Tuesday, June 8, 2010
2Thing #2
I like WordSift, but with caution. I pasted in Texas's treaty for independence from Mexico and immediately found links to Anna Nicole Smith in Texas. Not a good call, I am not sure how I would prevent this from happening. Preview text, prevent student independent control? I really like the Visual Thesaurus. The introductory reading on WordSift rightfully notes the value of this site for use with ELLs. This site makes it easy to help students sort through valuable and unnecessary information. It is a great way to build vocabulary and develop concepts. But, how would students take notes from this? And check the validity of an entry? It seems like accessing information is easier, but now time has to be spent validating it. 
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I guess a school district's fire wall would catch most of the spots teachers would want to keep students away from.
ReplyDeleteThe firewall will prevent some of it, but maybe not all. I think we have to be so careful with what we do with the internet. But at the same time, there are so many "teachable moments" when we come across something that is not valid or is not school related. But there again, we have to walk a very fine line. And I know I don't want to be the librarian you read about in the paper!
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