10 Tech Skills Every Student Should Have

After reading this article I do believe I hold many of these skills whether that be partially or in full.

1. Internet Search: Is one of the first skills I did acquire.  They have been needed and perfected over the years since my first research assignment in elementary school.  I have also found them useful for everyday life, everything is on the internet now, directions recipes, dictionaries articles, things i use and need every day.  
2. Office Suite Skills: I have partial skills in this category, I am very familiar with word documents and powerpoint presentations, I also have spent some time with excel and other programs, but I will not go so far to say that I am in any way an expert.  
3. Self Learning of tech and where to go for help: I am familiar with finding 'Help' with technology as that has been one of the main reasons why I am as technically inclined as I am.  
4. Typing: Do to the explosion of technology for my generation, I have been one of many who is blessed with the ability to type efficiently, giving me a large amount of time back when it comes to assignments and papers.  
5. Social Media: I have a small social media footprint, I am on Facebook, Blogger, and Twitter, (most for this class) but I do protect myself well with privacy locks, and I keep the philosophy of 'treating Facebook and any other social cite, as a newspaper, If you wouldn't want it published in the paper then don't put it on the internet"
6. Netiquette: I have a small understanding on writing professional emails, resumes and so forth, this is simply from what i have learnt from my father, and I am not afraid to admit I have more to learn.  
7. Security and Safety: antivirus and spam to me all sounds of things that need to be loaded on the hard drive of my computer to be prevented.  I have security on social networking sites and i don't put up personal information i don't wish to share, although I do believe that your personal information is sometimes the price you pay for joining these sites.  
8. Troubleshooting: I only have partial knowledge of troubleshooting and hardware.  I am no computer expert, and would definitely need professional help with glitches on my computer , however as far as wifi and connection i have taken it upon myself to make sure i understand how it works and make sure it thrives.  
9. Backup data: I have a very cool thumb drive, which I do back up my recent and important work, and my home computer is backed up as well incase of a much larger problem.  
10. Finding Apps and Software: depending on the search engine i am quite savy at finding apps and software.  with apple I have made much use of all that their store offers (free) but I recently acquired an Android phone which has a new set of apps and i have found it to be less user friendly.  

3rd Post of Shakespeare Unit

1.  I agreed with some of the tweets in class answering the question "why is shakespeare difficult?"  I do find that the english language has changed and reversing in time to Shakespearian language is straining, it also is much more detailed, most of the plays show this, by describing a simple feeling like a piece of artwork on a wall.  Although I do disagree with the fact that it is 'bad writing', just because Shakespeare did not simply tell you exactly what was happening does not make it 'bad', in fact I find it more interesting to read as it hold more layers to what could have been a simple sentence.   This brings me to another 'tweet' that I disagree with, 'losing my interest', for me it does not, just as long as I'm not on a short supply of sleep.  
2. There are many ways to overcome prejudices with education, what works for me, specifically with shakespeare, is knowing that there is reason behind teaching one author to countless students of all ages for hundreds of years.  Also many of our own movies and novels have the same base plot as so many of the shakespeare plays, therefore although it way be sometimes difficult, i know i will be able to relate to the plays once i get over the first reaction to the writing itself.  

2nd Post For Shakespeare Unit

The Wikipedia page on 'Much Ado About Nothing' By William Shakespeare is, for the most part accurate to the play itself.  This play does not have one specific main character like some of shakespeare's plays do (For example: Hamlet)
The 4 main Characters which i found to be focused on the most, mainly because they are all intertwined, are;

1. Beatrice: "niece of Leonato: Hero's witty, older cousin, she attacks Benedick verbally, though she mentions once that "I wish he would have boarded me," insinuating that they had a past relationship. She swears never to marry, but after being tricked into believing that Benedick loves her, falls in love with him. She asks him to avenge Hero's dishonor and he reluctantly agrees to challenge Claudio to a duel. Her father is Antonio." Beatrice summary is the only out of the four main characters which completely satisfies a proper description of her character without completely re-telling the the play.  
2. Benedick:  "of Padua; companion of Don Pedro: A sarcastic, witty bachelor who swears he will never marry, he later falls in love with Beatrice when he is tricked into believing that she loves him. He is said to be very good in battle and there is hinting at a past relationship with Beatrice, though they do nothing but fight when the story opens"  The small summary given of Benedick is fairly accurate, rather than there being any error, there is simply some points left out.  Such as, him being close friends with Don Pedro and Claudio, whom play a large part in the set up of him and Beatrice.  
3. Hero: "Leonato's daughter: Beautiful, sweet, gentle, and demure, she is wrongfully accused of unfaithfulness and publicly humiliated on her wedding day. Wounded by Claudio's anger and her love for him, she swoons, and later pretends to be dead to bring remorse to her beloved. She marries Claudio in the end."   Heros summary lacks the information of her being very close with her Cousin Beatrice, this plays large importance, as Beatrice so passionately asks Benedick to avenge her sweet cousin and kill Claudio.  
4. Claudio: "of Florence; a count, companion of Don Pedro"  Wikipedias summary on Claudio is extremely short and therefore does not paint an accurate picture of his character.  Claudio is also friends with Benedick, as he helps Don Pedro trick Benedick into falling in love with Beatrice.  Claudio is also in love with Hero, which plays a large role in the plot of the play, as he leaves her at the alter as he is under the impression that Hero has been unfaithful.  

1st Post For Shakespeare Unit

Much ado about nothing is a Play involving bitter siblings, pride between lovers, infidelity from both males and females, and trickery amongst families and friends.  Focus is put on two couples falling in love at different speeds, do to both pure passion as well as friendly encouragement from meddling friends.  As outside characters become more involved with the couples, to use them for their own revenge, a wedding is called off, a death is faked, and true emotion is revealed.  All ends well with both couples being set straight, declaring their love for one another and a beautiful wedding.  

MAIN CHARACTER:

1. Beatrice -  Leonato’s niece and Hero’s cousin.
2. Benedick -  An aristocratic soldier 
3. Claudio -  A young soldier 
4. Hero -  The beautiful young daughter of Leonato and the cousin of Beatrice.
5. Don Pedro -  An important nobleman from Aragon
6. Leonato -  A respected, well-to-do, elderly noble
7. Don John -  The illegitimate brother of Don Pedro;
8. Margaret -  Hero’s serving woman
9. Borachio -  An associate of Don John
10. Antonio -  Leonato’s elderly brother and Hero's uncle.

Disregarding the watching of the video version of Much ado about nothing Directed by A.J. Antoon with Nick Havinga, which will give me a good understanding of the play, the rest of my research for this play will be from, the following:

• Wikipedia’s small insight to the characters, themes and motifs used through out the play.  
• EBSCOhost:

1. "Sigh no more ladies"-- the Song in Much Ado About Nothing: Shakespeare and Branagh Deliver Aural Pleasure.
2. Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.
3. Shakespeare and the government of comedy: Much Ado About Nothing
4. Children of the mind: Miscarried natives in Much Ado about Nothing.
5. Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING 3.5.17-26.
6. Intention and Editing.
7. Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.By: Ross, Gordon N.
8. Shakespeare's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.By: Richards, David.
9. The Semantics of Passion in Shakespeare's Comedies: An Interdisciplinary Study.
10. Deforming Sources: Literary Antecedents and Their Traces in Much Ado About Nothing.

• MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING - BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS: http://www.srvc.net/engl154/html_files/Ado_Lecture.htm
• sparknotes.com: For basic Character analysis and theme analysis. http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/muchado/characters.html

The four main elements to the play that I am going to focus on are, The time in which Shakespeare was writing the play, The main Themes of both male and female infidelity that continue throughout the play, and the dynamics to each main character.  

Personal Learning Network

1. A personal learning network is a network of professionals with whom you share knowledge and from whom you gain knowledge.  Ex Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Blogger, 8Tracks
2. 3 possible elements to a good PLN are;  
1. keeping your ideas organized and clear for other readers to be able to have easy access .  
2. having a high level of participation in conversations with other users as well as contributing thought provoking  ideas, instigating appointive pieces. 
3. updating your PLN as frequently as possible always keeping it relevant, for other readers following you.  
3. Having a PLN could possibly give me an edge on fellow classmates because through expanding my network through multiple search engines, i will have a larger forum to accumulate information, opinions and ideas to contribute to any self-research projects.  Having a larger social network (more people=more perspective)
4. Potential employers may find it refreshing and innovative to have online portfolios.  It takes commitment and shows that you are proactive not only with your career start, but as well with having a good handle on future technology.   Technology is playing more of a role in the career force than ever, and you could prove to be an asset to the company.  
5. My current ‘online footprint’ could be considered some what Employer friendly.  Although I am on several social networks, such as Facebook, myspace, 8tracks, and more recently Twitter and Blogger, many are for social and educational reasons not professional uses.  That being said I have used my social networks to communicate with my current employers, and have found it very helpful.  It makes for easy connecting as well as staying up to date with all of the companies promotions.   I think that once i have completed my post secondary education and become closer to joining the career force, I should be making some changes to my online footprint.  But until then I treat my social networks like a newspaper; if you wouldn't want it printed on the front page of the news paper then don't publish it on the internet, no matter what your privacy settings are.