Post #5

The Internet is a great tool for students doing research papers. It provides quick access to thousands of articles covering millions of subjects. Sometimes libraries aren't always accessible and may not have books on the subject one needs. The Internet gives a vast majority of information all at the click of a button. I think if a teacher is going to assign a research paper they should require different sources to be used. It prevents from students using too many unreliable sources. I don't think the Internet is as useful when students use it for studying purposes. Not everything is correct on the Internet. A student will see a website and rely on its validity. If it's not, now the student has learned all the wrong information. One obvious website would be Wikipedia. Teachers are always telling students how this website is not reliable because anybody can upload info to it.
I liked the idea of using web conferencing. It would be such a cool experience to have my class video conference with students their age in another country. It gives students an insight into another culture. They can compare their education and lifestyles. It would give them an appreciation for other cultures. As a teacher I would love to conference with other teachers around the nation, or even world. I could exchange lesson plans and ideas with fellow teachers. I could have new and fresh methods for teaching my students.
As a middle/high school teacher, the problem with a technology environment is distraction. Students are always going to be on sites they should be like Facebook or Twitter. One person supervising many children doesn't always work so well. It's going to be hard to keep them on task for the whole time. Another issue is technology not working properly. If the computer isn't functioning right, then that adds to the problem of keeping a student on task. There's always seems to be something that goes wrong when you're working on a project on a computer. Hopefully, when I become a teacher I can manage the class and keep them all occupied on their assignment.