Alan November's book, Empowering Students with Technology, is very insightful. We teach students the components of print such as title, author, author purpose, sentences, etc. Very rarely do we teach students how to be Internet literate. When I have my students do research on a topic in the computer room, I go around and check their sources for them, but I never take the time to go through my thought process with the students on how to evaluate a website and it's purpose for being created on the World Wide Web. November recommended using the strategy of MAPping with our students to teach them how to access information and how to make meaning of what they are accessing. (November, pg 14)
Meta-web information- understanding the
structure of the URLs, links, and search engines
Authors- credentials of authors
Purpose- authors purpose
November also goes into stating how technology is a great tool to motivate and deepen our students understanding of complex issues by allowing our students to use services like Skype to connect with audiences around the world. November explained their are several resources that are free that could be used in the classroom to allow teachers to create authentic lessons for our students. I enjoyed reading about the different ways how social networking and sites like Skype could be used. It makes me think, "What can I start doing within my own classroom?" I would like to experiment using some of these sites to get my students motivated to learn on a topic.
November also explained how technology can be used to help involve parents more. Many parents had negative experiences in schools, so going back into the schools for teacher/parent meetings is stressful for them. By allowing the parents to meet online instead of coming into the school might serve as a better way for the parents to get involved within the classroom and their child's progress. I would like to create a wikispace for my parents to visit and blog about questions, comments, or advice that they are using currently that they can share. This is my summer project! I think a classroom website would be a great tool for me, the students, and parents! I would like to assign students to take charge of the website so they are active using tools that are at their finger tips such as voki, animoto, and blogging. The skies the limits with technology!!
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