Remember filmstrips? The sound of the "ding" was the signal to turn the strip. We've come along way. I agree that we need to employ technology to keep up with our students. I know they more about these tools than I do and I need to master wikis and blogs, podcasting, and more. But we also need to teach our students how to manage all barrage of information. They need to learn social network etiquette. These students do no live in an era where they can assume that information found on the web is correct. They need to research and confirm the facts. It is our job to show them how.
I did enjoy the epilogue and English teacher Tom McHale. He did seem to get a tremendous amout done before his students arrived. He opened his personal weblob, scanned the New York Times headlines, used his Diigo toolbar, bookmarked a few things, read some summaries of students work and left some positive feedback. I could go on. But, what happens if the power goes out? With all these wonderful tools and technology, I still hope he has a backup plan.
Janette, I agree with you that we definitely need to employ technology to keep up with our students. You're right, we do need to teach our students to manage the influx of information. We see evidence every day that they need to learn social network etiquette. Until now, they have been self-teaching the use of these technologies, and many of them are too young to know what the boundaries are. It has become our job to show them how to use the internet responsibly, and to do research to confirm the facts.
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