My winter break

I went to Lifjell for my winter break with my family and some family-friends. Lifjell is a mountain area close to Bø in Telemark County. I went cross-country skiing and sledding, but for the most part I was just relaxing. When I’m at my cottage I also like to play cards when I’m inside. The weather was really nice, almost like Easter. The last part of my vacation I spent at home with my friends and watched movies. Winter break is now over and I’m back at school. Today we had activity day at Sandvika High School and I went cross-country skiing again and the conditions were pretty good.

The Falklands War

The Falklands are a dense group of more than 740 Islands. These Islands are located 400 miles off the south-eastern tip of South America. The population here is diverse; British, Scandinavian and Chilean. Still, their overhead is the Queen of England.

The Falklands War was fought in 1982 between the United Kingdom and Argentina. The war started with the Argentine invasion and occupation of the Falkland Islands on 2 April 1982. It ended with the Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982. To Argentina this occurrence was considered as a re-occupation of its own territory, and by the UK as an invasion of a British overseas territory. Britain eventually gained victory and the islands remained under British control but Argentina shows no sign of giving up its claim. The war resulted in all 907 deaths, of which 649 were Argentine and the remaining 258 soldiers were British. The political effects of the war were strong in both countries -among other factors, patriotism!

We recognize this patriotism in the movie “This is England”. The movie is set in 1983 and is about a troubled young boy who lost his father in the Falklands War. One day he comes across a few skinheads and they become his best friends. Then he meets “Combo”, an extremely patriotic man and the cute little boy is no longer so cute. We really get to see the impact the war had on England, and how it affected the people.

What students want

In this lecture by Michael Wesch, an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, it is discussed whether the Internet is positive or negative for the student’s education. The technology extends more and more for very day. Each day something new shows up is added at the Internet and to explore the learning through the Internet we have to take risks.

Michael once asked his students: “How many do not actually like school?” Over half of the students raised their hands. Then he asked them: “How many do not like learning?” And there were no hands. Kinds of weird as the students are learning in school…

The Internet is a new type of media used to educate students. At my school every student has his/her own computer, and we use it in every class. And I have to agree; the Internet – for example Facebook can easily distract the students. But we also use Internet for the good; we look up information to learn more. The computer is a device allowing the students to interact with each other during class (and of course outside class as well). This can affect the students both in a negative way as well as in a positive way.

Maybe at times I would learn more if I didn’t have my computer in front of me, but in most cases I wouldn’t. By using my computer I can easier take notes in class and at the same time be attentive to the lecture the teacher is giving.

Michael states that: “We need to move from being knowledgeable to be creating students who are knowledge-able. Meaning able to criticize, analyze, share and evaluate the information we are given. The point is not to remove the Internet access for students, but to teach them how to use the Internet in a positive way.” I agree with this, I think we learn more by using our computers in addition to our textbooks!