Chapter 2 - Walrick

I found Chapter 2 in the Walrick text to be rather interesting because of all the websites, possible worksheets that we could use and metaphors the author uses to guide us though his ideas.

• I was a little confused on page 21 when he states, "If all our children learn to do is read, they will not be literate."

How true can this statement be? Before technology and computers became known and advanced, all we had to learn from was books. Therefore, how can we say that our children will not be literate just from reading when that's what has made people literate all along?

• I agree that we as educators have lost a certain amount of control over the information we teach because children are more or less aware of how to gather more information on their own. Just because this may be true, I do not think that their should be a computer provided in every classroom for every student so that teachers can become less involved and enforced with their students.

• Since computers are becoming a main learning source in schools, it is important to show student all of the different search engines that are available to them and how they are to be used. It is also important for us to emphasize that "search engines are wonderfully powerful tooks, but they cannot think." Students need to learn how to quote and how to develop their own ideas based on the information they read from the search engine. They cannot begin to use these types of tools assuming it will make the work load more easy for them.

• I LOVE the SEARCH chart that is provided to us on page 34. I think this is an excellent way for us to teach our students how to look for information and how to synthesize it on their own. If I have to conduct a class using computers one day, I will definitly be using this chart to guide them through.

Kris