October 14 - 24, 2014
Classwork October 14-24: Design a blog for reflections, assignments, and activities.
Homework: Finish creating blog and first blog post by Friday, Oct 24 at 3:10 PM. [30 points - 10 class participation, 20 formative]
Requirements:
- Set up your blog through Blogger which requires a gmail account. Go into your gmail account and click on Blogger. It will then walk you through what to do.
- Title your blog [LastnameTOK1B or LastnameTOK1C or LastnameTOK1E] depending on the class you are in.
- Email Ms. McDowell with the link to your blog (cmcdowell@sturgischarterschool.org).
- You may create a profile under Edit Profile but avoid putting any personal info (no photos of yourself, no full name, no address, no school name, or any other identifying info).
- Examples of the type of blog post I'm looking for can be found here: http://edorigami.wikispaces.com/file/view/blogging+rubric.pdf
- Blogging rubric can be found here.
First post assignment:
- Title your first blog post as 'Why TOK?'
- Part A: Find a picture, video, comic, article, etc. that helps answer the question "Why do TOK?" and post it to your blog. Explain in at least 4-5 sentences why that piece of media was chosen and how it helps to answer the question "Why do TOK?"
- Part B: Look at the IB Learner Profile. Choose at least one IB learner profile trait and explain in at least 4-5 sentences how Sturgis, as a community, does not exemplify that attribute as well as it should/could. Please avoid talking about an individual student or teacher and think about the community as a whole.
Example of a blog post:
Why TOK?
Part A:
Video:
Average Person Becomes Unhinged Psychotic When Alone In His Own House (1 min 44 sec)
One reason that the IB wants students to take a course like TOK is to teach us to be critical consumers of media. Everyday we are exposed to news reports, the results of the latest study, YouTube videos, Facebook posts, etc. and need to make decisions as to who and what to believe. TOK helps to fine tune our critical thinking skills so that we are able to examine the source and content of a particular piece of media. While it's not practical to be overly skeptical, it is not wise to let yourself be easily fooled. The video that I choose comes across as a professional study, yet the content is a joke. Someone familiar with
The Onion will automatically know that it's not real but someone who is not familiar with
The Onion needs to decide whether to believe what's stated in the video or not. TOK can help us learn what questions to even ask when we are examining a source.
Part B:
While the Sturgis community tries very hard to exemplify all of the IB Learner Profile traits, I think that we could do better in terms of the trait "Caring." For example, almost every classroom has a box for recycling paper and a box for recycling bottles and cans yet we produce so much trash. Much of what ends up in the trash can be recycled. Our school, made up of over 400 students and staff, produces a lot of waste each day. I know we can do better in terms of recycling and respect for the environment (and current and future generations!) because I have seen recyclable material in the trash cans. I also witness students and teachers throwing away recyclable materials almost every day! We need to be more mindful and caring of the environment if we want to make a positive difference in the world around us as the IB definition suggests.
