PLN 22 - US Life Expectancy Experiences Slight Dip

The CBS News HealthWatch article, "US Life Expectancy Experiences Slight Dip" talked about how the average life expectancy for a US citizen has dropped by amount a month.  Arialdi Minino, the author of the preliminary 2008 report, said the drop in life expectancy was very small and worked out to be about one tenth of a year.  Minino also said that it would be very difficult to determine if this drop will be the beginning of a trend in lower life expectancies.  The 2008 report showed a drop for both men and women.  The report says that a baby born in 2008 can expect to live to 77.8 years of age if the current trend continues. This is down from the 2007 number of 77.9.  They are not sure what is causing the decline and may not know for some years.  The report is created by combining data from all of the death certificates in 2008. A final report will be released later.  This article matters to me because it makes me wonder what might be causing Americans to live shorter lives.  A tenth of a year doesn't seem like a lot of time, but if this starts a trend could mean I won't live as long as my parents.  This article matters to education because many students will be interested in learning why this is happening and get involved so they can maybe stop it.  This matters to the world because this could be a wake-up call that we need to take better care of ourselves if we want to live longer lives.  

PLN 23 - How Cognitive Surplus Can Change The World

Clay Shirky's talk on "How Cognitive Surplus Will Change The World" talks about how we can make a better world by sharing our brain power.  He uses examples like the Ushahidi website, which started out as a very localized site and is now a worldwide site.  Cognitive surplus is benefiting our world in many ways.  Little ideas can turn into huge ideas for our world.  The blogger that wrote about all the violence going on in Kenya was getting more reports from the field than she could keep up with.  By reaching out to other minds, she learned about two programmers who could take all the different and fast moving information and create one central website.  This shows that we can work together and share our brain power to improve the world.  Clay Shirky's talk relates to me because I learned just how much my ideas can benefit others.  This relates to the classroom when we all put our minds together we get a lot more work done than we would if we were working alone.  This relates to the world because our future can be even better if all of us contribute our ideas and knowledge.

PLN 14

In "Qualities of an Effective teacher" by David Walrick, he explains something lots of teachers don't know. Kids are always looking to have a good time so when you have a really cool teacher learning seems a lot easier and the class periods go by much faster. With modern education kids don't see a reason to go to school, they are very disrespectful to there teachers. Some educators don't handle that well and start being disrespectful back. Which just leads to chaos. This matters to me because when I have a good teacher I usually get a higher grade in that class, and i'm always looking forward to that class. This matters to classrooms because i guarantee students will get higher grades and participate more in school if all teachers were more understanding and reliable. This matters to the world because we will have a better future if the kids of our generation strive, and for them to strive there needs to be good teachers.

PLN 21

After watching  "Changing Education Paradigms" by RSA animate it really went into detail on how similar education is to what it was like when our parents were in school, but there are some changes. some people think education is headed in the wrong direction. Students are not as motivated to go to school anymore because they are not even guaranteed a job and a successful life when they grow older. People think that using standardized testing will make it easier on the kids.  This matters to me because i am in high school and i know my life will be better if i stay in school and get good grades, even if it is stressful. This matters to the classroom because i work with tons of other students that feel the same way i do about school. And this matters to the world because its not fair to spend all your childhood earning your education when you grow up and need to make money for your family all your hard work doesn't even pay off.