Focus The Nation

So after reading all baout Focus the Nation, I decided to read more about global warming and what I can do, my small part, to help the environment. I researched it on the internet and found about a million articles on global warming so I went to wikipedia. I really did not know a lot about the environment and how we truely are destroying our world. I learned what global warming acutally means, the causes, greenhouse gases, solar variation, temperature changes, climate models, and debate about global warming. This really opened my eyes to how precious our world is and how easily it can be destroyed. I learned that.....

• "Global warming is an intensification of the greenhouse effect. The greenhouse effect which refers to the natural system that keeps Earth warm enough to sustain life."
• "If fossil fuel use increases or decreases, atmospheric carbon dioxide will also increase or decrease proportionately."
• "The melting of glaciers around the world have been contributing to sea level rise around the globe, which means damage to the United States' booming coastal counties that are now home to more than half of the U.S. population."

In my classroom I would love to have students write a blog about global warming. Then I would assign a project where they needed to go into the community and help with an organization or on their own to do something to improve the environment. They would then make a blog entry everyday for two weeks about how they have improved the environment. Then they would write a final blog about how they felt before the project and after. Then I could use their experiences in the community and relate it to the story or material we are studying at the time. For the final grade they could write a paper how the entire experience affected their view on global warming. This activity would not only make the students use their english skills to write a blog and a paper, but it does include technology into the classroom. It also helps the community and environment, making not only the students but the people around them aware of how we treat out community.

I could then challenge them to continue doing things to help our environment along with me. Such as.....

• Move your thermostat down 2° in winter and up 2° in summer
• Clean or replace filters on your furnace and air conditioner
• Choose energy efficient appliances when making new purchases
• Recycle at home
• Cover your pots while cooking
• Use the washing machine or dishwasher only when they are full
• Take a shower instead of a bath and use less hot water

Doing all of these activities produces a chain reaction, informing others and promoting the right actions to take to help keep our environment a clean place.

Web 2.0 Educator

I decided to read about Cool Cat Teacher Vicki Davis. After reading a few of her postings, it is clear to see that she loves to use technology within the classroom. She is a teacher in Camilla Georgia who has been involved with many projects that have won awards and are technology based. Her specialty is using wikis and blogs. She loves to incorporate these two things with her lessons whenever she can. She seems like a honest person who truly wants the best for her students including understanding the technological world around them.

Vicki Davis seems to be a very intelligent teacher especially when it comes to technology. She creates projects for her students to get them experienced with things that they may use later in the future. She has kept priorities to herself, the highest of which is her students. She allows time to accomplish not just the goals of her student but her own goals as well. She wants to connect with the students and other teachers, to make a positive environment and atmospere for all. She also wants to keep the curriculum and material interesting and fun. Davis tries hard to inspire and to keep herslef motivated. Without her being motivated she can not motivate her kids and her fellow staff. She also realizes that without reflecting upon her work and her students' work she can not properly keep teaching. Assessing is one of the most important tools as well as reflection.
One of the major reasons Davis is so intelligent with technolgy is becuase she is constantly using and looking for new tools. She encorporates them into her classroom and gives the students' the opportunity to take their education into their own hands. She would like to eventually see technology in classrooms everywhere. She hopes as many teachers probably do too, of one day creating a classroom of students who are technologically smart as well as book and street smart.


I definatly agree with Viki Davis' approach to teaching. I like to use technology in the classroom. I think it allows the students to take a different look at what they are doing and re-evaluate it. However i do believe that sometimes technolgy can take over the classroom. the ultimate goal is to incorporate technology into the classroom not make the entire classroom technology. Maybe one day we can be emersed into a classroom environment where all students recgonize the word "wiki" and "blog".