Week 5 Assignment

NPR and Wikipedia
I knew about Wikipedia and NPR (National Public Radio) long before this assignment. I often go to Wikipedia to get an overview of the general information about a topic. NPR is my boyfriend's favorite station to tune into on his radio's dial. It is a good place to get the latest news going on in the world, the United States, and in your local area. All Things Considered is my boyfriend's favorite program. I prefer to switch between NPR and AFR (American Family Radio) to get different views on the topics being discussed. Both stations strive to remain unbiased, but I don't think anything can be unbiased. It's always best to go to two sources for the news. Wikipedia gives a dry history of NPR and some general information about the programs on NPR.

See Who's Editing Wikipedia by John Borland
This article was about a man named Virgil Griffith who developed a system that tracks who is editing Wiki articles to make sure that the sources of these edits are not overly biased about the topics. This system is not supported by Wikimedia (owners of Wikipedia) as of right now, but the system is helping to ensure users have the most accurate information. I think that it is admirable of Griffith to develop this system to protect the interests of consumers without being asked to do so. The article doesn't mention if he is making money off of this somehow, but I wonder if there is any profit to be made in a system such as this.
I think that Wikipedia is a good place to find general information about a topic, though obviously not a place to use as a reliable source for your research. They list links at the bottom of the page to places where you can find more information about the topic and a lot of times, those sites listed are good sources.

What I've learned this Year by Mr. McClung
This was a blog about a what Mr. McClung learned in his first year of teaching. He said it was important to listen to your students and to be patient with them and to not be upset when a lesson doesn't go as you planned because it's more important that a students understand the material. He also made a point to say that technology is our friend and should be embraced as a useful tool in the classroom. I think that what he had to say was very insightful and I am very grateful that he was wiling to share this information with everyone. I feel that reading his post will better equip me to be a teacher.