Response to Chapters 1 and 2

Chapter 1

● Chapter one introduces the idea that our ability to access material online makes us reconsider the “expectations we have for our students”. This is something that I had never thought about before. Since most students can easily access the internet at school, teachers’ expectations should be higher for them on, for example, a research project. As a prospective English teacher, I can see that my expectations for the amount of research students do would be less if they all had to thumb through books at the library. With correct use of the internet, though, all students have the ability to quickly access multitudes of information about a given topic.

● Chapter one also explains a modern dilemma in the classroom: technologically savvy students are often pitted against technologically slow teachers. Teachers who are not good with computers are not to blame, though. They are merely products of their own generation—a generation that Prensky call “digital Immigrants”. How is this dilemma to be overcome? Should school districts just wait on the next generation of teachers who are “digital natives” to fill the classrooms? Should the “digital immigrants” who now fill the classrooms be trained? The book assumes that these digital immigrants will take the initiative to train themselves. It states, “The good news, however, is that the tools discussed in this book have just as much chance of closing this gap [between students and teachers] as widening it” (Richardson 7). I feel that few teachers will take the initiative to teach themselves about the technology available for their classrooms. A more likely solution to the problem would come from schools training their teachers to become technologically savvy.

● Chapter one talks about internet safety. In the chapter, it mentions that the risks of the internet can be alleviated by planning. This gave me the idea that, as a teacher, I should take the time to introduce the rules of the internet to students. In other classes I have heard about the value of taking time during the first few days of school to teach students about the rules of the classroom. This same idea is applicable to internet use in the classroom.

● Along the lines of safety, the book mentions that students should get parental approval before they publish their work on the internet. This idea had never crossed my mind. Having read it, though, I can see how important parental approval could be.

Chapter 2

● Chapter 2 presents some of the benefits to blogging. It tells us that “the class can go paperless” (23), and “students never misplace their work” (23). However, the author makes the assumption that all students have a computer with internet access. A teacher cannot spend a whole class period in which students blog. They would have to do much of their blogging at home. Many K-12 students come from families who cannot provide enough food for their children. Those families especially cannot provide computers with internet access. In response to those quotes, I feel public, K-12 schools are far from completely relying on the internet.

● The internet does seem like a good place for professionals to collaborate. Chapter 2 says that weblogs will “make it easy to communicate with peers who might be teaching the same course” (22). The ability for teachers to communicate with people across the globe will benefit students. Teachers can share ideas and work collaboratively with a common goal. This will bring about great results for their classrooms.

● Chapter 2 mentions that, with the internet, “student work no longer ends at the classroom door” (28). This would be a great motivational tool for students. If they realize the public—and especially their peers—can view their work, they may be inclined to put more effort into what they do.