Week 02

After going through all the steps of the Internet Activity assignments, I have now become more comfortable with all the new technologies required by this class. I have learned to effectively use bookmarks and make them available on all computers. As well as getting more comfortable with blogging. Lastly the amount of many different websites available for teachers and students. They are great guides for anything that you may be seeking! It’s comforting to know that support exists and it will be available whenever it is in need. I never even heard of most of these sites, my personal favorite was www.snopes.com. It is a very valuable site for questionable statements, rumors, or suspecting urban legends. In today’s world you hear so many different things that you are not sure whether or not you can believe them. The internet has become such a powerful portal to use in so many different ways.
“Teaching for Understanding” was an interesting article on how to use technology to help students learn with understanding, despite what ideas they may have already discovered on their own. A teacher’s main challenge is to help learners expand or modify existing preconceptions. Next the teacher must be able to teach the facts and principals, in order for the student to gain a greater understanding. A teacher can use technology in the classroom as a very powerful tool to see how a student comprehends the subject matter and what concepts they may be struggling with. “…students can confront their misconceptions, enhance their incomplete knowledge, improve their intellectual abilities, and construct ever more accurate representations of ideas and processes.” Technology is a great way to entice students to think in their own way, to be more open to new ideas, and think broadly about subjects proposed by their teachers.