Biology Is Life !

I actually liked the weekely blog assignments. Because it was every week, it was easy to remember to do as opposed to if they were randomly assigned. Also, I'm on the computer a lot, so it was really easy to check. A positive aspect of the blog was the fact that it deals with present day issues most of the time. It was a good way to learn about what's going on in the world.
As for what I would have done differently: Honestly, I would've taken the assignment more seriously. In the beginning, I realize how important these were. So that would result in me doing more of the blogs, doing more research for them, etc...
I honestly don't think there was a topic that I really disliked. I mean, yeah, some of them were hard to respond to. But none were really that bad. My favorite one was probably the one about people being able to genetically choose their children. I just thought it was interesting and raised good arguements.
To make the blog more interactive, you can turn it into some kind of debate. Pick a topic where there is clearly a 'for' and 'against' side. And people should respond to someone else who has an opposite wiew from them and debate.
 

its james aka hellmanns
this is the earliest i have ever gotten a blog in. WOW


i thought the blog was ok cuz it kept us up to date on current events .
two good things about it as i said are how it keeps u up to date on current events. i think it is also good cuz it allows us to express our views on current issues.
i wish i had faithfully turned all of them in ontime. then my grade would be a little higher
i think it would be better to make the due date like monday night and explain to us about it the tuesday before wut it was about.because i would always put it off til friday then endup being busy that night.
my favorite topic was probably the one about lorenzos oil cuz i had the most to talk about.
i disliked the one about huntingtons disease.
i think a good idea for next year to make it more interactive would be to have a a suggestion box where you can write suggestions for new blogs .
 

1. I liked the blog, for some topics, I was really able to express my opinion and others I learned a lot more about. Some of the topics this year, I had never thought of or even knew about. I think that for those, like me, there should only be 2 blogs a month. I tend to forget things and sometimes I would lose points for forgetting to do that week’s blog. But other than that, I really liked giving me opinion and hearing other perspectives on the topic.

2. Two positive aspects of the blog would have to be that I learned a lot about biology and current events dealing with it and the other would be that I learned a lot about issues that I’ve never heard of or have even thought to be an issue.

3. I would have, as I said in the beginning, only have 2 blogs a month and maybe post a question instead of questions for the blog that would involve more thought and time to respond. This, I think, would result in better discussion and more debate.

4. My favorite topics would have to be the Recycling one we just did (since you enjoyed my comment about my wrists so much johnson :D) and the blog on chocolate as a health food *drools* Sorry about that. (:D) MY least favorite topics would have to be the one on how we get our links to support our opinions (seems like you were off your game that week) and the one on bees (Bees and I... NOT friends).

5. Two words, Online Classroom. You could arrange a day where the class (or certain people) all go on the blog and discuss a topic chosen by you or one the class would like to talk about. This, I think, would make it WAY more interactive. Everyone can talk and debate with each other on the topic and get responses almost immediately instead of giving your opinion and possibly having to wait a day or more for a response, if at all.

Have a great summer Johnson, hopefully I'll catch you in the halls of RCK next year!

P.S.- I forgot to recycle my bottle again! *slaps wrists* LOL, just kidding.
 

I thought the blog was ok but it shouldnt be every week. It should be like every other week and on the odd week should be like extra credit. Some positive aspects of the blog was that i actually had a reason to go on my computer and that it kept me up to date on some current events.It also helped me stay connected to the class. Like i said before i would make it every other week and make one week extra credit week. Also i would have given your class a choice about what they want to blog about. You could do this by coming up with a list of topics and have the class chose which one they want. Then the people who comes up with the blog questions could do it. My favorite topic was the one were you asked to come up with possible blog ideas. This my favorite because i had a chance to say what i would like to blog about. My least favorite would have to be the endangered species one because I think it was very hard and structured. You could make it more interactive by maybe having a talk about the subject before and after the blog. Also you should read out some of the conflicting ideas on the blog and debate them.

OK MR.J HAve a good summer hopefully see you next year
 

Jessica Woeckener said...

jezz i was all excited i thought i was going to be first cuz i am doing it on a monday =/ darn it. well i dont think i have ever been fifth so thats an accomplishment.

1.Okay me feelings about the blog are as follows: I thought that it helped me in the long run to learn about current events in science. Honestly, I would have never known about them if it wasnt an asignment. I also think that it wasnt as sucessful as in the begginning of the year cuz people tned to become more lazy and not read what other people wrote so its not really a conversation its a i say this......and she says that. kinda thing. But over all it was okay, i rate it a 5 1/2 out of ten.

2. Okay two positive aspects of the blog were one, it allowed me to see whats going on in the world and its problems and stuff like that. Two, it helps your grade go up..if you do it..on time.

3. Two things we could do differently is not do them online. I thought it was great when we talekd about it in class for a full period. I enjoy going back and forth between students, while you are asking us questions. I think we will listen more and it will help us understand every possibility and what everyone else is thinking. I also think that it would be better if the blog wasnt due on a friday night, because it is not that easy to remember when you get home on friday because you are jsut so excited its the weeekend and all you want to do it go out and party. lol just kidding =]. So i think it would be best if it were due on a thursday cuz nothing exciting happens on thursdays except usually tests the next day. SO in conclusion, i liek it when we talk about it in class the best (and if it doesnt last the whole period then we jsut take notes or whatever you had planned). And I think it would help if it weren't due on a friday night cuz i tend to forget about it especially summer time.

4. My favorite topics i think were on the cirvcical cancer because it was a disagree/ agree and i thought it was interesting what other people said on the topic. I also liked the topic on the chocolate =] yummy =)
My least favorite topics were the ones on animals and flowers because it doesnt interest me as much.

5. Like i said up there in number three ^^^ I think inorder to interact with each other better is to due it in class. I think that it was sucessful when we did it a couple of times. Many people tend to participate in the conversation so you are hearing everybody's opinion in it and we get the occasional arguement between the students..liek who is right and who is wrong which is fun to listen too. lol so i think talking about it in class for a period or untill we run out of things to say would be the best way to interact with each other and if you still want to grade give us lieka check mark or something if we participated lol i dont know.

Its been fun, hope you guys all have a good summer
I will miss you <333
 

1. It was fun

2. its online, easy

3. have a reminder email so ppl like me don't forget & make it more interactive

4. Sorry, no preference

5. Have like a chatroom each day at a certain time, so ppl can interact & even if someone forgets they can go another day
 

Wow this year has gone so fast. I’m gonna miss you guys….ok maybe not everyone…just kidding

The blog this year was actually a pretty cool homework assignment. I can honestly say I really enjoyed it. It was nice to see my classmates’ opinions on different issues. The debates were entertaining. And the race to be the first entry was pretty funny, too. And I have to say even though sometimes he can go over the top, Elias’s blog entries were always fun to read and talk about.

Some of the positive aspects of the blog are that (1) students are able to express ideas and opinions in a way that we feel we are kind of chatting online with each other, and (2) while expressing these opinions we are learning about different aspects of biology actually occurring in real life.

Improving the blog, for me would be pretty difficult. I liked it the way it was with one entry a week due Friday, but maybe they could be worth more points and be due every other week. This way a student can go into detail about the different topics and more will be learned about bio current events.

For me I really didn’t have any least favorite topics. I treated each topic pretty much the same. One of the more fun topics had to do with the endangered animals because it gave us an opportunity to talk about animals. Another of my personal favorites was (believe it or not) about embryo selection and disease control. It was very interesting to see people’s views.

In order to make the blog more interactive the students will need to be more involved. Maybe making topics that have more of an affect on our lives personally may help. Debating the topics in class would definitely help. By debating the blog in class new questions come up and students will want to get their say in. Maybe if you have a topic chosen let the students respond as normal and then the next week on Monday discus the original reactions to the topic and debate about the reactions then have the class make another posting about how they feel about everyone else’s reactions. You can be talking about the same topic for at least 2 weeks depending on how the students react and debate.

Mr. Johnson, have a great summer. You are one of the few teachers that I will miss next year. I’m definitely going to visit!
 

Ok here it is sriat i disliked it highly!!!I dislike strong having to do a blog every week!! I think it would be better offf like every 2 weeks or once a month. There was to much to do, well no it was just a pain to have to go online try to find things that are related then try to explain. I think that i gave me a general over view on different topics and helpedmto understand but i really have no other positive things to say about it. I would have put a little more effort into doning them. Or I think instead of have to search for the information look at others info and see what htey did and interput the info then formulate an opinion. (not sure if that was answering the question for # 3) I liked the cholate blog because it was easy and i do like taking about what we did. I think it should be more about just opinions and the information should be givin in class and then they can just post their opinions. Having to reserch topics was more work that didn't really need to be done. I think the blog shoulb be more about your opinion. Also I think it should be a arquirement to agree or disagree with a person. That way you were looking at what other people said but have to have your own opinion. In conclusion im so glad that this is the last blog!!!!!! Piece!
 

My spelling Mistakes srry!!!
stright*
I disliked it strongly!!!** (its correction)
they**
chocolate***
research****
Sorry i was still in aim mode!!
Have a good summer Mr Johnson i was miss having my own special nick name :'(
 

Hey everyone! Last blog.... :-(

I LOVE THE BLOGG!!! I know it might be annoying at times but it's not that hard. My favorite part is seeing the topics. Everyone know's i'm a nerd and like to see current events that has to do with science(especially bio) cause thats gonna be my major in college. I think its a great way to get and be kept up to date on all events. I also love the in class discussions(bubkiss :-) The only thing i would change would be to not have us have to put links to support some ideas. To be honest it's hard to put some links because not everyone has the same opinion as my lovely self :-). My favorite topic was when we had to choose who lived and died with the liver or kidney transplant. I love it when you get to get really hands on rather than just stating your opinion. Johnson, for years to come i would have the assignment to be that you have to post more than one posting each week. That way you have to respond to other people's opinions. :-)

Mr. Johnson,
I honestly can say you are the best teacher i've ever had. Not only do you teach us the material very well, you do it in a fun way that we can remember. I will miss you trememdously and thinking about leaving your class makes me sad. Don't you worry, I'll be in your class more than I'm in AP next year! :-) I'll always be your Dr. H. Banana Mercury the Second

Banana signing off....Untill Next Year...
 

I disliked the weekly blog. First: remembering to do it...ugh...I also didn't like feeling that my opinions were different than 90% of the class (especially on polar bears...). I guess it was good because I heard about current topics. It also kept me responsible. I think that the finding websites could be changed. I doubt people even read the webpages...and it's annoying. I also think blogs could have dealt with deeper issues, like abortion. I think my least favorite topic was the blog on polar bears. It was very difficult for me to go against something I had seen as "cuddly" for many years.
And for (hopefully) extra credit: I think that the bio-blogs should be more in tune to the current weeks lesson. Maybe there could be extra credit for whoever posted first, or second, or whatever, making more motivation to post. Also, students might have to refer to other posts to prove that they actually read them.
 

1. I liked the weekly blog. It gave me a place to air my opinions.
2. It was relatively simple to use and I got to see what other people in the class thought about certain topics.
3. We could have done more politically charged issues. Also, we should have had more of an opportunity to debate not just say what we think. This could have been accomplished by having more than one blog a week.
4. My favorite topic was the one on polar bears because it was the most debatable one.
5. As I said above have the blog be more than once a week so we can debate
 

hey its ca-SHEW (bless you)

i cant believe its the end of the year already....

Overall, I did not like the blog. It's not that it was too much of a commitment, but sometimes it was annoying to have to do it. One time I was at a sleepover and I had to go do my blog. I know I could have done it all week, but I do have other homework. Two positive aspects of the blog include:
1) You get to give your opinion on sometimes random topics without being criticized. However, an exception to this is when people have done the "i disagree with so-and-so" thing.
- and -
2) It gives one an insight of what issues are being dealt with in the world that they might not come across or that you wouldn't normally talk about. This made the blog interesting, especially when we had to look into these topics. In terms of something I would have improved or changed, I would have maybe put a little more effort into my blog entry each week. I could tell by looking at the lengths of the entries, who enjoyed the blog and who didn't. Something else that I could have done better is to take more time to find a website that supported my opinion. I often just typed the subject into Google and looked for what looked like a good site, checked it out really quick, and slapped it on. I am not proud to say this.
My favorite topic was the one where you had to choose who lived with the transplant. In my opinion it required the most thought. I actually revisited it many times that week. Something I think would be fun, motivating, and effective for the future of the blog, is for the student to respond to the entry previous to theirs. I have seen this done with chain e-mails and such. The way it would work is...
Say the topic is pesticides. You have given the information that plant growers use pesticides to protect plants from insects. However they may have adverse effects on the food and consumers. The question is: Do you support or oppose the use of pesticides? Mr Johnson goes first and says, I oppose the use of pesticides because bla bla bla. Student A says, I disagree with Mr. Johnson because bla bla bla. However I support the use of pesticides because bla bla bla. Student B says, I agree with student A because bla bla bla. This would require some thinking if a student disagrees with the person before them, despite good evidence. They would then have to disprove or give a better reason supporting their opinion or answer.
 

I think the blog assignments were ok. At the beginning, people were way more enthusiastic about it...as the year went on people would start to forget about it and you could see there were less interesting entries and like jess said people didnt bother reading anyones they would just put their own opinion and leave.
i thought the blog was good for a couple of things. people were able to keep up to date on current events and its not like regular homework, its less boring.
I think the blog needs to be more interactive. People just put up their opinions and don't really react to anyone else's. Also, I didn't really like having to find a hyperlink to back up my opinion. Sometimes it was okay, but honestly I didn't really look at the hyperlink that much, so it kinda defeated the purpose. But thats just me.
My favorite was probably on polar bears or anything about the environment. least favorite? um...huntingtons disease.
I think we should have an in class thing too, so people will be more interactive on the blog, like at the beginning of the year
 

i loved the blogs. better then all the other assignments. Idk y peopel didn't like them. It takes me 5 minites and 10 at most and i write more then everyone else besides a few people. So its an easy grade. If u forget thats ur fault complety not the assignments. I love to state my opinions becasue of u don't have an opinion then either its not a good topic or u are just wrong. Cuz u can just chose a side, its not a life mate or anything. If u don't have any ideas or aren't the smartest, you can still have strong opinions. I iked how it was every weeek that was the best part of it. Cuz i hate hw but comeon guys this was so much fun. And we all learned somethign from the blogs. And i think we should have been able to debate and refute peoples entrees. Cuz its not fun if u can;t talk back. I think there shoudl be two or three blogs a week: one to state ur opion, the second for talking about someone else and the third to protct ur self if someone trys to take ur opinion on. So that would be coool

My favorite topic was.... all of them. But the transplant one was the most intertaining. everyone picked the same people cept a few like myself. So it left it open to choice and not just to say i agree. I hated the links. What happens if u don't agree with any body or the topic isn't all over the internet yet. So yeh liks are gay, but i think they should be part of an extra credit assignemnt. like if u find a GOOD website u should get someextra credit but it shouldb't be part fo the assignment. peace out
 

: - )
Goodmorning... only 2 class days left !
 

1. i kind of liked the blog. i would have made it not every week though.

2. the best part of the blog was watching everyone debate in class :)

3. in order to make the blog better, i think that it shouldn't have been every single week.

4) my favorite topic for the blog would probably be the one on cirvical cancer because we had a very interesting debate about it in class. the blog that i least liked was the one on how we find
the links to support our opinions

5. what could be done to the blog is to make it more interactive and to possibly not make it every week.
 

1. I believe the blogs were ok. I didn't like them like OMG they were amazing but I didn't dislike them like OMG they were horrible. They were just.....ok. Remebering to do them was the hardest thing but doing them was easy.

2. The blog is online and really easy to do which makes it less of a hassle while also saving the trees. Second of all it keeps the students up to date on events happening in the world.

3. One thing that I would have done differently is try and come up with topics that are appealing to the students for example like ipod usage or something like that. If you do that, then the students will continuously return to the blog to check out responses and respond to them more often. Another thing that I would have done differently is maybe start the blog by listing your own views on the topic so the students can agree or disagree with what you are saying.

4. Um I dont really remember the topics. I guess the ones that I liked are the ones that I remembered to do and the ones I disliked are the ones that I forgot to do and had to do them late.

5. I think that, as I stated above, that you should be the first to respond to a topic listing your own views. Then the students can agree or disagree with your views. I think, if you want, you can also incorporate ideas that the students find interesting.
 

1. Je ne poste pas souvent dire quelque chose, mais je pense c'est une bonne idée.

2. Tout le monde discutent avec chaque autre. Aussi, c'est sur l'Internet.

3. Ajouter un "shoutbox". C'est cool :D. Alors...cela c'est fie.

4. Mon topic favori est genetics. J'aime pas d'ecologie ou evolution.

5. D'abord, ajoute un shoutbox. Plus media, aussi. Un joueur d'audio sera meilleur que lisant la texte.
 

I liked the blogs. They weren't a pain to do and it was an easy homework assignment. A positive aspect of the blog is that it helped the class keep up with current events that we wouldn't normally take the time to look at. Another good aspect about it was that it was online which made it easier. One thing that could have brrn done differently for the blog is to make it more interactive. Another thing is to, like other people said, create reminders so people remember and I don't have to remind them at any time during the week. I can't say which blog was my favorite or my least favorite. I liked all the topics and did have a response for each one.

One thing that you could do to make the blog more interactive later on is to pick a side yourself. That way, people could disagree or agree with you on the blog or in class. Another thing that you could do is to even have another blog that doesn't have anything to do with biology, although that's kind of hard since everything is biology. If you do that, then people would get even more interested and be openally involved in their blogs.
 

i didn't like the blo too much. it was just something on top of homework and something i usually forget to do by the end of the week. weekly was just too much and made it a pain in the neck. i liked it when we had once a month. or truely not at all.

a positive aspect of the blog is that iswill prepare us for college classes. i know my sister had to do one of these for biology in college but i'm only a sophmore well gonna be junior so i dont need to worry about college yet. thats for next year.
another positive aspect is that you are able to speak your mind and state your own opinion and debate with others. its give all us kids somewhere to speak what we feel with each other on different topics that affect us and our environment each day.

one thing i would do to improve the blog is to do more diverse topics. to me they were boring and nothing really caught my attention or gave me a strong enough sense to answer them with strong feelings. i would also change the fact that it was ever week. i would do it monthly or a few parts due at the end of the month so i wouldnt feel pressured to do it or panic because its 11:00pm on a friday night and i forget to do it. especially if i was out and i didnt think i could get online.
my favorite topic was the gattaca one cause i felt strongly about what i wrote and what the questions were. the movie made me think that how much those key information or birth methods would change a persons life and it is just something that shouldnt happen. my least favorite topic was making up my own blog or coing up with a subject. i'm not too good with that and truely i dont care enough for the blog to really look for one and support it.


i think you should do the bio blog but also have class discussions where everyone says their point of view on it so its not just an online thing. also you can make people debate against each other, like if me and dara were paired up we would pick 2 different sides of the story and debate with it and they could or even do a class debate. even though i didnt likw the blog toomuch is is helpful and tought me a few things and gave mea chance to debate my opinion.


thank you mr. johnson for a good year. see ya in september. PEACEE
 

1. I liked the blog mostly because we had a warning of when it was due and it was a routinely assignment. I knew when it was due. I also liked the fact that it was online, because mostly everyone will do homework that's online, rather than writing.

2. I liked that it was online because mostly everyone these days uses the computer for everything. I also liked that we could put our own opinions in them, rather than them being bland and all about research.

3. I think I would have asked the students what they would have liked to blogged about because students will blog more if they enjoy the topic. Also, some of the topics I was not very familiar with, so I had to do further research, which made me less eager to do the blog.

4. I liked the chocolate one (thanks to Moody =]) because.... well, everyone likes chocolate! I didn't mind any of them really, but the ones that I could put more of my opinion in, I liked a bit better than the ones that were all about research.

5. Maybe, talk about it a bit in class, discuss it more. You could further the blog topics to go on for more than one post. Turn the topics into something that everyone can relate to, for example, sports. I don't think I know anyone who doesn't love sports. Or something that everyone feels strongly about... like amounts of homework and stress. Talk about the blog more in school. Have students pick more of the blog topics, students usually pick the ones that relate to us more. Maybe try making the blogs related to big events that are occuring during that time... something that effects everyone.




noooooo last blog ever =[

that's ok i'll come back next year with them little freshies and post some blogs =]

-LITTLE BERRY =] (jqjq)
 

I LOVE BIOLOGY AND ORANGE IS THE BEST COLOR EVERRRRRR =]


PACE


-LITTLE BERRY
 

16 June 2007
Have a GREAT Summer!
See you in September.
 

1. i enjoyed the weekly blog assignments because it was a way for the enitre class to discuss world issues involving biology online. the only part i didnt like was forgetting to complete the blog every friday. even this one is late =/

2.- being able to communicate w. the class about major world issues.
- we can discuss different aspects of biology online w. the class, making it a more friendly environment.

3. i agree w. eric in that it might have been easier to remember this blog w. a reminder email. also, limited guidelines for the blog response, so we can state how we feel about the situation as a whole.

4. my fav topics were probably the one about chocolate being good for you and where you had to pick an animal to save from becomming extinct. i liked them b.c they were interesting and interactive.

5. hmm, im not too original so im going to steal "jj's" idea. it might be more like a debate if ther were multiple blog assignments per week.






Mr. Johnson,
Have a great summer! Have alot of fun in China. =] You are one of the very few teachers I have ever had that is truley dedicated to their work. You taught us in a fun and interactive way that made it much easier for us to learn information. I will DEFINATELY visit ALOT next year! Keep doing what you do, because many other students will really benefit from your non-stop effort, like I did.
Thanks SO much for being an amazing teacher and a great person. I will really miss you alot.

~Kristen (a.k.a KanDell)
 

i wasnt a big fan of the weekly blog. i just didnt really like having to remember for the end of the week to do it. it was good because it really dealt with present time events and not old past things i think it helped us keep up to date with events in the current world. i would have made a better attempt to remember and also i probably would have done more research for the different topics. it wasnt so much that i didnt like any one of the topics i just didnty like doingf the blog altogether. and also more debating topics would have made the blog more fun.
 

I think the blog was an okay assingment.
I think that the blog helped learn about the topic more and it was an okay interactive subject for the class.
I would have changed the time each blog was due because i didnt like it every week.
I think my favortie one was the animal rights one because of the movie i found.
I cant think of anythin for the last question
 

Hey Mr.J!!

1. I totally liked the weekly blog. I liked the fact that each week we learned something new about the current events going on in our world related to biology.

2. Two positive aspects of the blog were the fact that I learned alot more about things going on around me, and I also got to see the opinions of my peers about the same topics. I liked this because I got to compare my thoughts and thought process to those of my friends and classmates.

3. Two things that I would have done differently were making the blogs less frequent, and also making them about things we're learning in class. I would have had a blog due once a month or so, but only giving a short period of notice or else some people might forget (like me!). I would have had the blogs related to things we're learning in class more so that when we look up a link we learn a little bit about the topic.


4. My least favorite topics were the ones where we had to look up links about specific things. I didn't like these because it was hard to find a link that no one else had posted and was still acceptable.

5. Something you could do to make the bio blog more interactive is to incorporate some of your own songs into the topics. For example, one of the blogs could be to read an article and then make up a song about it. Your favorite songs could be performed in front of you, and then posted on the website.



Mr.J -
this year was a blast!! I can't wait to come and visit next year. Have fun in China!!! The pizza party last week was fun, haha :)
-Morning Girl
 

For the most part, I thought the weekly blog was a good idea. It is a great way to express your opinion and concern, and also be aware of what is going on in the world today. It was also easy and didn't require much actual work because you were stating your opinion. Maybe it could also be done anonymously, if you don't want other students to know what you said. The only problem with that is that you would have to somehow show to Mr. J that it was your blog. The bugs would have to be worked out of that one. Another thing that could be done differently is...hmmm... for the most part the blog was pretty successful. Most of the blogs were controversial, but I think that some of them could have been a little bit more conrtoversial. Another problem I had was remembering to do them, like this one, but I guess that's my fault and I have to fix that. I liked the make up your own blog. It was good if you had a concern that you wanted people to think about. i also liked the recycling blog because it makes you think about how much you do for the environment. Maybe to make it more interactive, you would have to put in an entry the first week. Then the next week you could read what everyone else wrote and post another entry. Some people may have changed their opinion from what other people said. The second week could also have more requirements.