Biology Is Life !

Generally, I thought the blog was a positive new experience. Before these BioBlogs I have never blogged so I think being able to blog every week was beneficial to learning more current events in biology. I would have changed the blog by not making us post so many links because I found that they were challenging to do. It was difficult to find appropriate links and also a lot of times the links would not post correctly. One thing I really enjoyed is going back and reading all of my peers responses to the blogs. It was interesting to see their opinions on some of the subjects. Plus, when you introduced some of them in class I enjoyed discussing them, especially since it took time out of taking notes ;) I read other people's blog entries frequently. I liked seeing what they had to say. I wasn't a fan of the conversation blogs. I thought they were interesting but some of the questions were pretty silly and others were ridiculously hard so it had a lot to do with luck. My favorite blog was the one when you had to decided who got to survive out of a 40-year-old dad, a child, a scientist, and some other person that I cannot remember at the moment. This blog took a lot of thought because I didn't want to have decide who would live and who would suffer. This blog opened my eyes to new perspectives of looking at problem solving for me. My least favorite blogs were all those ones about cloning and stem cells and just genetics in its entirety. That kind of stuff just did not interest me one bit.

Thanks for the new outlook toward Biology and Life your BioBlogs gave me!
 

1. The weekly blog has become a part of my weekly routine! It's actually kind of fun sometimes to write your opinion about different things. It's also nice that we can see each others blogs and see their points of views. I have to admit, some of the topics were a bit more challenging and required more time and brain power than usual. Finding a link to support your opinion is also sometimes difficult, especially if it's not what the newspapers and well know sites agree with. Although, I did like coming up with what the links said!

2. One thing I think would have been helpful is to kind of warn us on breaks that we have a blog to finish by the end of the week because most of the time I don't know and end up doing it late. Also I think there should have been more of a variety of topics. Around the end of the year, most of the topics became focused on the environment, which isn't bad but just a tad boring and repetitive.

3. ONe thing I like about the weekly entries is that you don't have to worry about it until friday night. It allows you to finish other work and still do the blog.

4. I usually don't bother to read what other people wrote, except when I ask a question to see what the next person answered. It's sometimes nice to see what reasons they give for their point of view, but most of the time it's usually the same. I learned a lot about what's happening currently in the world and some controversial subjects. The “conversation format” was a pretty good idea, but I always had trouble coming up with a question. Sometimes, the questions were fairly simple, but other times they were REALLY hard and required a lot of writing.

5. My least favorite topic was on the environment/saving the environment/conserving materials/save the planet. It was kind of boring because everyone's opinion was the same and I felt like I was repeating what the people above me said. My FAVORITE topics were at the beginning of the year when the questions were about ethics and morals!! It was so much more interesting and I actually read other people's opinion. The stem cell research blog was also one of my favorite.
 

...that she will miss doing the bioblog. I liked it because it allowed me to think and learn about the world of science and ethics and I learned that people can do some pretty horrible things to animals and the environment.

One thing that could be improved is making the blog due Sunday or Monday so we have a full weekend.

I enjoyed the conversation format and reading what my classmates thik about these issues.

I did read other people's entries and i enjoyed the conversation format because we are all answering different questions and you can learn a lot from reading the responses.

My favorite topics were the one where we chose who lived, the one where we discussed designer babies, and anything that sparked class discussion. My least favorite topics were the blogs that we had to answer several questions instead of going in depth just about ou opinion on something.
 

1. I liked the weekly blogs. I thought it was an interesting way to learn things about biology. It also helped me learn some things about the computer.
2. One way I would have changed the blog is not making us post links that agreed with our opinions because a lot of the time I had trouble finding a link that agreed with my opinion.
3. One thing I liked about the blogs was seeing what other people's opinions were on bioethics.
4. I did sometimes read other people's entries and sometimes i would learn things about them from their entries. I didn't really like the conversation blogs because not everyone had to do the same amount of work. It would depend when you did the blog and if the person who did it before you left a hard question or an easy question.
5. My favorite topics were the ones that had to do with bioethics. I thought those blogs were really interesting. Like the one about choosing what your child would be like.
 

*LAST BLOG EVER :[

1. Honestly, I liked the weekly blogs. I mean sure, there were some times when I forgot to do it and woke up at 11:57 and waslike "Gah! THE BLOG!!!," because I was tired and what not, but in general I thought they were cool. This is the first time I have been in a class where everyone participated and shared their thoughts about a given topic. I especially like the blogs that were basically conversations, and everyone added their own input and had to ask the next question.
2. One thing that I might have changed about the blog was posting the links. That was sometimes a hassle because sometimes I didn't have a given opinion, or couldn't find an article that related to my feelings.
3. One thing I enjoyed about the weekly entries. Hmm... well here's something corny. Sometimes I felt like we were a small family, or community, and we all had to gather on the website and share our ideas. I also liked how sometimes Mr. Johnson posted random things, just saying "Good morning :]."
4.I always read other people's blogs. We all have most of our classes together, and I feel like I know mostly everyone pretty well, but it was interesting to see their input on topics that normally,friends don't discuss... like radical politics in science and such. I learned a lot about my classmates. And yeah, I enjoyed the conversation format, mostly because I thought it was simple.
5. My favorite blog entries were the ones about topics where everyone has personal feelings, on topics such as stem cells and genetic engineering on humans, because I thought it was kind of fun to get all fired up and state my opinions. I didn't particuarly enjoy the entries about cloning, I don't really know why, I just thought it was sort of boring.
 

I just want to start out by saying, your quote is from A Tale of Two Cities & its literary element is Parallelism! Now on with the blog.

1. I enjoyed the blog, i thought it was very clever and its not your average homework assignment. I like your creativity. Sometimes i felt underpressure because i had nine million other things to do in bio and i found myself doing the blog at 11:59pm.


2. One thing i would have done differently... Nothing. It is current events on biology, i think that it is important to know especially with the problems with GLOBAL WARMING & SUCH THINGS LIKE SO. Any ideas for improvement....hmmm, nope!

3. One thing i enjoyed was the various opinions of my classmates. I may feel one way about something & then they have a different interpretation and then i double think my interpretation, it is just something that makes me think and it truly was an interesting experience.


4. Wow, what a coincidence. That is exactly what i said in my last statement. I have built my interpretaions off others entries and change my point-of-view.

5. My favorite entry would have to be the one about the children and their parents using them for experiments because i was able to see other peoples respose and rebut. I liked that my opinion was not judged by anyone.
 

I really like the weekly blogs. It gives the class a place to share their thoughts on ethics and other things related to biology. I really like seeing other peoples point of views.

I think that we should have done more blogs in which we had conversations with the other people in our class. I think that maybe you should have a debate but in blog format I think that that would be interesting.

I really liked expressing my opinions on ethics and biology, Especially ethics!

yes I did read other peoples comments. Not every time but about 80% of the time. Yes I liked the conversation format.

One of my favorite topics to see other peoples opinions was the one about creating the perfect child.
 

I really liked some of these weekly blogs. Overall, I liked them for the most part. I never even knew about blogging until this BioBlog. You learn new things everyday and this was a cool thing. BY doing these blogs I have learned so much about reviewing our current curriculum and current events in the world today that have to do with biology. All though I always wait till the last minute for doing things, the blog did stress me out sometimes…
What I would have done differently is not waiting till the last minute…AH! It was really annoying to do the links. You have to find the website then copy the link, and then copy and paste! Improvement is always needed somewhere. The blog is as good as ever but (yes the dreaded but) the questions should be a little more organized.
I enjoyed reading other peoples’ comments. Especially the opinion ones! I am always getting used to this new computer so this blog reinforces it.
I loved reading other peoples’ comments the best. I have really gotten to know my classmates and their opinions on things. I really did not like the conversations!! I always seemed to get the most difficult question or one that I was a little rusty on. I always answered a question and posted it. Seems normal right, but another person would answer the same question as me and posts like at the same time! Ah!!
My favorite topics were the choosing the traits of the baby, the spit test, and the first one of Corse!
Not so favorites: the carbon foot –print conversation and the old reviews.

BiOlOgY BiO bLoG!!!
 

1. At first, I was confused by the blog and missed deadlines frequently. But eventually, I grew to like the interesting discussions in class and on the blog itself. I thought that the topics were always fun and thought-provoking.
2. One thing I would have done differently would be to encourage students to debate both in class and on the blog. However, this is only a small idea. Overall, I find it hard to think of ways to improve the blog
3. I enjoyed learning about cutting edge technologies and their positive and negative effects of the environment. I also enjoyed the long class talks about the blog's topics.
4. I often read the entries of others because I like playing the devil's advocate. I learned a lot about where my classmates stand on bioethical issues. I also enjoyed the conversational format because it gave the blog a more informal atmosphere.
5. My favorite topic was the blog on which organ donor patient to save because of the heated class debate and the real life stories which were brought (like Taylor's dad). Choosing a candidate was also very difficult.
I can honestly say that I am going to miss these blogs!
 

1.I liked the blog more than typical homework that require more writing. I support the incorporation of new technology in school. I also believe the blog is more enviromental since it doesn't require paper. The only thing I disliked about the blog is sometimes I completely forget about the blog on fun Fridays.

2.One thing I would of liked the blog having is having more of a "conservation" in these blogs. Most of us tend to just write the answers to the questions (like I'm doing right now).

3.One thing I liked is the new things I learn. It makes me think about topics I may have never thought about.

4.Normally I don't read other people's comments only because I don't have a lot of time to. Occasionally I read people's comments to either understand the question by intepretting their answers, see how to format the answer, or to answer those "conversation questions".

5.My favorite topics involved more of those "what would you do..." or "who would you choose" questions where everyone gave unique answers to the questions. I disliked blogs that require extensive research and many links.
 

1. I hated the weekly blog. Most of the time I forgot about it and had to do it late friday night.
2. I think the questions could have been easier and not as many links would have to be made.
3. I liked how it made me think about the world.
4. Sometimes I read responses just so it could help me understand what we were doing.
5. My favorite blogs were the reviews. My least favorite blog was the stress blog.
 

1) I kind of liked the blog. Its a little different from the things we do in other classes. We did a little blogging in ELA last year, but it didn't always work and my computer would almost never let me comment. I found it very annoying and often forgot about it. Knowing that there was always one a week made it easier to remember. It was nice knowing it would be there all week and I could do it when I had the time. It became a routine to do the blog, so I almost never forget. The different topics taught me things I never would have learned otherwise.
2) I think the links were hard because I could not always find one that agreed with my opinion. However, I would not get rid of the links because they made us work harder and find other ways our ideas could be interpreted when it came to actions(if that makes any sense). If I could change something, I would make them due by Sunday instead of Friday. That would give us a little bit more time. But then again, that might just cause some of us to procrastinate even more!
3)I think I learned a lot of things by doing the blogs. There are parts of our scientific world that I had never heard of and was glad to learn about.
4) I almost always read other people's entries. I usually do the blogs on Friday night, so there were a lot already posted. I liked seeing other people's viewpoints so I could see if maybe what they said made more sense than what I thought. Sometimes they changed my viewpoint. It was also interesting to see what my friends thought about a topic that doesn't come up it conversation often. I did not like the conversations because some people posted harder questions that others. I also felt rushed because I did not want someone else to answer the same question as me and post it two minutes before me.
5) I liked the blog where we decided which person recieved the transplant and the synesthesia blog. I liked the synthenasia blog because it was something I had never heard of. It was something I decided to research even outside the blog questions. I liked the other one because I saw what everyone else would choose. It was hard to decide, but I could see where everyone else was coming from. I don't know if I could ever handle that responsibilty
 

I actually enjoyed the blog this year. It was fun expressing my feelings about science topic. One thing I could have done differently would be to be more on top of the blogs. It always seemed like it was midnight on Friday night and you knew you had to do something but you couldn't remember. Oh, yah I still have to do the blog. I hate those nights. Those assepcts aren't incooperated to the blog but they were important to me. The only thing that I would improve is more video blogs. I enjoyed those. One thing I enjoyed about the weekly entries is getting to know what the science community is doing. I wasn'y very into what was going on everyday in the science community. If I didn't do this blog I probably wouldn't of known of stem cell research. Yah, of course I did. If I didn't know what to write I would read other's blogs and find out what I had to do. I deffinately learned more about the science community. The conversation format was fun because the whole class got to bond and express our feelings to each other. My favorite topics were on stem cell research because I think that is the most important topic brewing in the science community right now. I also, enjoyed the video blogs. Overall, I loved the bio blog and loved all of the topics.
 

i disliked the weekly blog because some of them were hard and i had a lot homework to do in front of that.

i would have made the blogs every 2 weeks instead of every week.

i liked that some of them were based on the most randomest things and i thought that was fun.

i did not read anyone elses blogs reponses.

i liked and disliked all of the blogs because im not good with computers and it is hard to do research on computers for me


P.S Mr.Johnson enjoy your summer vacation
 

1. I completely liked the weekly blog. At first, I found myself having difficulty with the weekly repsonsibilities that came with the blog. As the year went on though, the blog became a natural part of my school life. Not only did the blog allow me to further educate myself in the realm of biology, but it also allowed for me to openly express my opinions on several different topics.
2. If I could have changed one thing about the blog, I would have not encorporated the responsibility of posting a link. I often found it strenuous and more than often, I never looked at the website.
3. One thing I liked from the blogs was the range of topics, and the extent to which I was challenged to comprehend and question the world. Sometimes my point of view was changed by the amount of thinking I did on certain topics.
4. Of course I read other peoples postings. More than often I learned something new every week. I liked the conversation format, but sometimes the questions and postings were vaugue, confusing, difficult, or just didn't make sense.
5. My favorite topics were usually based on the topics of ethics or morals. I liked these topics because they often made me look at the world in a different light. I also liked the differences in the answers that my classmates and I wrote.

Thanks Mr. J for everything. Have a great summer!!!
 

I loved the blog! Honestly, it was something different then the same math worksheet every night, or homework from the book. It allowed us to say what we want about whatever topic you chose. There were such interestings things that us as 15 & 16 year olds got to debate about in a sophisticated manner. We got to have an opinion about something, rather then spitting back facts from whichever topic we were on, on a piece of loose leaf. it was a nice change, and i actually looked foward to these blogs every week :)

I would have put more, contriversal
blogs. But maybe thats just because i liked those the most :P They were always alot more fun to write about, and it was never like i was making sure i had "5 complete sentences" Id write my opinions and it would be like BAM 7898 sentences. It was rather beautiful.

Again i loved the idea that we got to play roles we wouldnt normally be able to play as a highschool student. QWe got to think about the box, and really think about what it would be like to be in certain situations or really understand a topic better to see its effect on the world.

Of course i learned things. It would be a waste if i didn't. I never read EVERYONES but i did always read a chunk to see other peoples intake on the same thing. I also liked the conversation format, it was a new way to review and was in a very organized manner.


I disliked the enviormental blogs the most, about recycling and such .. no offense, but i have just heard and said the same things over and over and over again, and i guess i just got tired of continually saying the same thing.

MY FAVORITE BY FAR WAS THE ORGAN DONOR ONE. sweet jesus, go you mr johnson for that being the most epic blog debate, ever. and for the creative idea. It allowed us all to express different ways to look at it, from a science perspective, or taylors family perspective with her dad, or the childs perspective. I loved loved loved it. It was brilliance.


OH MR JOHNSON, have a wonderful summer! I shall see you next year!
 

I liked the blogs. I found some fun, some interesting, and learned about some things that I’d never thought about. Plus, I learned how to blog! I would change the links in the replies. For some things, finding a good link was hard, especially if the topic wasn’t that well known. Also, most of the time, the links just would not cooperate with me. One thing I liked about the entries was, if I read other replies, learning about other people’s opinions. I really liked the conversation blogs. Especially the ones that were used to review because I would read through those and it really did help with reviewing. My favorite topics were ethical and environmental topics because brought more awareness to global topics and also, I liked those topics more than the others.
 

I thought that the blog wasn't too bad. I felt that it was sometimes hard to remember to do it every week. I think that it would have been better if it had just been used for extra credit. However I did like that it kept me posted with current events.

The only main thing that I would have done differently with the blog is that I wouldn't make people add a link to a site that supports them because you could not always find ones that had the same ideas as you.

I liked that it allowed me to keep up with what is happening in the science world because otherwise I would never know.

I tried not to look at other people's enteries just because I wanted to come up with ideas on my own and I thought that if I saw their's then I would use it. I enjoyed the conversation format because it helped review things that you might have not thought of.

My favorite topics were the ones about whether things were ethical or not. My least favorite topics were any of the ones that involved a lot of research on the computer or in the text book.
 

1. I liked the blog but it was a little stressful on some nights.

2. I wouldn’t change the blog but I if I were you I would give every student a skip, so they had one freebee.

3. I liked to give my opinion on topics it gave me a chance to express my feelings for a topic with out being vocal in class.

4. Sometimes I read other students blog entries but for the most part I did not.

5. My favorite topics were ones where you had to make moral decisions, these really made me think and consider how I viewed certain things. My least favorite blogs were the environmental ones because they became very repetitive.

thank you for an awesome year HJ ill be back to vist!! :) have a great summer
 

1. I liked the weekly blog for the most part. Sometimes I forgot to do it though.

2. I would make it easier to find links. Also, sometimes there were alot of questions that needed a long answer.

3. I liked that we had the whole week to do it. This allowed me to get all my other homework done.

4. I liked reading other entries. The only hard part about the conversation format was thinking of a question and some answers required alot of work.

5. My favorite blog was the one on your eating habits.
 

i did and did not like the weekly bio blogs for numerous reasons. I liked the bio blogs because it made me think of the numerous things humans do to destroy and ruin the earth. I did not like the bio blogs because they were required and i thought that was boring.

One way I would have changed the blog is not making us post links that agreed with our opinions because a lot of the time I had trouble finding a link that agreed with my opinion.

One thing I liked is the new things I learn. It makes me think about topics I may have never thought about.

i did not read anyone elses blogs reponses.

My favorite topics were usually based on the topics of ethics or morals. I liked these topics because they often made me look at the world in a different light. I also liked the differences in the answers that my classmates and I wrote.
 

The bio blog was a great experience! It was unique, and the assignments were nothing like what other teachers give. The blog stimulated new thoughts that I would never have thought of. And I liked waiting for Sunday 2 PM to see what was the next blog entry. Sometimes when all the teachers decided to give their students homework on the same night, the blog seemed like a horrible chore, but I'm glad it was due Friday at midnight.

I think that posting links to support your comment is irrelevant, especially when all the links have to be different from other people. Sure, it's nice to be able to be supported by a link, but if you used the same website as another person, the only options are to find another website that also supports you or find a random website that vaguely talks about the topic. Normally, people would pick the latter. If I could fix this problem, I would remove the links completely, or ask for supporting links for certain weeks.

If I had to choose my favorite blog topic, I would have to choose the organ donor one. I love the bioethics and morals blogs. It makes me think what I would do. Sometimes this genre of blog makes me frustrated trying to find an answer. There are always positives and negatives to each choice, and selecting the best choice is painful.

To spark an idea, sometimes I would read other people's entries. I liked seeing how other people respond to the question. Sometimes I would read a person's entry and think, "wow, what a nice person," but other times I would be disappointed because s/he would be uncaring.

I hated the conversation and review format. I remember the first conversation we had drifted off topic and went into nitrogen or something complex. Not feeling like researching the answer, I would wait until another person replied. Sometimes nobody would answer until late at night, and I would soon be procrastinating.

The least favorite blog topics were the review (see above) and environmental topics. Especially those topics where you had to research something/watch a video/ or read a newspaper article. No one wanted to be a snob, so everyone's comment would be, "YES, I WOULD SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT" even though they could not care less.
 

I thought the blog was a great way to hear about everyone's opinions. I did frequently go back to the blog and read all the comments( especially in the conversations) Usually, I did not find the blog to be more of an "assignment". It was actually nice to share my opinion and think about how biology relates to our everyday lives. I think that this is a great way to show students that biology is not just facts out of a textbook.
I think that finding links that supported my opinion was a bit difficult. However, sometimes I found sites that had very compatable opinions with me.
I loved how we had so much time doing the blogs. This way, I didn't find myself stressed out about completing this "assignment". However, once in a while, I did find myself doing the blog on Friday night.
My least favorite topics were ones that we had to read, link to a cite, and answer many questions. Also, I wasn't too fond of those conversations! There's always that ONE PERSON who comes up with either a super hard question, or expects a mighty long answer!But when we used the conversations as a regents review, I found that to be actually very helpful.
I also loved writing about ethics! It was really interesting to see the different sides that everyone was on.

HAPPY SUMMER! :)
 

The blog was something new that I had never tried before. It is amazing how people can just get in contact and discuss a matter in a organized fashion.I liked the blogs even though sometimes I didn't do all of them. I would have liked to see more people do independent blogs. meaning it have been nice for anyone to just start a conversation and make an idea a blog. So if we started a conversation everyone would just add on to that particular subject. I didn't like to post links because no one ever goes to them. To be honest my links was just anything that a saw first that came out of google. I loved however how the weekly entries related to current events and moral issues. These blogs made us think beyond our self and pushed us to choose our ethics or our society. the only time I read someone else's entries was to copy an answer that I didn't know. very rarely did i read just for interest. The reason why is because I basically knew everyone's option before they even posted an entry. In class we would talk about the blog and with that I got a basic idea were everyone head and opinions were at. My favorite topic was the one were we had to choose who lives and who dies. The feeling that for one day one moment that we could play god a choose to give life and end it. Seeing how people react either locally or emotionally. Overall it has been a great experience and I wish I could have been more involved in it. I hope this blog thing never ends along with Mr. Johnson's great heart =]