There are things I don’t understand, and one of them is why people are afraid to die. I am not afraid to die, just afraid I haven’t done enough by the time I die.
As I have mentioned in a previous post, I am an atheist. So I believe when someone dies, that is it. You don’t feel anything, see anything, hear anything, just nothing. You’re just dead. Nothing else. Your cells die off, your body decomposes. It is just the end. That is why I am not afraid to die. It is just natural. Now if you are religious, then you’ll go to a better place. No matter what religion, that is what happens, I think. There might be a religion where you believe something else.
Now, so far there have only been two deaths that have affected me; The death of my cat and Steve Jobs. My German grandpa will probably die within the next year, which is a sad thought. Death is sad, but there is no reason to fear it.
I have an actual reason for writing this post. Unless I get suggestions this post is my last for who knows how long. This post is supposed to signify the death of my blog. I hope you at least enjoyed the content it offered. Thank you!
Posted in Uncategorized July 6, 2012
No opinion post because no one is giving me any suggestions. Ever since the homework post I have had to come up with a topic. I can’t think of anything. So please suggest topics!
Now for my readers in the U.S., which I think is everyone, M Memorial Day is this week. My dad served in the army for 21 years, so I definitely appreciate what the men and women in service do or used to do. I also know what it is like for military families at home. So thank you soldiers for protecting our freedom from other countries!
Now the government actually now tracks every website we visit and can demand Internet providers actually hand that information over. This is because of CISPA. So were safe from other countries but not our own government, violating our privacy and freedom.
Now I would like to talk about how I am going to post over the summer. Since I’ll be on vacation and won’t be able to post when I’m in Germany, I will write the posts before and set them to post on certain days. So for three weeks you won’t see anything that I wrote that day or the previous day.
So please suggest topics so I can have something to write about before I go on vacation.
Posted in Uncategorized May 27, 2012
Sorry I haven’t posted in two weeks, but I forgot and then the next weekend I was on a school trip. So today I will talk about a topic that recently has been in the news, gay marriage. Obama recently stated that he supports it, and here is my opinion.
I support gay marriage. I think that people should be able to have what they want and have their own beliefs. Now, today in Graphic Design my friends and I started talking about the topic. I said that I supported it and one of them called me gay. Supporting gay marriage does not make me gay, and I’m not. I just think that homosexuals should be allowed to marry.
I think that most people who oppose gay marriage do so because of religion. Now, this is something my parents don’t know, but I am atheist. This is because I think religion just decides your opinions and can form you into someone else, and of course I don’t believe any of that Jesus and God stuff one bit. In this case, religion might make you think homosexuality and gay marriage is wrong. I think everyone deserves to have their own opinion and decide what they want. So I am glad our current president is for gay marriage. Hopefully the U.S. will become more free and let homosexuals get what they deserve.
Remember to suggest topics and give your opinion in the comments.
Posted in Uncategorized May 11, 2012
Sorry this is a bit late, but I had homework and I also didn’t feel like doing anything after that. So, today I will be talking about school in general, and I will probably mainly talk about how we should change it.
Now, if I want the American school system to change, that means I either don’t like it or I just think it needs to be fixed. I don’t really like school, because what it is being prepared for a big test at the end of the year. Here in Virginia it is called the SOL, or Standards of Learning. It is a huge test to see if students have memorized everything. Just because they memorized what is on the SOL doesn’t mean they understand it. In the classroom today all you have to do is memorize and take notes to study and you can pass the test on the unit or the SOL.
I don’t think this is how it should be. I have read about the flipped classroom, which seems better. In fact, the results are better. Why don’t we switch to this system of teaching that works better and is probably more fun? Because that would be too expensive. The flipped classroom relies on a lot of technology, which requires money, which is something we apparently don’t have. Yet it works better, and would be a worthwhile investment. If I had billions of dollars, I would spend it working towards getting the flipped classroom everywhere.
I feel like I have been talking about the flipped classroom to long without explaining how it works. The way it works is actually quite simple. At home students watch a video on what they are going to learn about and get some basic info. Then in school they do activities and explore by themselves with the teacher acting as someone who helps guides them when they need it and answers any questions. It is a more individualized approach, which I think helps.
So that is pretty much my opinion on school. We focus too much on testing, memorizing, and note-taking, when we need to focus on making sure a student understands what they are learning. Leave a comment suggesting a new topic and let me hear your opinion also!
Posted in Uncategorized April 22, 2012
Okay, I have decided for my first topic to talk about homework. Thanks for suggesting this topic TJ Shay!
Homework. It is what every student hates about school(not to say it is the only thing). I don’t like it. I learn things quickly, and I believe homework is given out for practice. I don’t need it, but maybe other students do. I think that we shouldn’t give out homework.
Instead, let’s make a fun way to practice. Let’s make learning more fun. My former teacher, Ms. White, told me that TJ, who suggested this topic, works for FableVision, a company that makes a variety of software, games, etc., for education purposes. I think that they should work with schools to make software and games to help teachers teach and students learn and practice. In a digitized world like ours, that is what students want. These days students have almost access to technology. This needs to happen.
Schools could also get rid of homework by using more technology. In this infographic the flipped classroom is explained. It works, and it is simple. Students can look at lectures at home, and in school do activities. Students can also ask questions using email and get feedback almost instantly. This means that students can receive a more individualized approach, and can learn at more of their own pace. This doesn’t necessarily eliminate the need for practice, but it eliminates homework. So just replace homework with learning software. If you can program the software to adjus to the student, then you have just given someone, who might have failed in the one-size-fits-all classroom, the opportunity to do great things.
Overall homework is useless. It doesn’t really help the student learn, and it is just time-consuming. We need to find a better way to help students practice and learn what they need to pass standardized tests(which I don’t think we need either).
Please leave a suggestion in the comments for next week’s topic. I would also like to hear if you’re interested in me giving my opinion on school in general. That might be split into two parts if I write a lot.
Posted in Uncategorized April 14, 2012
I have decided to relaunch this blog in an attempt to use it more. I will now try to every week voice my opinion on a topic chosen by you, the readers,which you can leave your suggestions in the comments. I will also now no longer have this blog be bilingual, so sorry to those of you who read German. Next weekend, Saturday or Sunday, you should see a new post. So please suggest a topic, and if I don’t receive any comments I’ll write about one I think of.
Posted in Uncategorized April 8, 2012
In October I did a presentation for K12OnlineConference, and afterward became famous. If you just Googled my name there would be many links about me. Well, now three months later my name appears on another website. Please check it out. You’ll find me at the end of What Schools Can Do.
Im Oktober habe ich eine Präsentation für K12OnlineConference gemacht, und wurde nachher berühmt. Wenn du bei Google mein namen eingibst, dann würden ganz viele websites über mich erscheinen. Jetzt drei monate später is mein name wierde auf eine website erscheint. Bitte schauen sie es an. Du findest mich in What Schools Can Do.
Posted in Uncategorized January 29, 2011
Today I presented my wiki, iPad review, and FabLab at a new teacher orientation. I talked about things you can do with wikis, answered questions, explained FabLab, and I really enjoyed doing it. I got to also check out a new app on the iPad called SoundPaper. Click here to find out about it (you’ll need to scroll down).
Heute habe Ich mein Wiki, iPad bewertung, und FabLab präsentiert bei einem informationsveranstaltung für neue lehrer. Ich hab über sachen die man mit Wikis tun kannst, fragen beantwortet, FabLab erklärt, und mir hat ist spaß gemacht. Ich dürfte auch ein neues app auf dem iPad ausprobieren das SoundPaper heisst. Hier klicken um über es zu herausfinden (musst runtergehen, ist in Englisch).
Posted in Uncategorized August 11, 2010
had the money to give every kid an iTouch, a useful app would be iHomework. This app is like an agenda, so it can help organize your school day, homework assignments, and more. It’s a helpful app, and I think it should also have some kind of link to go to the Pages app if you have it, or maybe have its own word document tool built into the app.
Hätte das gesamte landkreis das Geld zu jedes Kind ein iTouch zu geben, ein nützliches App würde iHomework werden. Dieses App ist wie ein Agenda, so kann es helfen, organisieren jemands Schultages, Hausaufgaben und vieles mehr. Es ist ein hilfreiches app, und ich denke, es sollte auch eine Link zu den Pages app gehen, wenn Sie es haben, oder vielleicht sollten seine eigene Word-Dokument Werkzeug in die app gebaut haben.
Posted in Uncategorized June 21, 2010
Ok, I haven’t posted for a long time, so I’m sorry about that. Not much going on, but school here is finally out, and I’m so glad, because I was starting to get real bored. I’ll try to start posting more, so you should keep checking back.
Ok, Ich habe für eine lange zeit nicht gepostet, also entshuldige Ich mich über das. Nicht viel passiert, aber schule hier ist endlich aus, und Ich bin so froh, weil ich wurde sehr gelangweilt. Ich werd versuchen mehr zu posten, also solltest to immer mal wieder gucken.
Posted in Uncategorized June 13, 2010
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