to help raise money and help the community. In Africa Tebelopele held a soccer tournament over the 4 day weekend they had there and it was a six round knock out tournament for the community. While the tournament was going on they had a place where you could get tested for HIV/AIDS in fifteen minutes with their rapid test, in all 158 men, 122 women and 12 couples were tested for it and they educated 1362 spectators about the importance of getting tested for STD's and other acquired diseases. The winning team got 3 soccer balls and a pair of nets and all of the other teams received a soccer ball even for participating. This is a really good thing to do for the community because it gets people aware of diseases that are out there while they get to do what they love and that's play soccer with all of their friends around and even raise money and get free equipment. Clearly this was a very good idea from Tebelopele to catch awareness and help some of the people of Africa out.

PLN 5

"The New Literacy"
Clive Thompson

In this article "The New Literacy" by Clive Thompson, it talks about how there is a new era of writing coming and it is the teens leading it. This article was saying that people think teens don't write and we are terrible at writing but we actually write more than our past generations and more than most adults because we socialize so much on the Internet. Also it says that teens write better to an audience of more than one which is usually the teacher so it isn't as exciting or anything as it is on like facebook or twitter and I don't know how teacher can change that but if they do it will probably change a lot of writing grades and scores in the schools today. Writing is kind of boring to most kids and on c-sap we get really bad topics to write about so that's why the test scores aren't very high because we are writing to one person, we have a bad topic and it doesn't count for a grade or anything so most student probably don't take it all that seriously. People are putting out articles that say teens are doing bad at school and they have bad grades and scores but this article says that we are changing the writing era forever so It cant be that bad. Clearly teens write more than most people it just about our own personal things.

PLN4

"The Machines are Using Us"
Dr. Wesch

In the video "The Machines are Using Us" by Dr. Wesch, he talks about how the Internet is changing and how we can move text all over the place very easily. This video is showing us how easy it is to move digital text from anywhere to pretty much anywhere else in a couple seconds and this matters to everyone because of how easy it is getting to communicate on the Internet and how people can steal what you say or put on the Internet. This matters to us students because we can put things on the Internet and have our teachers see it from there but one of our other classmates or at a kid at a different school could just right click and copy everything we have. This is changing education because now you see and hear more about courses online rather than in class rooms and you just post your stuff to your teachers web page and they grade it from there. Mr. Fisch's video had more examples and was easier to follow but they kind of said some of the same things in general about the Internet but Mr. Fisch went above and beyond the Internet and into how the world is changing and what we are starting to do or are doing. Clearly the Internet is starting to take over how we think about computers and machines and is changing the world around us.

PLN3

"Colorado Springs man strikes bicyclist in case of mistaken ID"
By Keiran Nicholson (The Denver post)

In the article "Colorado Springs man strikes bicyclist in case of mistaken ID" by Keiran Nicholson, a man hits a biker because he thinks it's the theif who stole his son's bike earlier that week. A man from Colorado springs was arrested on suspicion of second-degree assault after he hit a pedestrian with his truck on a bike because he mistakenly thought it belonged to his son, since his bike was just stolen and he thought it was thief who had stole it. The article says that the driver intentionally hit the guy but he was just trying to stop him then he was going to go out and confront the thief about stealing his son's bike, after he hit the man and got out to confront him the biker punched him in the face because he thought he was going to get attacked again by the driver. The pedestrian suffered minor injuries to his leg but was treated at the scene and was let go, the driver was treated on the scene also for a face injury from the punch then arrested. This article was a good representation of why we have to look out for our selves and how there really must be crazy people out there if bikers are getting hit just to be stopped and confronted.

PLN2

Gender Articles

By Tamar Lewin and Denver post editorials

In the article "Women raise bar at colleges" By Tamar Lewin, it says that guys in schools are starting not to do as well because the girls are starting to raise the standards and expectations, the guys just cant compare as well in test scores and grades. This article says that the guys are more social then the girls when it comes to school. The guys go to more parties and hang out with friends than studying for tests and exams which means they will get lower grades and not graduate as much. Guys need to start pulling more of their own weight in school because girls will be stealing most of the jobs if they are the ones with an education and have a reputable background from college and high school. This is starting to get out of hand if the colleges need to start accepting more guys into their schools than girls just to even out the graduating class so the guys and girls are about even, than this is getting to be a pretty big issue. In "Quiet gender gap hits collegiate balance" from the Denver post editorials, guys aren't just starting to fail in colleges more, but also high school. Guys and girls are different kinds of learners and if the schools starts helping guys bring their grades and test scores up by changing the curriculum then the girls might start not as well and then they might change it to help the girls which in return will mess up the guys again, so they should just have one curriculum that accompanies some of both learning styles and the other sex would have to adapt to some other learning styles also. Clearly, guys have to start stepping up and taking more responsibilities for school or else it might be too late the girls will have taken over most of the jobs and schools all around the country.

PLN1

"Did you know?"

By Karl Fisch

Today we watched "Did you know?" and I thought that this video really opened peoples eyes and made people realize how we aren't alone in this world and how other people in different countries are catching up withAmerica technologically and in education and that technology will practically take over the whole world one day and be smarter and faster than human beings. I was surprised how many people have actually watched and responded to that video even the government. Some of the facts on this video really made me think about the world and our country like how while we were watching that video 67 babies were born in the US alone. I also wondered how China could soon become the number one English speaking country in the world and how there could be that many Google searches every month. All in all I thought this was a really good video and a huge eye opener to everyone.