CH 2

For this week's chapter, I decided to write about objective one which states: Discuss the development of a pedagogical content knowledge for teaching with technology. TPCK is the body and knowledge that is needed to teach with and about technologies. It is often known as the interconnection and intersection of content, technology and pedagogy.

As described, there are four differnent types of thinking; delcarative, procedural, schematic, and strategic. All these are a way of thinking strategically that involves planning, organizing, critiquing and abstracting for the specific content, specific needs and specific situations. Our beliefs about how you learned the content knowledge is most likely affected by how you learned that content. The challenge for teachers today is to overcome and enhance your prior learning and develop new ways of learning with technology so that they can be prepared to teach their students.

There are many questions that are important to consider when teachers are preparing themselves for teaching: Was it easy for them to do? Do they have TPCK that prepares them for integrating technology as a tool for learning? Have they incoporated the pedagogical reasoning to integrate what they know about their subject, what they know about technology, and what they know about teaching and learning? Have they learned to think strategically about their teaching and technology?

CH. 7

For this week I decided to write about chapter seven, objective five which states: Illustrate the ethical and social considerations that are important in using online communications tools in k-12 classrooms. The internet can extend students work and allow them to conduct research. This creates an opportunity for them to be more productive as well. Also, the internet offers new and interesting communication techniques.

A lot of effort has been placed forward to protect the children from predators and inappropriate web-based resources. A major danger is online chat rooms. Children must be taught to take care of themselves while they are online just as if they are in public places. However, in this care you cant see who you are communicating with, such as chat rooms! There is no way to know who the person is, or why they have entered that chat room. Chat rooms can help students express themselves in writing but, we need to help students understand the dangers of online chatting.

Teachers, as well as parents need to teach their students some simple rules for chatting online. One acronym that is easy to remember is C.H.A.T. which stands for; C-be cautious, H-be willing to ask for help, A-always be alert, T-tell someone if youre unsure about what is happening. It is important to check out chat rooms before allowing students to enter the rooms. There is some important criteria to evaluate such as: Does the chat room have a moderator? Are users' rights to privacy protected? Are the topics open for discussion clearly posted and enforced? Does the chat room promote commercial interests?