mY NeXT Year's Classes

High Levels:
1 Language A Mongolian :)- Because it's a class that I can score high
2 Humanities- A class I must take, because it's related to my career that I am considering...
3 Language B English- A class that I can SURELY ace, I hope :P
Standard Levels:
1 Art- I wanted to have it HL, but had no choice....i love art, although im not really good at it
2 Biology- its okay, Im so-so at it.......... The only choice i had from the Science classes (I suck at chemistry and the other thingy)
3 Math Studies- :P I can NEVER be good at math...has been crappy at it since 2nd grade! (in 1st grade i think i got a B, and in all my life, I've only aced ONE math test, in 6th grade!!! Hoorraaay )

Yepppp....The classes I wanted to take- Business management, art HL, Bio HL.....
i AM SOOO Glad that I dont have to take real Math, and to get rid of Mr. Rickets. Sad that I wont be having IT.... Looking forward to TOK!!! but not Thompson...:P
Good luck yall for your IB years guys! (if anyone reads this...)

Personal Technology Interview

Interviewer: Nandy (Moi)
Interviewee: Mr. Thompson
1) What personal and/or entertainment technology do you sue regularly?
I use Ipone, Ipod, big screen plasma, laptop, internet, and computer accessories....
2) Which of these do you think would be the hardest to give up? Why?
Iphone and the internet. I can't choose between them. They keep me in contact with friends, acquire daily news and other media.
3)When was the lsat time you were "tech-free" (personal/entertainment technology only)? How did you feel about it?
2 years ago in Laos, because there were no technology around, so I was busy with other things....
4) When you go on vacation, which technology items do you take with you?
The usuals: laptop, iphone, and ipod.
5) How have things changed since you were a kid?
When I was a kid, technology was blooming, so it was interesting, but not as much as now. It was new and exciting....

Journal for Unplugged

Monday
I tried really hard, and i was determined to fulfill the goal....It was pretty weird having no way to contact,I told my family about my project, they seemed supportive, but by the midday my parents began to get fed up by me not answering the phones or refusing to talk to them. :)
I had ballet class yesterday, so I had to contact my big brother to come and pick me up, but I didn't, but he came anyways. He tried to make me talk on the phone purposely, saying that he needs to tel me something veeery important, and I knew he was bluffing. When I asked him to give me ride to my ballet school, he said that a car was a technology, and that I shouldn't be using it.I told him that I can use cars, but he acted as if he didn't believe me. He made me walk. But I walked until the nearest bus stop, and took a public bus...I was surprised that it cost so little, and it took such little time. I've taken public buses before, but it has been a while, about 5 years i think. I could go on without ipods, laptops, and TV, but giving up my cell phone was the hardest. Since I cook, babysit, and clean, I need a lot of communication with my parents. It was hard, but I got through the day, but I was worried about Tuesday, about how I might be late for school without an alarm clock to wake me up.
Tuesday
I woke up without the alarm clock, my dad woke me...School finished at 3:15, and I had to call my car, but I couldn't. Its very frustrating to be able to do something, but you just cant, even if you want to. My sister called the car, and we went home. My parents were really annoyed at me, and the project. Just like the usual routine, i cooked my baby brothers food, and the family dinner. I regret cooking because I could've told my parents that I mustn't use microwaves and stoves, so that I can take a break from cooking. After, I did a bit of homework, on my laptop, and honestly I didn't do things on it I wasn't supposed to, I was eager to read, then continued reading the awesome book. I don't really use the home phone, or the cell phone to call friends, I just use them to contact people when its necessary. Usually, this was my daily routine, unless I want to go out to hang out with friends, which rarely happens really, so I went to bed at the usual time, which is way past midnight. So to be frank, there wasn't that much a difference, except the cell phone part. I was worried about Thursday, because I had to go out to buy some things, which means I have to use my phone....
Wednesday
Well, wednesday was almost the same as tuesday...............I went home, cooked, read, worked on my laptop, printed a few essays, and contacted my Science partner, because it was school related, and it was an emergency...I think it was easier for me than some people to go through this project because:
1) I don't watch TV at all. Except MTV, but i don't have MTV anymore.
2) Our internet was off, and I'm not really addicted to internet like most people.
3)I can survive without my ipod....as long as I keep myself concentrated really hard when I'm cooking.
4)I'm okay without a laptop.....I do things on my laptop only when I have time...
Thursday
I couldn't straighten my hair...so I had to go around with messy hair for the week....I've been good through the day...after school I went to a classmates house, and then I had to meet with a person and go shopping for things. Well.....I HAD to contact the person, so I did....I texted and called by my cell phone....:P
After I was done with the business I had to take care of, I went home and I didn't use technology....until I had to text a person to arrange a meeting for tomorrow about the performance we were doing at prom on Saturday.... Also, to prepare and practice for my performance, I used my laptop (Itunes) Yeaah I'm guilty about the using the phone part, but really, I don't think the itunes part was that bad, really, it was related to school (Student Council) and our supervisor DEMANDED us to practice.... Still, didn't change the fact that I used technology...
Friday
Friday was fine because School ended at 3:15, and after that I am free...I got through, anyways, my ipod wasn't charged and left at home....and we're not supposed to use our cell phones during school...
:) and so my UNPLUGGED project was over....
I was freee!!!

From this project, I knew that our society was becoming more and more dependent on technology, but I have to say that I was impressed at how I really wasn't as bas as others people........

The Unplugged

Our next unit on our IT class is the "Unplugged" (OME)
For five days, we are to not use ANY electronics/technology...even HAIR STRAIGHTENERS!~~
We must keep a daily journal about our unit....and if we cheat, we must do a report on an article that Mrs.Wilson gave us.
The exceptions are: use laptops or a certain electronics for school use only, e.g calculator. And home phones are allowed.....
We'll see how things go :P

Trip to Reality

A week ago, the tenth grade class went to the ger district to help a family help build a fence. This project was called " Exposure vs Enclosure"
The majority of citizens living in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia are living in the ger district, a ghetto district where citizens live in a ger, which is a four walled hut like house, publicly known as the "yurt".

Our project's goal was to learn how to make a fence, in order to help build a fence. But rather than just learning about building a fence, our class learned about an average person's, and an average human's rights and life (aka Maslow's Hierarchy). In the beginning, we were studying it in class, picturing it in our minds, but later on we saw it in real life from our trip to the ger district, about how a persons' life lacks privacy, safety, fuel, belonging, and self esteem.

At 12:30 pm, set off to the ger district, missing the rest of the lessons that were held until 3:10, plus the after school activities. Along with our class, came Mrs.Wilson, and Mrs.Griffith, supervising us. Throughout the ride, we passed ger-district-related places, such as the "Tsaiz zah", the biggest wood market, where people from the ger district collect pieces of wood to burn at night, or sell. Our planner/guide, Mrs. Griffith was telling us different stories related to our project. She runs a NGO called "Flourishing the Future", which provides 38 families with food. She also runs a non profit/free school for children who live nearby.
When we got to the district, we had a small tour, exploring, and hearing stories about what the Flourishing the Future had done for people, adn how fast the ger district got bigger within a few years.
After the tour we visited the family whom we were helping. From prevous visit of the grade 9's, we saw that they've dug a small hole, and also started a hole for a toilet. We finished digging the holes, it was a lot of fun and a lot of hard work. It felt good to know that I've done a good deed, and even the soreness that came afterwards felt awesome. :)

Wikiality Group Project

A. Investigate

Wiki, a collaborative website whose content can be edited by anyone who has access to it.//--> People from all around the world posts an article on a wiki website (free encyclopedias such as Wikipedia). Students and even teachers, and everyone else use this free information because you can very easily find your desired information. But the limitation lies within the article: it is very unreliable, even though the admin and other users correct mistakes, because of the fact that anyone can edit.
Our task is to learn as much as possible about Wikipedia. Numbers of amounts of students including us, use this site as a “reliable” source. We are to find errors in wiki articles, and see for our selves that it’s rather unreliable. Unreliable because, as mentioned above, any person disregarding to race, sanity and intelligence have access to it can edit it. Most of us, as high-schoolers know the consequences from using these types of sites, but middle and primary school students usually do not know about it. We are to learn about Wikipedia, how it works; to understand that it really is not worthy to get a bad grade.
Wikipedia gets its info from everyone who has access to editing it (basically anyone), which means that anyone can change it too. Mostly the admin decides what goes to the site and what not, but people edit them. Even though there’s supervising, it is still risky, because there are still hundreds of thousands of articles that needs to be checked, and we don’t know if the information is true or false. In my opinion, from the experience of using Wikipedia for 4 years now, most of the information that I’ve searched about seemed true and right, but I would never know unless I go around wasting my time checking. Wikipedia can be reliable, but not as much as real encyclopedias. To know if a particular article is accurate, I’d search the same thing on other approved encyclopedias, and compare it the wiki article. Or, I might check the article’s last revised date, its references and citations.
To check if Wikipedia is accurate:
Ø Compare
· Search a desired article
· Get another encyclopedia (approved, web based or book)
· Find the same information.
· Compare it to the article, and check if the wiki article is true and right.
Ø Search a topic I know by heart.
· Compare the article to the information I know. (Topics such as I.S.U)
(This blog and this criterion is not finished)

Crierion B

The International School of Ulaanbaatar in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, is a private, coeducational day school, which offers an educational program from preschool through grade 12 for students of all nationalities. Permission to run the School was granted by the Mongolian Ministry of Education in May 1992.
The school is governed by a multi-national board, including representatives of parents and embassies. In 2008 there were around 60 staff members. Most of the School's income derives from tuition, with some additional funding by the US Government. (link:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_School_of_Ulaanbaatar)
My line: "Which offers all three programs of International Bacclaurate Program: PYP, MYP, and DP"
The accurate resource:
1) "History." International School of Ulaanbaatar. 2009. International School of Ulaanbaatar. 7 May 2009 http://www.isumongolia.edu.mn/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1&Itemid=3.

Design Specification:
1) I will include accurate information about the IB diploma program.
2) I will include what the IB diploma offers
3) I will include the three IB programs, what are they, how they work, what are its'benefits...etc

To make my correction really accurate, I would take notes from the ISU handbook for students of 2011, because it broadly introduces to the DP programme.
I would ask from the receptionist for an official handbook of ISU, to research on the MYP, PYP programme.
The IB programme itself is defined on the official school page, so I would use that as my source, also the official IB world school web site http://www.ibo.org/
After checking all my information are true and accurate, I would know that I've done a fine job.


Criterion C
Steps taken to edit and change the ISU article in Wikipedia:
Log in to Wikipedia, using the ISU username and password.
Choose the part/paragraph you want to change,
Below the article is a small link that says "edit", click that,
Edit the paragrah/make changes you want.
After you finish editing, click one of the the buttons called "Save changes"; " Show preview"; or "Show changes"
After you are completely satisfied with the changes you've made,click "Save changes."
Log-Out.
Finito!
I had no problem editing the article. It's very easy.

Criterion E Evaluation
Our aim for this Wikiality project was to learn as much possible about Wikipedia, and why it is not a reliable source for students. We've learnt that it is very easy to edit articles on Wikipedia, so anyone can edit it. Also, we were to find Wikipedia's limitations.
On our Criterion A, we searched for an article that contained an error, so that we could try fixing it ourselves. Finding an article was extremely difficult, I couldnt find any errors, so I spent all my given hours for searching, but in the end, right on the last minute, I decided to edit the same article my partner did, about our school, the International School of Ulaanbaatar. Before editing, we came up with a method to check if there are inaccuracies. Mine was to compare a real encyclopedia article to a Wikipeida, but I never got to use the method.
On criterion B, we posted our plan: what we were going to edti, which paragraph, and what will our own editing will look like. Also, we included our design specification. Mine was:
Design Specification:
1) I will include accurate information about the IB diploma program.
2) I will include what the IB diploma offers
3) I will include the three IB programs, what are they, how they work, what are its'benefits...etc
I cited the web cites I was going to get my information, It was pretty easy to follow through.
The real editing part was very easy. I just had to sign a contract, and use the user name and password the school provided to edit. But before I could do it, my partner had already changed the article. So on my Criterion C, i just had to list all the steps taken to edit an article, and whether or not if I had any difficulties. I didnt, From Criterion C, I really understood how easy it is for someone to edit an artcle, disregarding to that person's sanity and intelligence. So, just then I understod that wikipedia is very unreliable, although it may not seem like it.
From this project, I've learnt thta Wikipedia is very useful, but also unrelable, I'd still use it as a source sometimes, but I'll make sure that there arent any serious inaccuracies, and I'll double check it.
My partner's editing was very accurate, and it was well written also, that it passed her accuracy test. Her article was not changed, so it proves thta it's accurate.

Through the static of web...Notes from IT

In the past intenet was used for:

• email
• reading
• checking websites

2.0 web (wiki,blogs)

• write
• collaborate
• publish

The word blog came from Web log-became blog

Web 2.0-Read and write web