Module 6

                This chapter was full of great activities to use in the classroom; many of them, I wouldn’t have even thought of myself! When I was in middle school and high school, going to the computer lab would be really exciting class! But we never were able to do as much as what the book was suggesting; the reason for that, I think, is because teachers are not aware of all the possibilities of the internet, just yet!

                Some of my favorite activities that the book talked about were the Google Lit Trips and the Virtual talk with the author! Both would definitely get the children excited about the book, and also go beyond the information that the book provides for them. I think the worst thing that can happen to a child is that they lose their curiosity for things that they don’t completely understand or want to learn more about! These programs would definitely give them a chance to freely explore the world around them and still be learning. I also think that being able to hear the author talk about their inspiration for writing would really inspire children to start writing their own stories or to keep writing their own stories, which will greatly improve their literacy skills.

                WebQuests were something that I remember doing when I was in middle school and high school. We would get an instruction sheet, go to the computer lab, and fill out a question sheet. Now, this was not always a fun trip, but sometimes the websites we would go on would be interactive and fun. I think starting WebQuests earlier than middle school and high school would be a great way for children to learn how to navigate a website and to be able to find what interests them, that way when they get older, they will get a lot more out of the WebQuests.

                Overall, I think that the more we encourage kids to use technology as a tool for learning, the more they will use it for that purpose. Many kids, who grew up with technology, did not have instructors who knew how to utilize it properly for educational purposes, therefore the children never learned how to use it for educational purposes. Obviously kids will always use the internet for social media, but if they learn other uses for it, they might spend some of their time doing other things on the internet as well! 

Module 5

In all honesty, I knew almost no online e-book sources. Actually, I might not have known any at all. When I was really young, probably in elementary school, I got a “leap pad” for a present, and that’s not as much as an e-book as it is a really high tech book that speaks to you (which I guess is an e-book…). Then when I was in high school, my mom got a Kindle and I immediately stole it from her (and then misplaced it, sorry, mom…), which I really liked, but I always preferred the hard cover/paperback book. Reading this chapter, I was really impressed and amazed at all the different resources for e-books that are both for young children and young adults. It amazes me that there is so much out there and that it remains relatively unknown to a lot of people, especially kids, which is who it is mainly marketed towards.

                Some of the concerns of the e-books actually weren’t concerns that I even thought about. The text brought up that e-books with a lot of interactive tools can often take away from the literacy learning of the text itself and distracts young readers. I definitely agree with that, but I think that it is a good way to get younger kids introduced to e-books as a fun, recreational thing, obviously not to be used all the time, but as a gateway to more complex texts that the internet has to offer.

Again, I think that the hyperlinks embedded into the text are very helpful for kids, as well as informative and fun. Not only can they direct children to the definition of a confusing word, but it can also link children to more information of a certain topic that a text brings up, it could be historical, mythological, or cultural, and give a child a little more insight to the topic and incentive to look further into it. I think that this is probably the most important attribute to e-books that regular text does not have, other than the fact that e-books are easier to access and often free, while paper books are not. 

Module 4

                This chapter had a lot of very cool ideas in it! I really liked how the beginning of the chapter highlighted the importance of reading in a child’s life, I mean the “lack of vocabulary can be a critical factor underlying the school failure of disadvantaged students.” (45) that is scary to think about! I think that reading must be encouraged inside and outside of the classroom, but that can definitely be tough for struggling families. Therefore, the classroom teacher must do the best they can to encourage the students to read, write, and learn, just in case the children are not able to get that type of support at home for whatever reason. And on the other hand, parents should support and encourage their child to read and learn in any way possible, just in case the classroom environment is not as welcoming as it should be.

                I was very impressed by the technologies and websites that were talked about in this chapter. The Wonderopolis site is a great idea for kids of all ages; even I was interested in looking it up and checking out what it had to offer! I think that it is a great idea that the website changes its word, or information, daily, so that if the child is not interested in the information provided one day, they can check what is on it the next day and maybe find something that they are very excited about.  I think for older kids, too, teachers could introduce them to sites that release new articles daily on various things that might interest them. I admit that a lot of the times I use the internet, I am on social media, but I do enjoy going to sites like Cracked.com, to read the new articles they released (not all of the articles on the Cracked website are appropriate for children, but there are definitely a lot of other similar sites that parents, guardians, and teachers would be able to provide that are more appropriate). If more websites like this are introduced, kids will be more likely to less time on social media and more time on informational websites, while they are on the internet; I think a big problem is just that children don’t know of many websites that produce interesting articles and information, therefore they don’t even consider that as a resource of entertainment or information when they are online.

                I was also very amazed by the virtual field trips! Very cool! I wish we did those kinds of things in the classroom when I was in school! I think that this gives students and teachers a lot more freedom to explore and have fun. If the children show a lot of interest in a particular subject or place, the teacher would easily be able to find a VFT to take the kids on one day, instead of having to plan out an actual field trip, which would take a lot of time and money.  I do still think that real life field trips hold a lot of value, because a lot of museums have interactive exhibits and it gets the kids active and moving around; but the virtual field trips are a lot easier to plan and teachers don’t have to get it approved by the school, get the bus, and get permission slips. So, it’s definitely a lot less time and effort, but it can still be as fun as an actual field trip. I am definitely interested in what an actual VFT looks like! Also, I know that there are some websites, such as the New England Aquarium website, that periodically releases live webcam videos of the sea life that they exhibit. And I even found a “puppy cam” once, that you could go onto at any time and watch a litter of puppies grow and play! It was very fun and cute to watch. Teachers could also incorporate these videos into lessons, as a fun and interactive way for children to observe “wild” life.