Topic of the Week 3: Facebook Etiquette

Topic of the Week 3: Facebook Etiquette

People across the globe are now spending part of their time in online discussions and blogs. In fact, you are doing it right now. While the Internet provides opportunities for thoughtful discourse, many people may be revealing way too much about themselves online, things that perhaps should remain private.
Who knows what will happen years from now when someone with ulterior motives runs a Google check and finds information and photos that can be used for blackmail or to destroy a person's reputation? For example, good-luck to anyone who wants a job as a teacher in the future if an Internet search reveals photos of the individual participating in unseemly activities or spouting profanity - even years before. (Some people might consider this unfair, but why should a school system take a chance on someone like this when there are so many other applicants who have exhibited better judgment?)

Based on what you have seen from your own peers, what mistakes do you think some teenagers are making online and what advice would you give them to remain safe now and in the future? Please respond to this topic in approximately 300 words by midnight on Friday, October 16. Return later and respond to the comments of at least one other person in approximately 100 words by noon on Sunday, October 18.

When you give examples to illustrate your points, DO NOT CITE STUDENT NAMES!

Just for the record, a recent Time essay and video made me start thinking about this topic.  Preview both before you begin writing.

25 Things I Didn't Want to Know About You
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1877187,00.html

How Not to be Hated on Facebook
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1892800,00.html
Page down to view the video.

Taken from "Parrott AP English Language." Mon. 12 Oct. 2009.

Many people sit at home and watch the evening news. On the news they will sometimes cover a story on starving children or abandon children. How many of us watch that and think I want to make their lives better? Not very many. Well one night watching the news Budi Soehardi thought that very thing. Soehardi is a 54-year-old Indonesian pilot living in Singapore along with his wife. His wife Peggy also felt the need to help these children. Peggy started asking Budi to build rooms for these lost children. At first it was just a few rooms, after awhile that turned into many rooms, which turned into an orphanage. In April of 2002 the Roslin Orphanage opened. The Roslin Orphanage is helping children that have no food, shelter, or parents. Budi and Peggy sometimes have to name the children due to their mothers abandoning them at birth. Roslin Orphanages provides children with living space, health needs, food, and clothing. Rosalin has helped many children of all ages and from all backgrounds of life. The orphanage holds a total of 47 children now when it only started out at four children. I feel that this is very important and more people should consider helping.

cnn heroes

Wynton Marsalis
Jazz musician Wynton Marsalis knows how important education is for youth, but what feeds their minds and souls, he says, often lies beyond traditional classroom walls.
"The most essential thing for the development of kids and their understanding of the world are those things they do that's not school-related -- just any extracurricular activity," the Pulitzer Prize winner said. "When you have activities you learn at a young age, you can do whatever you put your mind to!" I agree with wynton because education is very important and apon how a student learns is by how the school teaches it. I agree with him that you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it. You have to work hard to get to the goals you have set for yourself. He can see the important things in schools like there programs and the extra events that they offer. It gives students the freedom to do what they want.He also talks about kids setting there own goals and doing everything there own way and learning from that.
"I wanted to really be able to see the students develop," Yarborough said. "Once a young person decides they want to be a musician, such as I did in the third grade, they have a support system that takes them all the way through their career."
I agree that once someone sets a goal they should go through with it. No one should ever give up on the goals they set. Trying is key. Never give up on anything always try try again. I think it is a great thing for well known people to take time away from what they normally do and talk to kids at schools and go around to other public places to help others.

CNN Heroes - Jackie

I believe that Betty Makoni should be selected as Hero of the Year. She founded the Girl Child Network in Zimbabwe, an organization that addresses the many sexual assaults of women and girls in the country. In Zimbabwe, it is believed that if a man with HIV or AIDS rapes a virgin, he will be cured. Because of this myth, girls are being sexually assaulted, and are infected with the HIV virus. Betty Makoni says that the youngest girl she had in her program was only a day old. Betty herself was assaulted at the age of 6. She was not allowed to report the incident. After watching her father murdering her mother, she swore to stick up for women and not be silenced. Betty Makoni founded this organization to help these girls get counseling and to save them from a terrible fate. Her work has helped to save 35,000 girls from being assaulted. The program gives the girls medical treatment, gets them back into school, and gives them counseling.
I believe that Betty should be selected because she is fighting for women’s rights with passion. Even though she was traumatized, she has turned thousands of girls’ lives around. Betty believes into standing up for the rights one was given. She stood up for these girls, and because of this, she was banished from her home country. She uses her bad experiences and changes them into miracles for women and girls in Zimbabwe. No one else would stand up for these girls, so she did. I think she is a really great role model. No matter how hard life gets, you just have to pick yourself up and move on and hope that you can make some good out of the bad. She did make good out of the bad. She has saved the lives of thousands of girls, and she is a hero.

TOPIC TWO

Topic 2: CNN Heroes

Throughout the year, CNN highlights people around the world who are considered heroes because of their contributions to their community. Last week a panel of judges narrowed the long list of heroes to 10 and asked the public to vote on the Hero of the Year.

For this week's post, please visit the CNN website and read about the 10 candidates.

In a post of at least 300 words, please select the person you think should be selected and explain why.

As always, please post on the blog. Return to the post later in the week to respond to at least one other student. Please have both finished by Oct. 9, 2009

Taken from "Parrott AP English Language." Web. 7 Oct. 2009.

Cell Phones

As far as I know, Iowa does not have any laws regarding cell phones. I do not think that Iowa should change or create laws to monitor cell phone usage. Talking on a cell phone, to me, is no different than smoking while driving. A person will have just as much distraction smoking as they wouldtexting on a phone. Talking on a cell phone while driving, I think, can be very important. We use cell phones while we drive to get directions. It is easy to talk to a person and have them describe where they are at, than to have him pull over every other mile and get get new directions. Also when a person is driving late at night. They may only be a few miles from home, but they could be super tired. I have done this before, call a person and have them talk to you until you get home. It keeps you awake. So in this case, talking on a cell phone while driving could be life saving. It could keep a person awake, that way they do not drive into a ditch because they fell asleep at the wheel a few miles from home.

To keep Iowa safe, I think that cell phones could be made safer to use. Hands free is an alternative. Even though statistics state that using hands free is just as distracting as holding a phone, it is still safer. A person still has the ability to use both hands to drive, that way they can correct or make a turn with both hands.

I do not see how the state could really regulate a person's use of a cell phone while driving. How could a police officer really know if a person is talking on the phone using hands-free? That driver could be singing in the car. Or how could a police officer know that a person istexting? Maybe that driver is trying to look at a map or type a destination in their GPS?

All in all I can see how less cell phone usage while driving can promote safer driving, however, I do not see how the state can really regulate the usage of it.

Dangers of Texting and Driving---Erin

Texting and driving, what a deadly accident this can cause. I believe this activity should be banned for all ages in the driver's seat, because this not only applies to teenagers but adults too. Currently about 20 states have made texting and driving illegal. Iowa has not made it a law yet, but I think there should be a law passed banning text messaging while driving. Although texting and driving is very dangerous to anyone on the road, some people feel it is necessary to be in-contact with someone else while driving.
One reason why people cannot stop texting while driving is because they always want to be in touch with the outside world. Even though it can cause harm to someone other than themselves, people still keep texting. An example of someone dangering others while texting according to "Time" is of a man driving a trolley in Boston. While he was texting, he slammed into another trolley. Even though people say they are only going to look at their phone for a second, it is enough time to cause an accident. Since people travel at higher speeds, it does not take very long for someone to travel length of a football field in about five seconds. Although not many people think a car accident can happen that fast, it can only take a second to look down at a phone, cross the median, and hit a car head-on.
I do not believe cell phones should be banned in a vehicle. When someone is talking on a cell phone, they are less likely to cause a crash than someone texting. Also many new gadgets have come about to help make this task hands free. I do not think a cell phone for just teens would be effective. In a "Time" article, it explains how it would be difficult to target one age group, because not all police officers know if they are using their cell phone legal or illegal by their age division. I believe that if texting and driving was publicized more, then more people would stop the use of texting if they were haunted by the deadly results.