The Shift

    A couple weeks ago in the middle of February started to change the way I felt about warm weather. I woke up early that morning to the sun shining through my windows and the birds chirping by the trees. Earlier that week, I took notice that the weather would reach of 70 degrees today.  This excited others, but not me. I don't enjoy cold weather or abundances of snow fall, but this weather was not something to be happy about. It's February, usually the coldest month of the year. As a kid, my mother would always bundle me up with multiple socks, gloves, a scarf, maybe even a hat. But one thing I never had to give up was my heavy winter jacket. Except for that day.
    I got ready for school, ate my breakfast, and headed out. As soon as I opened the door, the warmth of the sun immediately took over me. It felt good, there was no wind, no clouds, just the sun beating down onto my body, flooding my veins with vitamin D. It smelt like spring, maybe even summer. The smell of sunshine and fresh air combined together made its way through my nostrils, traveling to my brain and suddenly relaxed me. I noticed some of the flowers begin to bloom in my garden. But then, I came back to reality and realize this was not normal. I figured the ground hog may have been wrong this year. But, I made this excuse only to make myself feel better.
   Throughout that day I seen many people praise the warm weather, and only a few question it. However, this made me want question it even more. Global warming is something I've just recently I've took interest in. Not because of other people opinions, not because of what I hear on the news, but because I have seen it firsthand. This lead me into some extensive research about our climate. I found more facts and discovered the effects that other regions are experiencing. Glaciers melting, ocean becoming more acidic, the damns breaking, the snowfall decreasing, all of these are real problems. For the rest of the day I tried to share my research and opinion with as many people as possible just for a chance for them to notice that this is really happening.
     Later that night, the temperatures starting to decrease as the sun went down, just like always. However, this night was different than the rest of the winter. It was not because the day was extremely warm, but because of what the night actually brought to us. There had been rumors that there was going to be a snow fall, but who could believe that while they are sitting outside soaking up the sun? There have been multiple occasions where the meteorologist is wrong, I swore that this had to of been one of them.
    The next morning, I woke up to an even bigger surprise. I woke up early to a text from work telling me that the store will remain closed until further notice. Immediately, I had to look out the window. What do I know? The ground, the trees, my car, the streets, all covered in snow. I'm shocked, how could this be possible? I asked myself, my friends, my families, and they all didn't seem to see this bigger picture. It had to be climate change. The shift in our weather globally. This year there had been all time highs followed directly by all-time lows. I didn't take this experience lightly. Ever since I have been more proactive to climate change more than ever. It had opened my eyes like never before. The earth is ours, we must treat it good in order to be treated good back.

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Personal Inquiry

    The topic for my blog is the relationship between global warming(climate change) and natural disasters. Global warming is a term that refers to the over all increase of earth's atmosphere.("Global Warming"). You may be more familiar with a natural disaster, but it is an event of nature that has catastrophic consequences. ("Natural Disaster"). Examples of this includes tsunamis,earth quakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, mud slides, etc.  In this blog I will explore different realms of the issue and clarify my point that the factors have positive correlation. Through out my post I will explore the phenomenon of global warming and the occurrences of natural disasters as an outcome to them.
    This subject should not only relevant and important to me, but to the world as a whole. These events in nature not only effect our environment, and ecosystems, but also our homes and our lives. This subject has more recently grown onto me when I began to notice first hand that our climate has increased over the years. Although I have only been on this earth for two decades, I've took notice that winter is getting shorter and snow fall is becoming more rare. Recently, in PA, we had a Friday of 70 degrees and a Saturday at 30 degrees with an abundance of snow fall. Personally, this does not seem usual to me, and I am interested in the bigger problem of this.

problem. 
    In regards to this topic, I plan to explore different aspects of this topic. It will include the reasons why this is happening, the precautions we can take, the result of the phenomenon, and ways to protect yourself during a natural disaster. My main focus will be on how the two factors correlate with one another. To make it more interesting, I will like to branch off into different subtopics regarding the main point through out my post. These will include information from NASA, EPA, and more credible, government sources. My over all purpose is to show the relationship between the two events.
   Through my blogging, I hope to learn new information. I am aware that both global warming and natural disasters are a problem and potential threat to the us and our environments. But, I would like to learn new information regarding the topic. For example, I am interested in how to reduce the issue and get more people involved. I expect to discover interesting facts and information, as well as specific outcomes and effects of both. I also hope that through my research and blogging I learn more about my topic and can understand the science and existing factors behind the two events. In a different aspect I am open minded and am interested in hearing different view points regarding the matter.
     For my readers, you should know that this topic is something I feel strongly about and have become more interested in within the past year or so. You should also keep an open mind while reading my blog and take it with a grain of salt. This topic may not be something that's easy to understand, but I will do my best to make it legible for every one. Also, keep in mind that this is something that effects every one, not just certain people or certain regions of the world.

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Citations:

"Global Warming." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2017. 

 "Natural Disaster." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 24 Feb. 2017.

 

Literacy Debate

    In 2008, the NY times released an article called "Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?". The article discusses whether or not reading online is considered "real reading" and  also whether or not it's beneficial to students.  In my opinion, online reading and writing is considered digital literacy. From text, to tweets, to blogs, to articles, all online forms of writing are digital literacy. This differs from traditional literacy because it is not on a hard copy of paper or in a book.
     There are some issues that are acknowledged about reading online. People wonder if this should be considered real reading. Also, whether or not this is beneficial to children/students. In the article, a sentence states that "Traditionalists warn that digital reading is the intellectual equivalent of empty calories." ( Rich 12) This means that it is not good for you and doesn't help you in any way. I disagree, I believe that reading online can be just as good as reading a book. Also, the knowledge you acquire from a great book can be found online. The Internet has every genre, and everything imaginable to suit one's reading desires.
    In contrast to the issues of online reading, there are many benefits as well. One benefit is the fact that the internet can please every ones reading preferences.  It is easy to find online stories and typically doesn't take as long to read as a book. Also, in today's time, many children are more familiar with the computer. This helps because they may feel more comfortable reading from an online source rather than a book. Also, online reading takes place in the simplest of ways and it is better for children to do this rather than watch television. Online reading can also help readers develop skills such as locating information quickly/accurately, bringing together information, and interpreting pictures/videos. This is a way for struggling readers to practice and become stronger. For example, a boy named Hunter who struggled with dyslexia turned to online reading because he felt like the book had to many unnecessary details and he struggled with that. So, for some people digital literacy is an important form of learning.
    While reading this article, one major point stuck out the most to me. In the case of the dyslexic boy named hunter, I was surprised to find out his test scores. On his traditional reading test, he scored below average in the lowest 10 percent.  But, on the digital test he scored in the top quartile range. While most of the other students were the opposite and did poorly on his part of the exam. This shows that digital literacy is in fact more helpful for some people. For the students who struggle with traditional reading, there is still hope. They are able to read online and still obtain important information/skills.
    Lastly, this piece relates to "Pencils to Pixels" in more than one way. First, both articles are about digital literacy in contrast to traditional. In "Pencils to Pixels" the author described how we came to computers from the very first form of writing. Included with that, the author makes sure to add in the details about how traditionalist were afraid to move on to the next invention in terror of it changing things for the worse. In this article, I find the same thing to be true. Educators/ School boards seemed to be concerned with whether or not digital literacy is actually helpful for children. They seemed to be geared more towards the negative connotation rather then the positives. They feel as if the traditional way of doing things is the best and gains the most information/knowledge, even if this is not actually true. Another similarity of the two articles is that both are comparing digital literacy to traditional literacy. In conclusion, digital literacy is a growing subject and traditionalist will have to adapt to the new age of literacy.

From Pencils To Pixels

    In the piece "From Pencils to Pixels: The Stages of Literacy Technologies", the author, Dennis Baron, expresses his view on how writing technology has developed over the years. Even though he admits to using word press and the computer, he believes that technology changed writing. Over the years, new tools have been introduced and then adapted to. All of these tools, and new technology has an impact on how a person writes and thinks of writing. Baron claims "writing itself is always first and foremost a technology, a way of engineering materials in order to accomplish an end." (Baron 117) I agree with this, writing itself is a process, but with new inventions it can be easily influenced/changed.
    Through out history there have been numerous writing technologies created and used. There was first writing instruments such as paint, or clay. Then, the pencil was created and used traditionally to write. Along after the pencil came the type writer, and then the computer. Now there are a bunch of different applications on the computer to write. The one technology of writing that has the biggest impact on my opinion is the type writer. I believe that this changed writing all together. This is the first instrument used that did not require you to physically write down the information onto a piece of paper. Once created, writer things had become easier, faster, and more eligible.
    When I first was taught to write, the writing technology I used was the pencil. If not the pencil, than a pen, or maker, or crayon, but all the same concept. Today, I prefer to use the computer. I usually do all of my writing on google docs or Microsoft word, but I am not limited to that when using the computer. I find that this is the easiest and most convenient technology to use. This is because erasing, retyping, and organizing ideas all works out better for me on the computer. But, for different purposes, I use different writing technologies. If I am simply writing for enjoyment, or to release emotion I will write on paper with a pen/pencil. I do this because it helps me let out my feelings and writing them down is more effective then typing them. Also, if I am trying to remember information I will write it down as well. I've learned that I will typically remember the information I write down more then if I were to type it on the computer.
     I believe that being able to write on the computer has helped me. I've never had good hand writing and I never was forced to write in cursive. So, a lot of the time my finished work would look very sloppy. The computer has saved me from this issue. But, in the same sense, it has held me back from practicing my handwriting. Although, I don't consider this an issue because I assume that for the rest of my college career I will be told to type my work. I view this as a advantage to myself. Other students may have the same issue with their sloppy hand writing, so pixel technology is a life saver for them. I also see pixel technologies as an advantage because of what I referred to in the third paragraph. The fact that it is very simple to erase, and add in information to the writing piece while on the computer. Also, spell check and many other tools are located right on the computer to help you write faster, and much smoother.
    Other than the advantages of pixel technologies, the non-pixel technologies holds some too. The advantage to writing down information manually will help you memorize the text. It also may help you release your emotions into the piece as well. But, there are disadvantages to this form of writing too. Some people may not have good handwriting and the text will not be legible. Also, it can be overwhelming because of all the times you may have to cross out a word, or erase a sentence. It can become messy fast and leave you frustrated.
    As a result of new writing technologies, I believe reading and writing has changed. Now, with the internet in our back pockets, we are much more ready to write whenever. In today's time, people also text, tweet, make status's, post blogs, etc. All of this factors challenge literacy and lead to new ways of writing. Also, along with social media, it opens up a broad range of audience to criticize and critique your work. With that, writing technology is once again in the midst of changing.