I agree with Alan November in this article that we, as educators, don't share enough of what we do with the outside community/world. There are a great deal of people, especially in politics, that seem to think they know exactly what we do and how we do it and they are the ones portraying our image. We really need to ask ourselves why we aren't more public about what we do in our classrooms. November suggests that the question today about the possibility of web cams in every classroom is the same as the question in the 1990's about the possibility of computers in every classroom. I think this is very interesting to think about. Anyone can drop into our classroom at any time! I think we do amazing things and if parents, community members and the political leaders saw our classes their jaws would drop open and they would be truly astonished at the critical thinking and engagement of our students.
I also think November's thoughts on how to integrate techology are interesting. We need to focus on teaching students how to use technology to become innovators, problem solvers and critical thinkers continually in the pursit of the truth that often lies somewhere is an extremely large pile of other stuff.
Now my question becomes this: How, in my Spanish class, can I teach my students to use techology in this way?
http://www.anovember.com/Default.aspx?tabid=159&type=art&site=18&parentid=18