Monday, September 29, 2014
Wikipedia Editorial Analysis
An editorial is a piece that describes an opinion through an official or professional source. Over the years, I have been told countless times by teachers that Wikipedia is not a reliable website. Teacher's don't often let you use Wikipedia as a source, due to the fact that anyone, anywhere, can change the information shown on a page. My opinion on Wikipedia has yet to have changed; I see Wikipedia as a reliable source, despite what my teacher's say. A forum in which you can edit and change information is actually a good idea, reason being that people from all around the world can share their knowledge and we can learn from one another. Though Wikipedia might have it's flaws, as all websites do, I see it as a credible source of information that doesn't get enough credit.
To read the full editorial, click here.
Friday, September 19, 2014
Google Adds New Images to Street View Through Wearable Camera
Early this month, Google brought street view to Egypt, as well as other places in the middle East, which covered many historical places. Due to lack of tourism within these regions within the past couple years, this may be the only way some people may see these sights.
The images that Google has obtained from these beautiful landmarks cannot be taken by Google Street View cars. That being said, these images were captured with a Trekker; a large backpack, with a large camera on the top. Due to the Trekker, Google can now see tourist sites, go down pathways, and other places that you couldn't see from a car.
Google is now lending Trekkers to the public (click here to see how) in order to get more Street View images from all around the world.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Web 2.0: Multimedia Blog Posting Sem 2_Pre
My history teacher, Ms. Garvin, teaches both World History and AP United States government and politics. She is also a runner, a vegetarian, helps run student counsel, and overall is a nice person to be around; the energy and the enthusiasm she provides is very positive, and she makes me almost happy to come to school. I didn't really know what to expect from her class, but seeing as to how I had already taken the World History course with a teacher who only made us read from text books, I was hoping that she would at least have had us moving around and actually LEARNING, rather than skimming books, and not being able to comprehend the text. Let me be the first to tell you, Ms. Garvin is great when it comes to teaching without a textbook, which I think is something every teacher needs to learn how to do; if all you're doing to help children learn is sitting and watching them read, you're not really teaching, you're babysitting.
In class, we just wrapped up the Renaissance, and learned about some really cool art work, and writing, architecture, and inventions. We also just covered a lesson about Martin Luther and his protest against the Catholic Church. Ms. Garvin's grading policies include:
40%- Summative Assessments
40%- Performance Based Assessments- 20% in-class assessments and 80% from projects
10%- Homework
10%- Formative Assessments (Including participation)
According to Ms. Garvin, we will be taking a class trip to the 9/11 memorial in May. The use of technology in class isn't really existent, though, I would imagine that we're going to be using laptops or some kind of computer in the future of the course.
In conclusion, Ms. Garvin is a really fun and enjoyable teacher who seems to actually care about teaching her students and helping them succeed. She get involved in class, and thoroughly explains work before assigning it. Overall, she's made me start loving history again, and I hope I have more teachers like her in the future.
For more information about Ms. Garvin and the course that she offers, check out her teacher website here! Also check here for her class curriculum schedule!
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