Myspace a Social Networking Website

MySpace is a popular social networking website offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music and videos for teenagers and adults internationally. MySpace, with 70 million visitors, has become the digital equivalent of hanging out at the mall for today's average person, who load the site with photos, news about music groups and detailed profiles of their likes and dislikes. I find MySpace to be beneficial to anyone as long as safety measures are followed. It is an interactive social network that allows the user to be in touch with people from all over the world and that in itself is a positive experience. The power of the Myspace revolution is indeed growing, and growing extremely fast! The ability for any user to gain a voice is overwhelming, and the ease of communication with friends (and potential new friends) is unsurpassed. It's also an amazing resource for budding bands and solo artists; it has just about made the traditional 'band website' obsolete. Increasing numbers of musicians are relying soley on a Myspace profile to transmit their music and announcements. Believe it or not, social networks have become some of the highest traffic sites on the Web. Millions of people, especially high school and college students, have joined them because of the ease of interactivity between the site's users.

Budgets Cuts :(

With the announcement of potential state budget cuts to education in the near future, local school districts are preparing for the worst — which includes possible teacher layoffs. Florida public schools have been choked by tight budgets for as long as any student or teacher can remember, but 2009 is expected to be an exceptionally tough fiscal year. $284 million from Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ budget will be cut due to the expected $75 million decrease in state funding and over $200 in increased costs; causing teachers to worry not only about Florida’s economy, but also about the future of public school education. I understand that fiscally we are in a difficult time, but what must realize the teacher’s point of view. I do not believe that education should be the area to cut. We do not need to give money to build new stadiums or to break down old stadiums. It is interesting to note that while district leaders of Miami schools are considering school closings that will affect thousands of Miami residents, they are so far unwilling to even think about budget cuts for themselves. It's hard to see how they have the best interests of the students attending Miami schools if they are not interested in making sacrifices themselves. Why should the kids make all the sacrifices? They should be getting the best, not closing the doors of their schools due to a small student population.

When Buying a Personal Computer.....

Often when reading about PC packages you will be confronted with a huge list of specifications which will mean nothing to you if you don't have much knowledge of computer hardware. Some companies may try to confuse you with technical details, hoping that by mentioning large enough numbers you will think the PC is better than it really is. Computer specifications change all the time, but according to the podcast, you have to look for two main things: your budget and what specifically you want to do with your computer. This will help me for my future purchases because no matter how high the technology gets, these two topics will always apply. My favorite qoute from the podcast was "Take your budget and subtract it by 20 percent." It allows you to be upsold in a store and not panic because you will stay within your budget. It also allows you to buy softwares for your computer. I will definitely use all this information the next time I go to purchase a computer.

My Learning Style

Here are my results from the Accelerated Learners website:

http://www.acceleratedlearning.com/method/test_launch.html

The test that I participated in was one from Accelerated Learning. To no surprise, my learning style is musical. Musical Intelligence gives students the ability to think and hear music almost continuously. They recognize, remember, and transform musical patterns to their own. I have always loved to sing and was actually in a chorus group, for a long time. When I study or have to memorize something, I always turn the subject into a jingle. This method always works for me. In the future, I definitely see myself using this instrument in my classroom. Learning about each students learning style will help me find ways to increase their effectiveness in the classroom. It is important for a teacher to realize what type of learner their students are. By knowing where students’ strengths are, a teacher can reach and teach their students to a successful potential. Everyone learns differently and the best way to accommodate students in the classroom is to address a variety of learning styles. This instrument can help me gain a better understanding of how each student learns best.

Becoming a Teacher

Teaching has been a career I have wanted to pursue most of my life. When I was about six or seven I think it hit me lol. I remember playing with my dolls for hours and hours pretending to teach them something I had just learned in school. Now that I am older, my reasons for teaching is not just to play. I want to be a teacher for the simple feeling of knowing that you have an impact on so many children’s lives. Not only within my closer subject, but also with the values that I would bring to the students. Knowing that the students will use many of the skills I teach them everyday of their life is a a very rewarding feeling. If I had to choose one thing that influenced me to become a teacher, I would have to say my dolls lol. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, but what pushed me even more, to become a teacher was my experience in my Early Childhood Education class. In this class I worked with children from the ages three to five. I loved working with them and I had a smile on my face every second of it. Working in that class made me realize that I could do this everyday of my life.