Stephanie Lane

In my experience, I think I have heard everyone I know express some variation of this metaphor at least once during the coarse of our time together. Everyone is always “getting behind” on something, whether its work, school, or household chores. It seems as if most of our lives are spent trying to “catch up”. Usually, when a teacher says “we’ve fallen behind”, it refers to the class as whole not being at the place they should be on the academic calendar. I can see how it can be easy for teachers to feel like they are “falling behind” because they have a limited amount of time they can spend on material before they have to move on to different material. Ultimately, they have to make sure those students can pass the test come the end of the year. But sometimes it is necessary to take a step backwards or spend a little extra time working with students to help them understand something that is difficult for them. I don’t think we should classify this “falling behind” since there is progress being made. We are always moving forward even if it is not as quickly as we would prefer.

I love the idea of social networking in the classroom. I could facebook all day long and I know students love it too. So using a social networking site such as twitter to track students’ progress on assignments sounds like a fantastic idea to me. I like that it allows students to view eachother’s ideas and thoughts about assignments and lets them discuss and bounce ideas off one another outside of class. I think it will help students to be better prepared when they come in for a class discussion. It also allows me to see which students are struggling with assignments. If I log on and see a post from a students saying he/she doesn’t understand something, then I can respond immediately with help. In this regard, I think social networking makes me more accessible and approachable to my students.

The strength of criticism lies
in the weakness of the thing criticized.
                -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Because the internet is exploding with untested information, I think it is very important for web users to utilize different methods of evaluating this information.  As teachers, we should be showing students how to narrow their searches in order to find the most relative and valid information for their purpose.  Allowing the students to do research via the Web is great because there is so much information available for them to access.  However, I think that if we allow them to blindly research everything on their own without any guidelines, we should expect the information they submit to be straight from the first link Google provides, despite the validity of the site and quality of the information.  Therefore, I think we need to guide students’ focus for research by giving them sites that we know to be valid sources for information, such as Galileo, an excellent provider of scholarly articles and journals, or Wikipedia, a good source for general and specific information.  I also think we should be teaching them how to critically evaluate web-based materials when they are researching on their own.  They should know what to look for in a valid source, such as names of institutions backing the information, dates when sites are published or updated, and whether or not sites appear credible.  As much as I love Google, it doesn’t filter the information for me, and it won’t for my students.  I have to decide what information is good enough for the people grading my work, and my students’ will undoubtedly have to do the same.

I was fascinated to learn that the fastest growing age group for web users is 2-5 year-olds.  This was shocking for me considering my personal experience as a web user didn’t really begin until middle school, and even then I couldn’t navigate it well on my own.  Of course, the internet of today is far from what it was when I was child, and what terrifies me now are these 2-5 year olds that will one day be sitting in my classroom expecting me to teach them something they don’t already know. 

As a college student, I have had to utilize online portfolios and WebCT programs.  Because of my experiences, I feel like class portals and online filing techniques would be very helpful tools for my students.  I also love the idea of having students submit online projects because it cuts down on supply costs for students and parents without limiting the opportunity for creative and exceptional work.  I appreciate Richardson’s point in chapter 2 where he discusses how the web supports students with different learning styles.  Growing up, I was shy and never one to speak out in class, so blogging would have been an alternative way for me to earn participation points. 

I understand that some students and parents might have reservations about putting themselves out there too much.  Protecting students is part of my job as a teacher, and I would want them to be careful about what they reveal to the world via the World Wide Web.  I like idea of laying down specific rules for blogging for my class.  No last names, addresses, phone numbers, etc… should be permitted.  However, the web is bigger than my classroom and I worry about protecting my students from outside criticism.  Everyone watches youtube videos and scrolls down to read the comments other viewers have posted.  The last thing I want is for one of my students to post a project for my class and have to read “you suck” repeatedly in the comment boxes.  I can try to prepare them for it ahead of time, but a pat on the shoulder and a “don’t worry about what other people think” isn’t going to cut it for a teenager who just put a lot of hard work into something and then had it shot down by total strangers.  Truthfully, I’d be hurt and very skeptical about ever posting anything again. 

Aside from my few concerns, I am excited that teachers and students have so many opportunities available to them because of the internet.  It means I don’t have to teach a lecture coarse and my students don’t have to hate school.  I can take something they know very well (considering they’ve been surfing since age 2) and use it to make my class more interesting and fun for them.  In the process, I’m sure they will be teaching me new things as well.

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