C4K Summary for February

IbMcClean02
For my first C4K, my assigned student was a student of Mr. Cometti, an edm310 graduate. The student had a really interesting post on WWI and what it would be like if the war had never happened. “What if WWI would not have been started? What if Austria-Hungary had not declared war on Serbia? How would the world be today?” They stated how 37 million lives would not have been lost and women would have possibly not entered the work force as soon. He broke down the casualties of Russia and United States and mentioned how cities also had to be rebuilt due to the war. I enjoyed reading their post because I have never thought about what it would be like if WWI had never occurred! I responded to his blog post by expressing my admiration for their response to the question. They chose both an obvious change, “37million people would have lived longer lives”, and a thought out change, “many women might not have gotten jobs”.

Sophia
For my next C4K student, I was assigned to Sophia in Mr. Sapia’s class. Her blog is terrific and expresses her enthusiastic and positive personality. The particular post I commented on was, “Homework Rules! Or does it?” She posted, “Yes, I LOVE homework. I love it because if I’m having a bad day, homework can help me take my mind of things, and sometimes homework can be fun! I like school, so reveiws to do at home is a wonderful thing, too!” She has a very mature outlook on homework. She described her homework as a review, not time consuming, and sometimes fun. Homework is easy to her because it reviews what she did in class and makes it easier for her to remember. She enjoys the amount of homework her teacher assigns and believed it is a good amount. She then compares her 20 minute max. homework to her mom’s 3 hour homework when she was her age. Her mom did not have the same homework opportunities as she does. She enjoys having Mr. Sapia as her teacher. I commented on how she was very enthusiastic throughout her blog and this particular post. I told her how I did not like homework at her age but I agree with her today. I wish I had the same enthusiasm and outlook on homework she did when I was in fourth grade. I ended my comment advising her to keep her enthusiastic attitude because it will take her far!

Wiremu
Then I was assigned to Wiremu’s blog, a Year 6 student at PT England School in Auckland. His post, The Bush Walk, was about his class’s bushwalk to Omaru Creek. He discussed his dislike of the area of the creek they went to because it smelled terrible and how the teacher seemed to not notice their need for water. After he finally got water and felt more energized, he was very excited to head back to school and hoped he would not have to go back to the creek that smelled like “a dead rat and duck poo”. I enjoyed reading his post and commented on how schools can be so different and similar. I also commented on how their school included outdoor activities in their learning curriculum. I thought this was a great idea and asked if their school has other outdoor activities during the year.

Billy
For my last February C4K, my assigned student was Billy from Baldwin County High School in Mrs. Miller’s 10th grade class. His post was about the puritans and why they came over to America. This post is derived from the class assignment to read “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. He informed his readers that the English Protestant Church formed after the reform of the Roman Catholic Church. Those who wanted to continue to purify their lives grouped together and came to America. There were different “degrees” of puritan’s purity. Average Puritans in the New England Colonies lived longer than people in England. Billy stated, “It is often said that New England invented grandparents, for it was here that people in great numbers first grew old enough to see their children bear children.” I commented on how surprised I was. I did not know there was such a difference in life expectancy and had no idea the New England Colonies were the first to really see grandparents come into the picture. I believed his post was great and informative. I ended by saying, “keep up the good work”.