Journal Entry Week 6

One thing this course has done for me has really energized how I feel about technology in the classroom, and I certainly want to try to use more/start using it. The first place this will happen and the logical starting point is creating a page for my classes. I already have a few assignments and modifications to assignments in mind to get more out of the technology, and one of them is to do database research for Huck Finn (This didn't work as well last year, because the librarians and I screwed up which articles we had them look at). The idea of technology as a new form of literacy I have to teach I am not sure I buy into 100%; will I incorporate it into class and use it for lessons? Yes. Will I spend a significant amount of time teaching the skills? Probably not, as, by the time my students get to me, they hopefully know enough, and the little I do with them will hopefully finish what they need to know. I do not intend to make it a major part of the curriculum, as the text literature is really my first goal. I think it would be a mistake to forget about books. That said, I certainly do need to do more with the technology that is available to me. I want my students to be able to see what they can find on the Internet as supplemental to what we do in class. If they have questions at home they can go online to find an answer (and know how to do this, so maybe I would have to teach some?); as a place to share ideas with their peers; as a great opportunity for humanity to reach out and learn about each other and the world so as to become better people.