Lessons Learned

After reading the "WWW" article my eyes were really opened to the harms of the internet. Some things that really stood out to me were that it can create challenges for children, educators must use technology to create learning experiences that are real, rich relevant, impulse buying and impulse behavior, and drive students to distraction. After reading the beginning of this I felt scared and concerned to use technology in my classrooms because I am worried about it not being "realistic" or a distraction. The internet sometimes isn't realistic to people and that is why we have problems with impulse buying online and people saying and doing things they would never do in person, online. These are barriers that I want to cross with my students and want to make strengths out of these technologies. I really liked the ideas of WebQuests, class websites, and turning students over to themselves. Students are distracted easily because they are always wanting to be entertained. These activities could really help students get involved and use their minds to create something. I hope that as a teacher I can really have students turn to themselves and go beyond just the classroom and into the technology world. I hope that my assignments will be realistic not just in technology but in real life. 
I also learned a lot about what I need to be as the teacher. In the "Tools for Change" powerpoint slides I got some ideas about what kind of teacher I want to be and what kind of students I hope to have. Some of the descriptions the slides gave for Instructional Practices for the teacher were Facilitator, resource provider, provide access, and teacher as learner. These are practices I hope to achieve and really strive for. I want to keep learning and increase my knowledge so that I can be the facilitator and resource provider of the classroom. I hope that by doing this as the teacher I will encourage my students to better their knowledge and really become active researchers.