Information Literacy Workshop

I think the most difficult part of this project for me was finding the right website to evaluate. I was originally confused as to what kind of website we could use, so I picked something that was in range of my major. I thought we could choose a website that students could evaluate in their own way so I used a interactive website that had games reinforcing education in math and reading. This clearly was not the correct way to go about this project and I see it now. When I looked at the example rubric it confused me because it had the same type of format, a website that reinforces learning how to spell for young children. I tried to follow that same type of format and it confused me even more on the main topic of this assignment. Once I looked back at the objectives and reevaluated my previous work I realized that I was going about this project all wrong. I needed to find a website that students could evaluate and retain information that will help them further understand how the Internet works. I chose Internet Safety as my topic because I think it is very important before any student uses the Internet that they should learn the rules and regulations first. Once I found a topic that I could get abundant and important information on I knew that I could conquer the rest of the project.

I can apply the knowledge I learned in this assignment to my future profession because as a teacher I will want to use the Internet as a learning tool for my students. So if they learn the basics of Internet safety then they will be better prepared for the dangers of the web. They will know what kind of information is inappropriate and what to do if they find this kind of information. They will learn to be safe and that some people will use their personal information in a harmful way so to be careful of that. I will also use my skills of making rubrics in my classroom because I will now have experience in what I will want to accomplish in my lessons and what criteria is acceptable and what is not. The lesson plan templates were very helpful during this exercise because it enable me to stay organized and focused on what the essential goal of the lesson was. All of these skills will be useful when I become a teacher because I will know how to evaluate my students and what key goals I will want the children to learn as a result of my lesson.
It is very important to teach children at a early age the dangers of the Internet because so much of our academic career and beyond is reliant on the World Wide Web. Teaching the basics now will help them in the future to decipher important information. The web is so vast that it is hard sometimes to know what is real or not. It is important for teachers to guide children on the web because many sites can have false information or can be from people who know nothing about the particular topic. Students need to learn also that not all people on the web are who they say they are and to be careful about giving away too much personal information. It is important to "make meaning out of the overwhelming and potentially manipulative amount of information that now is available and growing everyday."(November, 2010,p.27) The Internet is a big scary place full of a great number of opinions and facts and it is up to the teachers to show children the difference between the two.