Digital Goonies!!!

I really find this blog great because without even really thinking about it I am sucked in! The first post was regarding Google Earth, which I already am familiar with and love. In terms of education, I find this site useful because it updates readers with information about current technologies. Even better, it shows how these already fascinating tools are coming out with uprgades and things of the like.

I have not been exposed to this type of learning in any classroom settin gI have been in. In fact, this is the first time I have ever turned to a blog to gather resources. I believe that based on the fact that kids and adults alike find the internet entertaining we should use more informative tools like the blog digital goonies. Like John Dewey I believe that traditional education is not practical in the world of change we live in. A more progressive approach is necessary to meet students needs in a society that is rooted in change. Digital Goonies provides a great service by updating technological information, and it provides a great juxtaposition to the lore of textbooks as the primary source for education.

Teddy Bears GO Blogging resonse

I found Brenda Sherry's blog, and even more the activity she discusses, to be a very practical as well as innovative use of the internet in the classroom. I am of the belief that a disservice is done to the students when everyday media and technology is not incorporated in the classroom. As educators we should be aware that our students have access to the internet at the fingertips almost all the time. We should embrace this, and try to incorporate positive qualities of the internet in our classroom. By not including the positive resources of the internet in the classroom we are unintentionally implying that the internet is a not a useful educative means. Blogging, for example, gives students an opportunity to utilize a different medium to express their thoughts and to interact with contemporaries.

Sherry use of blogging with her young students is effective for a variety of reasons. Her teddy bear idea is one that the students grasp onto because it involves the sharing the things they enjoy to do out of classroom, as well as in the classroom. I am fairly certain that most kids would LOVE LOVE LOVE to share anything they does not have to do with school work. The use of the feedback and comment options encourage the students to participate. This also reinforces the idea that blogging and internet resources are indeed useful as educative tools.