Virtual Learning

The blog I read titled Video Games and Science is about how kids are learning skills you need in the real world through playing video games. It talks about how in role playing games kids have to choose what items to make and sell to help the character through the game. Kids are learning what to sell to make the most money and what price to sell these things at. This relates to the real world because there is always competition in the trading market and you always have to know what is the right price to sell what you have at. I think this is a good way of teaching kids because it is educational and a fun way of learning. I use to play games like this and they taught me alot about selling stuff and how to look for good prices to buy things at. This helped me in the real world because I knew how to save money by buying things that were on sale and saving my money for things I really wanted later in life. Even though i don't still play these kind of games it still has helped me alot in life. It has helped me learn alot and these skills will hopefully help me later in life when I have a job and when I need to start saving for college, a car or even a house. Kids should use these skills they learn to their advantage for the real world because they can help them succeed.

Learning About People All Over the World

I read a blog titled Please Help Abby with Her Homework that was about a little girl that had a school assignment where she had to write to another kid in a different part of the world. Abby wrote about what she liked to do and what activites she did. I think this is a great project becuase it is interesting to learn about other people and where they are from. In third grade I had an assignment like this where i had to write to a friend in the east and i told them about myself. When i got a reply from my pen pal I enjoyed reading their response. They talked about what they also liked to do and some of the activities we both liked. I liked doing this project and I like how they still do it in some school. I think it is interesting that they still do this project and I hope other kids see how great of a learning experience this is because its not every day you get to talk to someone on the other side of the country or even the other side of the world. I hope everyone gets to try this project at least once because when you have pen pals it brings the world together and everyone learns more about each other. Abby gets to learn about her pan pal in Kentucky and I hope she enjoyed learning about that person.

Teachers Different Methods of Reading

I found the blog Shanghai EduBloggerCon very interesting to read. I liked reading about different methods of teaching teachers use and how effective the methods are. I liked some methods teachers use in the classroom while I didn’t like other methods. I liked how this one teacher said that to teach class the teacher first needs to learn about his class and understand how the students like to learn and what is most effective in teaching them. Another teacher told about how she use to publish a news letter in print and now she is emailing it to students and using new technologies to reach out and how effective it is. I like how the teacher tried to reach out to students about education and the importance of education. I also think it is good that teachers are now using new technologies to educate students because it’s the way of the 21st century. I like this method of teaching and I think it would be a very effective way of teaching me.

Justice Finally Served

I read an article, Man convicted in two murders 19 years ago, that was about a man who killed two women and after nineteen years was finally put into jail. The man, Billy Reid, killed Lanell Williams and Lisa Kelly in 1989. There was never enough evidence to prove that Billy Reid killed these two women and the lack of technology didn’t help either. But after the case reopened this year the advancement of technology helped to solve these murders. They found semen on a belt and extension cord that was used to strangle Lisa Kelly and the semen was traced back to Billy Reid. The advancement in technology helped prosecute Billy Reid because they can now read generic blueprints and traced the semen on Billy Reid back to him. I think it is great that they finally tried this man for the murdering of these two women and now they can rest in peace. I think that the advancement in technology finally convicted the man and he got what he deserved. Hopefully now with this technology they can reopen cold cases and serve justice to those who got away with crimes.

Firefighters Honor Those Who Died on 9/11/01

While I was reading the article Local firefighters climb to remember fallen Sept. 11 comrades about firefighters in Denver climbing 110 stories of a building in honor for the firefighters who climbed the 110 story World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001 I felt happy to see that people honor other people for the sacrifices they have to make. Back on September 11th, 2001 the firefighters had to make a choice. The choice to have courage to run into the burning and collapsing World Trade Centers to help save peoples lives knowing that they might not go home to their families that night or they had to make the choice to not go in to help save lives but rather leave knowing they could have made a difference but they didn’t.

The men who went into the building and died as heroes were honored today by firefighters all over Colorado. They gathered downtown at the Qwest building and did the fourth annual Sept. 11 Memorial Stair Climb. In the Memorial Stair Climb firefighters climb the 55 story building twice to honor the World Trade Center firefighters who had to climb the 110 stories of the World Trade Center. I think it’s great that they honored the firefighters like this and it is very encouraging. I don’t usually see people take the time to respect and honor those who deserve it and when I read an article like this it reminds me of all the sacrifices people make for others that they might not even know. I think everyone who makes a sacrifice and risks his life to help others should be honored and given respect for what he has done. It is events like this people could learn from and see how others choices could affect their life.