‘Weblogs as an emerging genre in higher education”

1)    What according to the author is the value of weblogs in higher education?
The article is about the establishment of weblogs as an identity of web based communication. Education in higher levels will be always be influenced by the weblogs because weblogs are the source of communicating effectively will students all over. Weblogs in a form of blogs increases one’s intellectuals and it also encourages unique individual critical voices, sentimental views and expressions. Weblogs serves as a platform where student or researcher can cite information. It can lead to plagiarism where students no longer want to think for themselves they take information on other blogs without acknowledging the writer. Weblogs are there to make our lives a little bit easier in communicating and finding and acquiring information.

2)    What has been your experience with blogs as a student?
My experience with weblogs was a trilling one because I got to learn new things about learning in the 21^st century. Weblogs made it easier for me to communicate with my fellow classmates and lecturers concerning academics. What fascinated me is that I can now submit work online without printing any physical copy. Weblogs helped with the exposure of the essay that I wrote throughout out my community, I wrote about “My teaching philosophy”.S

How can the effective use of blogs be improved in order to make them a meaningful learning tool for students?
A blog is an ideal tool that can be used by students in improving their learning practices and experiences. Blogging should be added as a compulsory module especially to us student teachers because it will allow us to participate in addressing problems faced in our country. That is where now different point of views will arise and we will also be aware that different communities face different problems. Every student should write an essay that must be blogged and hyperlinked into various social networking sites (i.e. twitter, facebook and Instagram) because everyone this days uses these social networking sites. This will cause a positive set of mind around people you communicate with on social media. It will make them to comment on useful texts rather than the love letters and disgusting images that people usually post on social media.

Movie review: FANTASTIC MR FOX

Movie review: fantastic Mr Fox

The movie was released on the 13^th of November in 2009. It was originally written by Ronald Dahl. The movie is about a Mr Fox, he was well known for stealing food from 3 farmers. The farmers were Boggis, Bean and Bunce. The 3 farmers came with an idea to kill Mr Fox. Their plan was to shoot Mr Fox when he was about to come out of his house. The farmers eventually failed to kill Mr Fox but they shot his tail off. The farmers tried out different strategies to kill Mr Fox but he was way too smarter than them.

The differences between the book and the movie was at the beginning of the movie Mr and Mrs Fox used to steal the food together whilst in the book they never mentioned that part, he was going alone when went to steal. The story in the book was so short, in the movie they had to add additional scenes that were not documented in the book. Another big difference was after they make themselves get caught, Mr Fox promises to give up the everyday life of stealing for their safety and becomes a newspaper writer for the local paper The Gazette. Other differences was that Mr Fox and his associates decided to fight back while in the book was never mentioned.

I enjoyed the movie so much especially the violent part of it where the Mr Fox and his associates were fighting against the farmers. I think the movie is not suitable for children because it promotes violence, stealing and the language is not good. The message that I got from the movie was that we must learn to fight back.

My final school year

Sihlengiwe Secondary School is the name of the school where I matriculated. It is located in a small village called Wolvenkop in Mpumalanga province. In my matric classroom, we were about 38 learners.

My family's history was the one that made me to choose the type of subjects that I chose when I was in matric. Apart from the three subjects that where compulsory, which were isiNdebele home language, English first additional language and Life Orientation. The four subjects that I chose were Mathematics, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Geography. I completed matric in 2015. Our matric pass rate at school was 92.3% and it was an improvement than the class of 2014.

Google map

  

Photos from school

The first two pictures were taken during the winter camp in Wolvenkop special school. The last picture was taken during the final exams, on that day in the picture we were writing our last paper. I enjoyed most of the papers that I wrote during final exams especially mathematics and physical sciences paper 2. I would be delighted one day if I can have a chance to teach the matriculants.

At my school we were not using technology that much because there were no computers that were used by learners. The technology that was used by teachers at my school was a projector that was only used by our Geography teacher to show us some of the slides then we would take notes. She was the only teacher that used technology. We were not allowed to carry cell phones during school hours.

Teaching as my ideal kind of career

Teaching has been my kind of career since I was a little boy. Teachers are the most important people in our daily lives, without them we would not have any other careers because all of the learning begins at school. At school, it is where many careers are shaped. As a person who was made inferior when growing up I would like to help children in accomplishing their dreams, so that I can be proud of myself that at least I am capable of playing a role in helping children archive their dreams. I would like you to join me as take I take you through my teaching philosophy because it is where now you could be able to see how the children would be lucky to have me as their future educator, parent and also as their friend.

Firstly, I will be doing what all the teachers are expected to do which is teaching learners basic things. Basic things that would enable children to be literate. Obviously children need to learn  vowels and then followed by learning alphabets before you can teach them how to read and write. The aim is to teach basic things like learning how hold a pencil or a pen. I believe that if a child can know the basics then everything will be much easier.

My goal as a teacher is to first become a role model to learners because that is where I can be able to have all their attention and that is where they will get to respect me. As I have already mentioned that I want to become more than just a teacher to them. I do not want them to be afraid because they will not be able to ask when they do not understand. If they are afraid of me, they might even be afraid to tell me when nature calls, that is when they want to use the toilet. So it is so important to develop a good relationship with my learners. When I was in matric last year I had a good relationship with my physical sciences teacher, we were more like friends because I shared many things with him especially those ones concerning school work and also those issues concerning my personal life. I would then make sure that I was top the top student at his class. This is the type of relationship that I want with my learners at all times.

I have always seen myself as a teacher because at my school I used to assist many learners ever since I reached FET phase. Throughout my twelve years of learning I had experienced different styles of teaching that has been used by different educators. I could see which teaching methodology the teacher is not presenting accordingly, then I will make it a point that I rectify the mistakes that they have been making. The mistakes that many teachers make are not checking the backgrounds of struggling learners so that you can be able to attend to the situation in trying to save their problems. In high schools there were problems like learners with children they cannot maybe attend in the afternoons and so on. These are the issues that a teacher must try to solve.

As a future foundation teacher I need to tackle issues that are inhibiting foundation phase learners to not develop accordingly. These issue are may be emotional, physical even environmental factors. We can think of many things that can affect the child’s life and as a teacher I have to know what must I do to solve those problem. Poverty is a major problem especially when children are at home because how can they develop properly if they do not eat nutritious food. These days children receive meals during break time at school but what about in the morning and after school? That is where now I come in and act as a potential parent of the child. What I will do firstly in will take the matter to the social workers cause that is where he or she can find help but I know it will not be an easy route to take.

According to my way of viewing things I think the educational system of South Africa is not good at all compared to other education systems of other counties. Only in my own class the passing mark will not be thirty percent as they have stipulated. I will set a goal for myself and for my learners that they should aim to pass by at least fifty percent across their subjects. I know it might sound a little difficult but it is goal that I am setting up for myself. Maybe at the end I might not get that hundred percent pass rate but I know if I do not get the target that I had set for myself, I will come up with other teaching styles that will make other learners to pass as well.