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.