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!