Computers

In the article Video Games and the Future of Learning, the educational aspect of videogames is made clear. The article tells about how videogames help teach childeren not only thier math and how to read in a fun way, but it places childeren in situations that classrooms never can provide. The writers argue that videogames help and will continue to help childeren in thier learning career. But that's not what Clifford Stoll says in his essay Who Needs Computers. Stoll writes about how computers, instead of helping, are harming the academic world. When childeren play a game where they must solve a problem to get an award, they get frustrated at the problem and dislike anything getting in the way of the reward. This kind of situation is teaching childeren to hate learning. Also, Stoll says that computers are also replacing books and soon there will be no libraries anymore. Instead the sources will all be an instant click away, therefore the opportunity of plagerism.

Synithesis

Ok I probably spelled that wrong.
I am going to use the article Who Needs Computers and Video Games and the Future of Learning. If there were ever two articles debateing different views, they are it. I plan to talk about the way they both argue about computers and videogames in school and how they help to teach students. WNC argues that they do not help students and do more harm than good. VGATFOL says that students are helped in a tremendous way and are being prepared for the future.

Video Games Summaries

I thought everyone did a good job with their summaries. I believe that everyone explained what thier section was about and what the author was getting at.

Computers and Technology

In this article, written by Richard Ohmann, the cause and effect of computers and technology in schools and classrooms are made clear. The writer tells about how even though computers have brought up scores in the lowest of schools and have helped chi8lderen immensly, they are great distractions. Teachers are driven crazy by slow modums and crash downs. And the childeren always need to be watched, lest they stray onto the internet path of games. Even with this great distractions and more, computers have helped the schools a great deal.

The old paper

What a shame it is when a bright and clever child fails at school. If only they had the discipline to apply themselves, they could go far. But is that really the problem here? Is it the child’s fault for not being successful? In his essay, Hidden Intellectualism, Gerald Graff argues that it is t he school’s fault for the child’s failure. He claims that schools fail to attract the attention of certain students because schools do not teach things that students can relate to. He suggests schools should cover the “subjects that interest [the students] rather than those that interest us.” That is not to say, however, that academics should be thrown out the window and replaced by sports and video games. Graff urges that the use of a student’s interest “is not simply to exploit students’ nonacademic interests, but to get them to see those interests through academic eyes.” What Graff is saying here is that schools should use a student’s interest as a gateway to link academics to life.
Graff himself tells about how he, as a child, did not do well in school and was only interested in sports. It was not until later in his life that he realized sports had taught him more than school ever did. “Sports after all [is] full of challenging arguments, debates, problems for analysis, and intricate statistics that you could care about, as school conspicuously [is] not.” Through sports, Graff learned many things that school intended to teach him, but never did. Graff believes that if schools were to realize the connection between a student’s interest and academics, and then help the students to recognize the link, the student will go farther than originally expected.
To achieve this result, Graff suggest making the student’s interests a way of academic study. For example, give a student an assignment to write a paper about videogames. This will make the student interested in doing the work, but that does not mean the student will to it well. “As long as students are required to see these interests “through academic eyes,” that is, to think and write about cars, sports, and fashions in a reflective, analytical way.” Graff’s point is that it does not matter what the topic is, a paper can still be dry if it is not written in a well thought out way. Therefore it is the school’s job to teach the student to think and write that way.
I agree with Gerald Graff in that schools should use a child’s interests to help them learn, but I think schools should be aware of other methods as well. Schools and teachers should have an arsenal of teaching methods designed to help students having difficulty with the standard method. Graff’s method should be in the arsenal, but it shouldn’t be the only one, for I do not think it applies to everyone.
My case in point is myself. When I was in grammar school, I was not athletic and very unsocial. I didn’t read magazines or books, listen to music, or go to other houses to play. I was only interested in my dollhouse and Littlest Pet Shoppe toys. I was not horrid a school, I had mostly Bs and Cs, with usually an A in art and music. The most difficult thing I remember doing, was learning to read. My teacher decided to use a new method designed to make us read faster with thoughts on helping us later on in the ACTs. We were to memorize what the word looked like and to read a sentence by memory. We were not taught to read the word, sounding out the letters, just to recognize it.
As you can imagine, this method worked for some but not for others, I was one of those others. I stumbled and fell over one-on-one tests with the teacher, where she held up a flashcard and if I didn’t say the word instantly I would fail. Because of this method, I had trouble learning to read, and even now, years later, I still find myself having to make myself slow down and sound out the word in front of me. This would have been a perfect time to use a different method, but Graff’s method does not apply.
Graff’s method is for people who are bad at school because they are occupied with life. My life was school; I loved it even though I had some difficulties. Graff’s method is designed to help struggling students get interested in school, and I think it is a very good and important method to know, but I don’t think it is the only one. Schools need to be aware of a number of methods designed to help in different situations. Methods for reading, writing, mathematics, science, and even art and music, should be numerous and diverse. No child is alike; therefore, they do not learn the same way.
Engaging in a child’s interests is a very clever idea, but it is not the only one. The methods used should be ads diverse as the children being taught. Once schools realize this, they can help more children that they thought possible.

Here it is now

What a shame it is when a bright and clever child fails at school. If only they had the discipline to apply themselves, they could go far. But is that really the problem here? Is it the child’s fault for not being successful? In his essay, Hidden Intellectualism, Gerald Graff argues that it is the school’s fault for the child’s failure. He claims that schools fail to attract the attention of certain students because schools do not teach things that students can relate to. He suggests schools should cover the “subjects that interest [the students] rather than those that interest us.” That is not to say, however, that academics should be thrown out the window and replaced by sports and video games. Graff urges that the use of a student’s interest “is not simply to exploit students’ nonacademic interests, but to get them to see those interests through academic eyes.” What Graff is saying here is that schools should use a student’s interest as a gateway to link academics to life.
Graff himself tells about how he, as a child, did not do well in school and was only interested in sports. It was not until later in his life that he realized sports had taught him more than school ever did. “Sports after all [is] full of challenging arguments, debates, problems for analysis, and intricate statistics that you could care about, as school conspicuously [is] not.” Through sports, Graff learned many things that school intended to teach him, but never did. Graff believes that if schools were to realize the connection between a student’s interest and academics, and then help the students to recognize the link, the student will go farther than originally expected.
To achieve this result, Graff suggest making the student’s interests a way of academic study. For example, give a student an assignment to write a paper about videogames. This will make the student interested in doing the work, but that does not mean the student will to it well. Graff says, “As long as students are required to see these interests “through academic eyes,” that is, to think and write about cars, sports, and fashions in a reflective, analytical way.” Graff’s point is that it does not matter what the topic is, a paper can still be dry if it is not written in a well thought out way. Therefore it is the school’s job to teach the student to think and write that way, and the use a student’s interest can make it easier.

I agree with Gerald Graff in that schools should use a child’s interests to help them learn, but I think schools should be aware of other methods as well. Schools and teachers should have an arsenal of teaching methods designed to help students having difficulty with the standard method. Graff’s method should be in the arsenal, but it shouldn’t be the only one, for I do not think it applies to everyone.
My case in point is myself. When I was in grammar school, I was not athletic and very unsocial. I didn’t read magazines or books, listen to music, or go to other houses to play. I was only interested in my dollhouse and Littlest Pet Shoppe toys. I was not horrid at school; I had mostly Bs and Cs, with usually an A in art and music. The most difficult thing I remember doing, was trying to learn to read. My teacher decided to use a new method designed to make us read faster, thinking that if students could read faster, they would do better in high school when they took the ACTs. We were to memorize what a word looked like and then read a sentence by memory. We were not taught to read a word, sounding out the letters, just to recognize it.
As you can imagine, this method worked for some but not for others, I was one of those others. I stumbled and fell over one-on-one tests with the teacher, where she held up a flashcard and if I would have to say the word instantly or else I would fail. Because of this method, I had trouble learning to read, and even now, years later, I still find myself having to make myself slow down and sound out the word in front of me. This would have been a perfect time to use a different method, but Graff’s method does not apply.
Graff’s method is for people who are bad at school because they are occupied with life. My life was school; I loved it even though I had some difficulties. Graff’s method is designed to help struggling students get interested in school, and I think it is a very good and important method to know, but I don’t think it is the only one. Schools need to be aware of a number of methods designed to help in different situations. Methods for reading, writing, mathematics, science, and even art and music, should be numerous and diverse. No child is alike; therefore, they do not learn the same way.
Engaging in a child’s interests is a very clever idea, but it is not the only one. The methods used should be as diverse as the children being taught. Once schools realize this, they can help more children then they thought possible.

My paper as of now

What a shame it is when a bright and clever child fails at school. If only they had the discipline to apply themselves, they could go far. But is that really the problem here? Is it the child’s fault for not being successful? In his essay, Hidden Intellectualism, Gerald Graff argues that it is t he school’s fault for the child’s failure. He claims that schools fail to attract the attention of certain students because schools do not teach things that students can relate to. He suggests schools should cover the “subjects that interest [the students] rather than those that interest us.” That is not to say, however, that academics should be thrown out the window and replaced by sports and video games. Graff urges that the use of a student’s interest “is not simply to exploit students’ nonacademic interests, but to get them to see those interests through academic eyes.” What Graff is saying here is that schools should use a student’s interest as a gateway to link academics to life. Graff himself tells about how he, as a child, did not do well in school and was only interested in sports. It was not until later in his life that he realized sports hod taught him more than school ever did. “Sports after all was full of challenging arguments, debates, problems for analysis, and intricate statistics that you could care about, as school conspicuously was not.” Through sports, Graff learned many things that school intended to teach him, but never did. Graff believes that if schools were to realize the connection between a student’s interst and academics, and then help the students to recognize the link, the student will go farther than originally expected. To achieve this result, Graff suggest making the student’s interests a way of academic study. For example, give a student an assignment to write a paper about videogames. This will make the student interested in doing the work, but that does not mean the student will to it well. “As long as students are required to see these interests “through academic eyes,” that is, to think and write about cars, sports, and fashions in a reflective, analytical way.” Graff’s point is that it does not matter what the topic is, a paper can still be dry if it is not written in a well thought out way. Therefore it is the school’s job to teach the student to think and write that way.

Hidden Intellectualism - Thought Path

Gerald Graff(apostrophe)s main argument is that students do not recognize their personal talents as intelligence because academia does not acknowledge them to be so (period)(space space)Therefore(comma) schools should realize(comma) and help students realize(comma) the connection between students(apostrophe) personal interests and academics(period)(space space)Graff suggests a couple of step on how to help students make the connection(period)(space space)First(comma) give the students a topic to write about that interest them like sports(comma) cars(comma) videogames(comma) etc(period)(space space)Second(comma) help the student to analyze the topic and see the relations between the topic and modern culture(comma) helping them to relate that to their writing(period)


Gerald Graff’s main argument is that students do not recognize their personal talents as intelligence because academia does not acknowledge them to be so. Therefore, schools should realize, and help students realize, the connection between students’ personal interests and academics. Graff suggests a couple of step on how to help students make the connection. First, give the students a topic to write about that interest them like sports, cars, videogames, etc. Second, help the student to analyze the topic and see the relations between the topic and modern culture, helping them to relate that to their writing.

Exercise 2, 38 agree with curcumstance.

In his article "Don't Blame the Eater", David Zinczenko tells about childeren suing McDonald's for making them fat. He agrees that it is the fast food chains' fault for the childeren's obesity, in that the chains make the unhealthy food and they don't place nutritional information in eyesight. Also, fast food chains spend large amounts of time and money in advertisement campaigns, time and money that could be used in better ways. Zinczenko disagrees, howerever, that tehere should be lawsuits against the companies. Even though the companies are selling health hazardous food with no warning labels, he belives it is not only the fault of the companies, but of the consumer as well. Even with his beliefs, he would not be surprised to see lawsuits in the future and warns his readers that they could be next.

Exercise 2 pg 38 disagree

In his article "Don't Blame the Eater", David Zinczenko argues that childeren are overweight because fast food was the only choice for a meal. He tells about the limited eating options for a child whose parents had no time to cook. Because of the lack of inexpensive and convenient food sources, he was forced to eat fast foos. He insists that the lack of alternatives was made worse by the lack of nutrition. Zinczenko states that a seemingly healthy salad, said to have 150 cal., has an additional 190 cal. from the almonds and noodles, not to mention the 280 cal. salad dressing you add later. Zinczenko belives that the lack of quick and healthy eating options are the reasons why people are overweight.

I disagree with Zinczenko in that there are, in fact, a number of convenient, inexpensive, and nutritional resautrants in the market today: Subway, Potbellies, Panera, and Boston Market being a few of them.

Exersice 2, pg. 38

In this exersise in "They Say, I Say" we, the students, had to sumemrize an article in two different ways. One way was to disagree and the other to agree with a circumstance.

I found this exersise very intersting. I learned that I could tell two very different stories with the same information. And in that, spin the information to strenghten my own argument. Once again, I found the exersice to be very beneficial.

First Off

Possibly the best example of a website that may or may not show what people are saying is http://news.aol.com/ . This website posts several current events and reports on them, People then are free to comment on the articles. I have found the comments to have very mixed views. Some of them start with what the article is talking about and trying to address it while stateing thier opinion on the topic. While others satisfy themselves by picking fights with eachother and ignoring the fact there are issues out there. In one article about the missing Nicaraguans after Hurricane Felix. The comments range from people saying there should be more help out there and we are sitting in our plush sofas while there are people in need floating somewhere in the ocean, to "IF PEOPLE GO FISHING, DO FISH GO PEOPLING?". So I have mixed ideas about this website. It both shows people addressing and failing to address the topic.