Global Warming

In the wikipedia article about global warming the stance is taken that global warming is a real problem that exists in the world today. According to the information that was listed in the article, this is an event that is caused by humans. Should global warming not be addressed, then the end results could be catastrophic.


Human activity since the Industrial Revolution has increased the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, leading to increased radiative forcing from CO₂, methane, tropospheric ozone, CFCs and nitrous oxide.

Atmospheric changes have resluted from human activity since the Industrial is supported by this study.

Scientists disagree that humans are the cause of the increase in green house gases.

The wikipedia article is subject to sanctions, which means that anyone can edit the infromation that is given in the website content.

As a result of reading this discussion I learned that global warming was real and harmful problem that exists. I also learned that it can be slowed down, depending upon the measures that we want to take.

After reading all this considering the information that is available on Wikipedia, I feel that it something that can be used in the classrooms. I do not feel that it is always the best source. When doing any type of research, one must consider multiple sources. Using wikipedia as one source is a great method! Using wikipedia in place of text books, I don't agree with. I think that text books need to be phased out, but I do not think wikipedia should replace them.

Double Entry Journal 4 - Changing education Paradigims

First of all, I pulled an idea from this video immediately that I thought was so important! I hear it all the time from own studnets. They don't believe that a high school education is important and most don't believe that getting a college education is important. As the video states, they are right in most cases. The problem is, even though society is suggesting to them these ideas, we as educators must look past this and find a way to reach them. One way that we are trying to combat this at our school is take education more authentic. We want the students to take ownership in what they are doing. We are hoping that this will help me them to see the importance. We are also looking to involve community and buisness members in their learning process, hoping that this too will help them see the importance of an edcuation.

The second idea that I thought was important in this video was the idea that talked about the fact that the education system we are using now was not created for this age. It was developed during the Enlightenment period and the industrial revolution. As time has evolved, our education system has not. This is the problem. What we are doing now isn't working. We are looking towards making changing but teachers are scared. I see the younger group of teachers ready to accept this new type of learning and move forward.

The third idea that took from this video was the ADHD epidemic. I LOVED that it talked about the fact that it was not an epidemic! I agree 100%. As the video stated, we live in one of the most stimulating time periods in the existance of the the world, students should not be bored. The problem is that they are not engaged. This is because education system are not teaching the students in the same world that they are living in.

Double Entry Journal 3

Wikipedia: “Whereas Wikipedia is extraordinarily
convenient and, for some general purposes,
extremely useful, it nonetheless suffers inevitably
from inaccuracies deriving in large measure from
its unique manner of compilation.” Students were
asked to take responsibility for the reliability and
credibility of the information they used in their
papers; Students were told not to use Wikipedia as a
scholarly source.
I chose this quote because I think that it shows the overview that most had for Wikipedia. While I was in undergrad, I had numerous instructors stress the importance of NOT using wikipedia as a source. Wikipedia in the past was not seen as something that was reliable due to the ability that information could be changed. I think that this shows how most people form an opinion and then it is not easily changed. Even though wikipedia now is becoming accepted, it is hard for all to change their feelings.

A participatory culture is one where there
are relatively low barriers to artistic expression and
civic engagement, where there is strong support for
creating and sharing what you create with others,
where there is some kind of informal mentorship
whereby what is known by the most experienced gets
passed along to newbies and novices, where members
feel that their contributions matter, where members
feel some degree of social connection with each
other at least to the degree to which they care what
other people think about what they have created.

I chose this quote because I didn't know what a participatory culture was. To be frank, I hadn't ever heard of a participatory culture. A participatory culture is a culture that shares information with each other. A big part of it is the social connection that the members of the culture share with one another. This is perfect for today's day and age, especially due to the social networks that exist. Schools and participatory culture should be a close connection. Schools must utilize this culture and allow it to benefit the students that are in attendance.

Access to this participatory culture
functions as a new form of the hidden curriculum,
shaping which kids will succeed and which will be
left behind as they enter schools and workplaces.
The key word here for me is a new curriculum. Right now, especially where I teach, we are looking for just that. Looking at participatory culture has gave me some insights on how and why I can implement this into the program that we are doing. I believe that we had this idea, but as the quote states, it was hidden. Now that I am aware of it, we can hon in on it and use it.

Double Entry Journal 2

"This attention is significant and
timely as it reflects a growing shift in how literacy is being defined
and what it means to be literate in the twenty-first century".

This quote struck home with me! It is exactly what my high school is trying to work with right now. We are looking at we teach our students and we are trying to define what types of literacy and knowledge our students need to know in order to function in today's world. Everything that we found in our vast research thus far tells us the technology has to be a part of this. We have to get away from the traditional styles of learning that we are comfortable with and we have to step outside of the box. One model that we looked at that we felt helped guide us to this new understaning of being literate was the New tech network system that was created in Napa, California. This puts technology in the hands of students are prepares them to be succesful in the buisness world. Take a look at our journey in trying to answer this question with my high school's blog.

"We are continually enthralled at the intensity with which young
people immerse themselves in arts, multimodality, and 21st cen-
tury literacies".

I chose this quote because it reminded me of a lesson that I taught in my classroom. One of things that my students disliked doing was worksheets. One of the only ways that I could think of to get some information across was, worksheets. I took the same lesson and I allowed the students to text the information on their cell phones to one another like group work. It was amazing. It was the exact same infromation that was on the worksheet, however, they were enthralled by being able to do their work with a piece of technology like a cell phone. Cell phones in the classroom is just one example of where educators are afraid of technology. Instead of utilzing the tool to help the children learn, the keep out of the classroom. Children love technology, it's what they've grown up with. They feel completely comfortable with using it.

"What are the everyday literacies
that learners bring into the classroom? and How can I value and
integrate these literacies into my own practice"

My third choice of quotes is an amazing quote! How true! This is the question that every school system and educator should be looking into. Technologies are available for teachers to use, but they are sometimes too afraid to put them into their daily classrooms. They find reasons to not use the technologies because they don't have enough time or they don't know how to use the technologies. One of the greatest tools that an educator can use now is the ipad. Another thing that teachers can use it the new form technology cloud computing.

double entry journal 1

"Print culture is the conglomeration of effects on human society that is created by making printed forms of communication".

I chose this quote because I felt that it was a true representation of what this article was encompassing. I feel that when print culture is being talking about, many leave out the notion that it is important to know what effect it has on human society. I also chose this quote because it used a trigger word for that helped me to immediately understand print culture. Conglomeration was a word that I liked because I felt like it helped to explain the vastness of print culture and what kind of effect that it can have on human society. I wanted to have a more in depth look at print culture so I chose to look at this website. It gives a nice view of the history of print culture and the future. It also goes over the debate that surrounds print culture. The debate talks about what print culture should be defined as now.

"Numerous eras throughout history have been defined through the use of print culture. The American Revolution was a major historical conflict fought after print culture brought the rise of literacy. Furthermore, print culture's ability to shape and guide society was a critical component before, during, and after the Revolution".

The second quote I chose was the quote above. I chose this quote because this was what interested me the most about the article. I am a history major so anything that involves history, I tend to latch on to. I knew that print culture was important during major times in history, however, I never considered the role that it played during a time period as the American Revolution. After reading this quote, I found myself googling the topic and searching for the significance that it played. I immediately found myself taking notes on the topic because I felt like what I was learning was information that I wanted to use in my classroom. Anytime I read something that I can take back into my classroom it is rewarding. I looked at a scholary journal that gave accounts of what was being done during the time as far as print culture was concerned. It really gave me some great insight on the importance that it played. Before doing this assignment I wouldn't have thought to link the stamp act to print culture.

"Symbols, logos and printed images are forms of printed media that do not rely on text".

The third quote that I picked was this because I feel that too often this items are left out when it comes to print culture. I feel that these are important part of print culture and certainly communication in general. We, as a culture, have become so used to these thing that we forget about them. Seeing a stop sign is not something that I would associate with print culture, but it's important not to lose.

Textual Lineage - 3

Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his sweete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halve cours yronne,
And smale fowles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open ye
(So priketh hem nature in hir corages),
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages

The Canterbury Tales were influencial to me in so many ways. It was the first time that I realized that in order to understand what is being talked about in the tales, one must understand that time that the story is being written. This means that in order to see past what is written on the paper, the reader must know what happened during that time in history. After reading this tales and having a college professor explain them to me, I began to read literature in new way. I also found myself, a history buff, seeing how much I really liked literature and the field of English.

www.canterburytales.org/  - Online full text version

Textual Lineage - 2

Jesus: Take this and drink. This is my blood, spilled for you and for many. Do this in memory of me.
When the Passion of the Christ came out in theaters, it defantely made an impact on me. I believe in God and my religion is based around the same foundation that this movie is based upon. In a world where church and state must separate, this movie touched me because of the outpouring of people that went to watch it. Another reason that this movie stuck out to me is because it was told in the hebrew language. This meant that movie goers were forced to read the entire movie. This did not keep people from wathcing this movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd-GXzReZuc - Movie trailer

Textual Lineage

"And what an excellent example of the power of dress young Oliver Twist was. Wrapped in the blanket which had hitherto formed his only covering, he might have been the child of a nobleman or a beggar; – it would have been hard for the haughtiest stranger to have fixed his station in society. But now he was enveloped in the old calico robes, that had grown yellow in the same service; he was badged and ticketed, and fell into his place at once – a parish child – the orphan of a workhouse – the humble, half-starved drudge – to be cuffed and buffeted through the world, despised by all, and pitied by none".  (1.14)

When I thought about this, the first thing that popped into my head was the story of Oliver Twist. The reason that it popped into my head was because it was and remains that first story that I read in school that was then followed up with a movie. The movie brought the story to life for me. I can still here the characters talking and I can hear the songs that are being played. This story was so important to me because it helped me to realize the conditions that people had to live under during the time in which this story was written. Now, as a teacher, It helps me to understand that children are so impressionable. Teachers must be careful what image they put forth for the children that they are influencing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpYVXdpm6zg - Movie trailer

Multi-Genre Literacy Autobiography

To me when I started thinking about this, I linked it to breathing and my heart beating. They are both things that need to occur in order for me to survive, however, I don't think about doing these things on a daily basis. I trust that they will simply occur. Reading and writing have become so ingrained in my life that I'm not sure that I think about doing them on a daily basis. When I attempt to break it down, I think back first of all to being read to as a child. I was the first child to come along in quite some years in famiy. To say the least, everyone was completely involved with me. I was constantly read to as a child. I can remember being 3 or 4 and carrying book after book to my grandparents for them to read to me. Each time they would read to me, I would pick a little knowledge and store it. I also remember that around the age of 4, my mother was completing her college degree in education. She was constantly reading and writing. To me this became something that was very valuable to me. I wanted to read at that point.
At the age of four, there was a moment of frustration that I can clearly recall. My family was taking a vacation and I can remember my mother and father reading road signs. I was so frustrated and felt left out because I couldn't read them. It was at that point that I actively pursued having my mother and father teach me to read and write. Needless to say, I was able to read and write before I was in school.
I went through much of my schooling without being literate with a computer. It almost baffels me that I wasn't able to use a computer for school until I was in high school. They existed when I was in middle, however, I was in high school before they became a part of my learning. It scares me and excites me to think that the world has changed that much in ten years.

Intro Posting

Hello, my name is Kristin DeVaul. I am currently teaching Spanish at North Marion High School in Marion County, WV. I graduated from North Marion in 2001 and then from Fairmont State in 2006. I recieved a B.A. in secondary education - social studies. In 2006 I recieved a M.A. degree in Education. I have also completed all the masters courses for Reading and Special Education. The reason I am taking this course is because next year my school will be an innovation zone and one of our main drives will be to be incorporate more technology into our daily lessons. I hope that from this course, I can take information back to my staff and help them better use technology!