Is Internet surfing considered Reading

In the article "Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Ready" I agree with the opinions that students/ children don't need to be taught to use a computer or send text messages. I feel that traditional text book learning is very important to complex thinking, and that the internet is more "bare bones" reading, scanning for specific details without comprehension. In the article sited above, "Mary Crovo of the National Assessment Governing Board, which creates policies for the national tests, said several members of a committee that sets guidelines for the reading tests believed large numbers of low-income and rural students might not have regular Internet access, rendering measurements of their online skills unfair." I think the internet is a useful tool to be used in conjunction with traditional methods to excite and motivate those students who have access to a computer, and provide children who need exposure to technology a hand up.

Response to Multiple Intelligences

In the Concept to Classroom Workshop: Tapping into Multiple Intelligences sight was a new concept for me to learn. I liked this sight, because it explained what Multiple Intelligences is, how it can be used, and how to use it in the classroom. I would like to incorporate these ideas into some teaching activities. I am not in the classroom, and am not sure that it is used frequently, but I find the theory very interesting. I learned the most using the self assessment test to see what my unique learning style is.

Response to "Is the Google making us stupid?"

Yes,Yes,Yes! After reading this article, I too believe that the brain is plastic. I believe that using technology creates different pathways and neural connections to learning. I think computers should be used as an additional tool to education, not instead of traditional learning methods. My experience with some college students: they cannot spell, and if spell check doesn't catch the error then the paper must be correct. Give me a break! These are the best of high school students who actually were accepted to college. I think valuable skills are learned from libraries that students do not know how to use. I feel this is both frightening and sad. Computer sights can be overwhelming with information and pictures, and learning to "scan" articles without comprehension is a concern. I think computer information is the equivalent to Cliff Notes, a summary of knowledge without understanding. I think students use computers enough on their own, and school is for traditional learning, with technology only as a small portion of learning and teaching. What is so bad about "boring" book, that you can hold in boat on a lake?

Furling

I finally got into the furl sight. I think this sight will be useful for research, to save time. I find this sight fun to use but I am not sure how I would use it as a teacher. I found the sight time consuming, and "getting lost" in the sight reading material. I think with practice I will find this sight useful. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a long, positive relationship with the Internet, and a computer.

Assignment 1

Assignment 1, Ed Tech Kristin Shimek

As a technology/computer challenged person, I found the iGoogle sight really easy to create. I am now a YouTube junkie, and I wasted a lot of time playing with the sight. FYI I somehow found a link to igoogle templates for teachers that are free! Some are very interesting, and I think it would be a huge time saver. Note to self: after reading the PDF stuff I decided to download Adobe 9.0… it took 57minutes to download! I thought this sight provided a lot of educational material, and is a great way to stay current with world events.

The Furling sight did not open at my home computer, and after about 45 min on the phone with the “help line” THEY could not figure out why it wasn’t working. Also tried to open on a neighbors computer and could not open (similar problem with powerpoint demo). I am not sure if it was a problem with the sight or my computer, but everything else seemed to load without problems.

The VLIB sight I was surprised with the amount of info one must pay for, and the amount of advertisements used as articles on a subject. I thought it would be easier to find info than google, or at least more concise, but had a lot of trouble navigating to get valuable info.

Planet PDF was a great sight. I loved the FREE tab info and downloaded 2 books (as if I will have time to read them). Interestingly the sight says that it is even for people who don’t know what PDF stands for, and I could not find a definition…on this sight. I can see using this sight to be able to assign and “provide” books to students. I can see using this sight to customize a students reading assignments.

After doing this assignment and over 14 hours on the computer, I feel very overwhelmed with computer lingo, some of sights could have been in Japanese and I would have understood as much. But as a wise man once told me “just breathe”, and I still am. I hope this will get easier with practice and this class.