Cyber Discovery

2005-06-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

Green Bloggers

2005-06-06T11:34:00.000-07:00

Free Bloggers

2005-06-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

Young Bloggers

Weblog

2005-05-27T03:48:00.000-07:00

As you are fully aware, weblogs have not been around for a long time. Now that you have had the opportunity to take part in this experience we would like you to discuss and inform us of your personal ideas regarding this issue. Please remember to write your comments where your class picture is located.

Name: Class: Gender: Semester:
1. How well do you understand why you are being asked to write blogs?
2. What are the main things you blog about? Is there a theme to your blog? (political/news/student life/academic blog anything & everything that comes to mind etc!) Or is it just a sort of online journal detailing your daily life?
3. Do you read other student blogs? Which ones? Why do you like reading others' blogs?
4. Do you think blogging is a good thing for students? What do you think other students get out of it/ what are the advantages for students?
5. Why do you think blogging is becoming so popular among students? (both writing and reading them)
6. Generally, Iranian are known for their arts/creativity - do you think this is changing with forums like blogging? How?
7. How Iranian is your blog? In other words, do you use it to represent an Iranian way of life? Or to express Iranian views?
8. Do you think cyber discovery assisted you in English learning in any way?
9. Having experienced the class blog, and knowing what you know now, would you participate in something similar in the future if the activity were purely for formative purposes (i.e. it did not count at all for a final mark)?
10. Would you like to see blogging used more widely in the English courses as a learning/assessment tool?
11. How have your chatting experiences been different from that of blogging?
12. Compare how you felt about blogging before and after.
13. Do you ever look back to previous entries? If so, why?
14. How do you experience reading in blogging. Where you involved in reading the posts on the blog as much as writing?
15. What other added values of blogging did you discover after starting (if any)?
16. What are in your opinion important knowledge and skills for blogging?
17. Which characteristics of your blogging support English learning classes?
18. How do you feel when you know your blog's audiences are not your peers and classmates like in foreign blogs?
19. Would you feel comfortable publishing or posting on the Internet with your real name or would you rather publish your thoughts anonymously?
20. To what extent are reading, thinking or discussing parts of your blogging process?
21. What would you like to gain from having a space where you could interact with fellow students?
22. Having used blogging for a while what do you think of applying this given ideas about using blogs in other language classes?
23. How do you feel about the comment you received for your blogging from your peers?
24. How well do you believe the writing projects in this course will improve your writing in general?
25. How helpful is the feedback you receive for improving your writing skills?
26. How helpful is the feedback you receive for improving your thinking skills?
27. What aspect of blogging do you feel has the most relevance to teaching or interested you the most?
28. What percentage of your time do you have Internet access?
29. To what extent do you feel confident in your skills using the Internet?
30. What are some of the differences that you are confronted with when you’re involved and comment on the class blog and other foreign Weblogs?

2005-05-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

New Age Bloggers

2005-05-25T23:14:00.000-07:00

THE GREAT OLD DAYS

2005-05-25T23:13:00.000-07:00

Blogger Brains

2005-05-25T23:12:00.000-07:00

The Good Old Days

2005-05-25T23:11:00.000-07:00

Blogger Buddies

Express Yourself

2005-05-21T03:02:00.000-07:00

Now that you have been involved in blogging for a while. This would be a good oppertunity to express your comments about the following statements:
*What I like and don't like about blogs is that...
*What do you do when you blog...
*What sort of subjects do you think you're comfortable to blog about...

P.S
As you are aware there are different types of blogs; political blogs, educational blogs, personal blogs, medical blogs and etc... Well, in our educational blog we want to discover and explore other blogs as well.Have you ever experienced or considered visiting other blogs? This is a good opportunity for everyone involved in Cyber-Discovery to visit other blog sites (in English of course!) and comment on the ideas presented in those blogs. The weblog addresses are in the Links section or you can choose any other weblog you’re familiar with. (Don’t forget to indicate the address of the site you visited).

2005-05-12T13:40:00.000-07:00

This is the picture of Paulo Freire, the one who inspired me for working in this project. He was Brazilian and one of the greatest educationalists of today's world. He proposed the concept of Word / World and rigorously condemned Banking Education (an education in which students should cram books without having any dialog with it). God bless his soul.

Paulo Freire voiced an extremely interesting point about classroom life. He said that the class in modern teaching methods is supposed to be LIKE the real world, however in Critical Pedagogy (which is the method we try to employ in our classes) the class IS the real world. The difference is imperative in a real life classroom and what I want from you is to blog about how our classes can come closer to BEING the real world

You were also required to comment on other weblogs!
PS. On the right section of this webpage you can observe a link section through which you can go to other English weblogs and comment on their posts, or you may visit other weblogs as you wish, please indicate the address of the weblogs you visited on this site, also feel free to introduce other weblogs you may be familiar with for your classmates to visit.

PATCH ADAMS

2005-05-06T12:47:00.000-07:00

Patch's Passion

You have more than likely been able to watch the movie about Patch Adams' life. After watching the film and reading different articles about Patch and his mission, I always sense the feeling of life, love, and liberty stir up in me. Surely, you too, feel a surge of strong feeling run through your veins as you discover how one man followed his dream and just about nothing seemed to stand in his way. Considering all of this, if Patch could hear or read about how you really felt about his work in general and him in particular what do you think you would want to tell him?

By the way, what part of the film had a more profound affect on you? Mine had to be the part where Patch was able to see Beyond the fingers and see eight instead of four.

To die or not to die

2005-04-29T20:27:00.000-07:00

TO DIE OR NOT TO DIE
Theresa Marie Schiavo (December 3, 1963–March 31, 2005), was an American woman who spent the last 15 years of her life in a persistent vegetative state (PVS). The judicial and legislative battles to disconnect her feeding tube generated tremendous media coverage during the last two weeks of her life and prompted a fierce debate over bioethics, legal guardianship, federalism, euthanasia and civil rights.
On February 25, 1990, Terri Schiavo suffered severe brain damage from cerebral hypoxia caused by cardiac arrest. On February 11, 2000, a Florida court ruled that Terri was in a PVS, and authorized her husband and Guardian, Michael Schiavo, to discontinue artificial life support. Michael Schiavo contended that he carried out his wife's wishes not to be kept alive in a PVS. Terri's parents, Her parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, and her brother and sister, disputed Michael's contention that she would not have wished to be kept alive and claimed that Terri was not in a PVS.
On the morning of February 25, 1990, at about 5:30 a.m. EST, Terri collapsed in the hallway of her apartment. The noise awoke Michael Schiavo and he immediately called Terri's parents and 911 emergency services. The cause of the collapse was determined to be cardiac arrest. While waiting for the paramedics to arrive she experienced a loss of oxygen to the brain. Firefighters and paramedics found Terri face down and unconscious, in the hallway outside her bathroom. There were no signs of violence or a struggle. Attempts were made to resuscitate Terri, but she remained unconscious and slipped into a coma. She was taken to a hospital, and in order to keep her alive, she was intubated, ventilated, and given a tracheotomy; she also received a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG), a feeding tube inserted through the abdominal wall. Terri emerged from her coma two and a half months later. The upper brain was about 80 percent destroyed, and there was also damage to the lower brain. The only part of the brain that remained intact was the brain stem, which controls involuntary functions such as breathing and heartbeat—allowing Terri to survive (with a feeding tube) even though she no longer had any cognitive function.
Terri's parents claim that their daughter did not meet the definition of a persistent vegetative state and was in a "minimally conscious state" instead. Her parents argue that at times her actions were indicative of responses to external stimuli, not reflex or instinctive behavior. For example, the Schindlers claim that their daughter smiled, laughed, cried, moved, made childlike attempts at speech, and attempted to say "Mom" or "Dad"; or "yeah" when they asked her a question. They claim that when they kissed her she looked at them and sometimes puckered her lips.
From 1990 to 1993, Michael and the Schindlers enjoyed an amicable relationship. [48] (http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/flsupct/sc04-925/op-sc04-925.pdf) The Schindlers even allowed Michael to live rent-free in their condominium for several months. On June 18, 1990, the court appointed Michael Schiavo as Terri's legal guardian, without objection from the Schindlers.
On Valentine's Day of 1993, Michael Schiavo and the Schindlers had a falling-out. Michael claims the argument arose because he refused to share the settlement money with the Schindlers. The Schindlers claim that Michael failed to honor commitments he had previously made to seek aggressive treatments for his wife's condition.
The amicable relationship ended, and Michael and the Schindlers literally stopped speaking to each other. In July 1993, the Schindlers began their first challenge to Michael Schiavo's guardianship and attempted to remove him as legal guardian.
Michael Schiavo has been criticized by the Schindlers and their supporters for entering into a relationship with another woman, Jodi Centonze, while still legally married to Terri. Michael and Jodi Centonze have had two children together. Michael denies wrongdoing in this matter, stating that the Schindlers actively encouraged him to "get on with his life" and date since 1991. Michael said he chose not to divorce Terri and relinquish guardianship because he wanted to carry out her final wishes not to be kept alive in a persistent vegetative state.
Her parents claimed that Terri was a devout Roman Catholic who did not wish to violate the Church's teachings on euthanasia by intentionally starving or dehydrating herself to death, and that she had never expressed such a desire to anyone in her birth family or circle of friends. The Schindlers' legal fight was funded by a variety of sources on the political right.
Forty-seven protesters, including many children, were arrested outside the hospice where Terri was located. Most of these were non-violent, staged arrests for trespassing, made when protestors crossed a police line in a symbolic attempt to bring water to Terri.
Terri Schiavo died at 9:05 a.m. EST on Thursday, March 31. Terri's parents, who had been denied access to her during her last hours, traveled to the hospice to visit her when they were informed that she may be approaching death, arriving half an hour after her death. The Schindler family was allowed into the room after Michael Schiavo had left it. Terri's body was cremated following the autopsy and the husband did not allow Terri's family to participate in her burial ceremony.

Now, what is your stance on a critical issue like this? What do you think having the right to choose death?

Mennat, Mennat, Mennat,

2005-04-25T02:59:00.000-07:00

Why is it that so many people, particularly university students, feel that the whole world owes them? Perhaps they even feel that that their talents are being wasted and they have not been discovered yet. Many students, (and yes even medical students!!) feel that they are doing a favor to Iran if they decide to stay right here and serve the people. They Never Ever Ever stop nagging about the things they DON'T have and Never Ever Ever focus on what they actually DO have. So, where do you think things went wrong? Why is it that we just don't learn to be content with what we have? What needs to be done for Dr. Hesabies to emerge again in a country that is desperately in need of such dedication and devotion?

Personal Revelations

2005-04-14T23:22:00.000-07:00

Personal Revelations

How often do you sit down and think about matters that may seem trivial. Sometimes thinking about these seemingly simple facts give us insight about who we are and what we want to be. One easy way to get these thoughts out in the open is through associative writing. Associative writing, also called free writing, requires that you write your thoughts as fast as they come to mind with no attention to sentence structure or punctuation. So, sit tight because you may just begin to FLY…

1. I really miss...

2. I never expected...

3. An unusual day in my life ...

4. I daydream most about...

5. I really wish....

6. Something few people realize about me ...

7. I wish I weren't so...

8. One of my best points is...

9. One of my most important goals is...

10. I dream that one day...

11. What makes me feel proud is ...

12. I'm glad I'm alive when

Happy New Beginning

2005-04-05T21:02:00.000-07:00

Salam and Sale No Mobarak!!!

I hope you had a wonderful new beginning to a wonderful new year.
Spring is the best time for new beginnings and new discoveries... but most of all it is the best time for love. There is a beautiful saying that goes, "If you want to conquor hearts, you have to let love conquor your heart. " How do you think you can do that, acknowledging that nature nurtures such an extraordinary phenomenon?

Welcome Everyone

2005-03-06T00:12:00.000-08:00

Hello and Welcome Everyone

Welcome to the world of Cyberdiscovery where you can hopefully discover yourselves, your passions and your worlds.
Some of you may be in their first term while others have been around for a while, whoever you are and wherever you're from, fell free to blog about some of your ambitions and goals in the life ahead of you!

2004-12-29T09:57:00.000-08:00

Blog or not to Blog

You have finally reached the end of your journey in this weblog … or have you just started?!
Nevertheless, your discovery in the Cyber World has reached an end for this term. How did you find blogging to be? Do you still wish to continue blogging in the upcoming terms? Between blogging and journal writing, which one do you prefer to do in the next term?Why?

Please write any CONSRUCTIVE comments that come across your mind regarding your valuable experiences ….

2004-12-21T21:28:00.000-08:00

WOULDA-COULDA-SHOULDA

You have all read poems from Uncle Shelby in class. His poems tend to be simple, at times childish and yet inspiring. The following poem is another one of Silverstein's creative poetry that reflects ….

You tell me what they reflect. BTW (by the way), which one do you see yourself in; woulda, coulda, shoulda or DID?

WOULDA-COULDA-SHOULDA

All the Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
Layin' in the sun,
Talking 'bout the things
They woulda-coulda-shoulda done …
But those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
All ran away and hid
From one little did.

P.S. Can you introduce a really cool site that you think others could use if they knew about it?

BLOGESTAN

2004-12-15T01:07:00.000-08:00

BLOGESTAN

Now that you have been engaged in commenting and blogging with other weblogs for a while did
you notice any changes in your writing in general and in the way you express your ideas in particular? What similarities and differences have you noticed all the while you have been blogging in other weblogs?

PS. Don’t forget your presentation for next week. If you have interesting tips on how one can deliver his/her presentation successfully, please in include them in your comments.

Discovery

2004-12-08T08:54:00.000-08:00

In the Name of Truth

Hello Everyone, I hope you are enjoying your holiday. I am sure now you have enough time to think, analyze and respond to the following questions.

1. Who do you think is the best and the worst blogger in Cyberdiscovery? Why? (I need your critical analysis)
2. If you knew someone was having trouble writing, how would you help that person? (Write specifically how you would teach that person. What would be your main focus in teaching writing?)
3. Do you think you are a good writer? Why?
4. What would you like to do better as a writer?

WISH COCOON

2004-12-01T03:40:00.000-08:00

A Wish Cocoon

Along a dusty road in India there sat a beggar who sold cocoons. A young boy watched him day after day, and the beggar finally beckoned to him.

"Do you know what beauty lies within this chrysalis? I will give you one so you might see for yourself. But you must be careful not to handle the cocoon until the butterfly comes out."

The boy was enchanted with the gift and hurried home to await the butterfly. He laid the cocoon on the floor and became aware of a curious thing. The butterfly was beating its fragile wings against the hard wall of the chrysalis until it appeared it would surely perish, before it could break the unyielding prison. Wanting only to help, the boy swiftly pried the cocoon open.

Out flopped a wet, brown, ugly thing which quickly died. When the beggar discovered what had happened, he explained to the boy "In order for the butterfly wings to grow strong enough to support him, it is necessary that he beat them against the walls of his cocoon. Only by this struggle can his wings become beautiful and durable. When you denied him that struggle, you took away from him his only chance of survival."

May the walls of your cocoon,
Be just thick enough,
To allow you to struggle,
Just long enough,
to emerge,
The beautiful person,
I already know you to be

Based on the story you read by Munir Fasheh, try to discover the connection between this story and your life, society or education. What was the first thing that came to your mind when you read this story?

P.S don't forget to give one comment in another English blog as well!

JOURNAL

2004-11-23T22:10:00.000-08:00

Not long ago when you were studying for konkoor, most of you dreamed of being accepted in the field of medicine. Now that your wish has come true and knowing that millions of people would love to be in your shoes, what do you think are your responsibilities? Write a brief journal about your dreams and expectations regarding your future.

P.S. From now on there will be one comment onthis blog and another comment on other English blogs. Please inform me about the address of that bloge through this e-mail: samoladi@yahoo.com

Patch Adams

2004-11-11T11:17:00.000-08:00

When God created Adam,
He gave him the power of patch…
To help those in need
And discover the right path…

You've read the article,
You've seen the film,
Now it's time to blog…
On what you have gained

Patch Adams embarked on a journey of self-discovery, which lead to his decision to become a doctor for the sole purpose of helping those in need. Although he lost part of his soul in the process, he gained profound insight about life and being a doctor that not only changed him but also those in search of truth.
As you watched Patch and thought about the turmoil he went through, did you feel that his dreams were too far fetched or did they shed new hope for medical students around the world.

Inspire Genuine Blogging

2004-11-01T01:13:00.000-08:00

As you are aware there are different types of blogs; political blogs, educational blogs, personal blogs and etc... Well, in our educational blog we want to discover and explore other blogs as well.
Have you ever experienced or considered visiting other blogs? This is a good opportunity for everyone involved in Cyber-Discovery to visit other blog sites (in English of course!) and comment on the ideas presented in those blogs. Then write about your experience of communicating with another blog site. Don't forget to include the address of the blog site you visited.

2004-10-25T21:10:00.000-07:00

CRITICAL TEACHING

Surely, if you had the opportunity to be THE TEACHER you could come up with innovative and inspirational ideas for the class. Here's your chance to discover, brainstorm and recreate activities, lesson plans and worksheets. Write down specifically any creative ideas you think would be of use to YOU in the class.

If I were the teacher I would .....

Thanks Everyone

2004-10-18T20:51:00.000-07:00

I wanted to thank all of my students for their interesting comments.
There is one question that I constantly ask my self, why is it that all students in all levels complain and NAG about their homework? Could it possibly be because they dont put enough time to complete it or they have more IMPORTANT thing to do, like hanging out with their friends!

Welcome

2004-10-03T13:15:00.000-07:00

Welcom to the worlds of discovery! Discover yourSELF...