Kids Prefer Reading Online (Blog)

I found this interesting debate that was on http://weblogg-ed.com/2008/kids-prefer-reading-online/ by Will Richardson. The blog post was titled Kids Prefer Reading Online. The blog discusses the issue that reading online is considered “real” reading. I agree that we as teachers or parents need to provide a balance of reading digital text verse regular print. It is interesting how kids understand how to text message without being told, so why would they need taught how to read on the internet. This point brings up the issue with every kid; if they want to do it they will find a way and if they don’t they will find an excuse. The internet is a great source for kids if they are supervised using it for educational use.

This blog on such an interesting issue allowed me to really think about the way we should help students stay focused on teaching them effective ways to utilize technology. This blog had 16 comments and each comment made good points on how to obtain a balance with reading in both dimensions. Overall, this is a topic that will be discussed again and again, but the one main issue is our students depend on the computer for everything.

"How Should Schools be Using Tech to Teach?"

I read an article, “How Should Schools be Using Tech to Teach?” by Samantha Cleaver. This article can be found at, http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Tech_in_Schools/. This article was titled “How Should Schools be Using Tech to Teach?” and is focusing around how to integrate technology for the 21st century into today’s classrooms. I was amazed to find that collected data proves that teens are using the internet for educational networking more than we may think. Students want to use technology and enjoy communicating about topics related to their education. I also strongly agree with the statement this article makes about how problems are getting more complex for our students in the 21st century. It is vital for students to understand how to solve problems and use all available tools in the process to set up their formula on how to analyze and solve the problem. It is very true that students today have access and the availability of technology, but are they using it to better themselves for the future? I personally think they are not. There needs to be more focus on using it in the classroom to practice these real-world skills.

This article has several unique reviews on how teachers have had their students use podcasts, blogs, wiki, and other means of technology resources in their curriculum. I picked one of these reviews that I thought related to my grade level. I chose the article about social networking using http://www.imbee.com/ to teach young students the use of social networking. This website allows students, age seven to twelve, a way of creating a virtual world. This is the first free social network designed for young people and is a great way to allow students to communicate using technology. The one nice benefit of this site is that the site is approved by both parents and teachers which help to eliminate a lot of issues. The site has many activities for students, but the one that caught my eye was the different trading cards students could design. Overall this article is making the point that, we as teachers need to be aware that students do have the capabilities to use technology and are currently using it daily in their lives. We need to take the initiative and expand their knowledge in problem solving, collaborating, and analyzing information instead of simply copying and pasting information.