Wikipedia and What Did I Learn?

Wikipedia



When I think back on my past years in school, I do not remember any of my teachers accepting any information from the source of Wikipedia. I was always told that it was unreliable, but I never knew why it was not reliable. I now know why; people can go on to Wikipedia and edit stuff they do not want on their article, and add stuff to make them sound better. As I watched and read, I could not believe the people who have already edited their article so they would not look bad. My point is, do the right thing, and you will not have to change or edit stuff about you. I think that what Virgil Griffith did with his idea of creating a program that could track the people changing is the article is great. The only thing is Virgil said is that you could use a personal computer to change it, and it will not be linked to your company or you. I say they don't have something to track personal computers now, but technology is changing.

I do think that people will think twice on editing things now just in case there is a way to track you even on a personal computer. I think this will help Wikipedia out. I believe once people start catching on that you will be seen changing items; they will stop doing it and Wikipedia will become more reliable. Virgil started a tradition, and I think people will catch on to it and other people will start making programs to track everywhere.

Now for the question of will I trust it. I will look at it, maybe to get an idea, but I don't think I will be able to trust it to the extent of using only that for a source. I would rather not be caught sourcing false information and have my grade or fellow students let down. Until Wikipedia has full control on who and what can change the information; I will just use it to start the research and find items linked to it that are more reliable.

What I've Learned This Year

His first point that he made about the crowd, I agree with completely. I believe that you should let the student drive the car on the road to success, which means that you should not center the lesson plans around you and the content. The students are a big point in your job, and they are comprehending the material.

The second point he made was to be flexible. I have been thinking to myself as I go through my classes on how I am going to teach. I was afraid that I would make mistakes, but what he said was that if you make a mistake, just turn around, fix it, and keep going - don't worry about it. So just "brush it off and try again". The comment about continuing with a smile hit home. I was at a dance competition when I fell during a dance. I got right back up and kept smiling and continued to dance. When we heard the tape review from the judges, they did not even notice me falling because I did not show it in my face because I kept smiling.

The point about communication I also agree with. You need to make a good connection with fellow teachers and your students. It makes both your job and life better. It is hard to face the world by yourself.

There was also a point about being reasonable. I did not think about that. I understand that we do not need to set the bar too high for success. It only hurts students when they do not reach it.

Do not give up on technology. I figured that out this year; things keep changing, and we need to keep up. We cannot let our students pass us, or we will let them down. We just have to keep trying, and we have to continue learning.