Friday, October 29, 2010

Reflection

As I reflect on the course, I find myself developing new ways to effectively teach students new literacy skills through Inquiry-Based Projects. I have found new teaching tools and techniques to guide students in the correct process of searching the web for supportive information on a project. Students will be able to think creatively and essentially define problems that are confronted and be able to search for supportive information on the topic effectively. Using Inquiry-Based Projects will help students ability to successfully solve problems and allow them to transition from a school setting to a real world atmosphere.

Finding the best ways to make sure sources from the internet are valid and reliable teachers can use different teaching tools for students to understand the validity of a website. Mostly this class has influenced me to teach students how to search and what to look for to become efficient at using new literacy skills to help improve their information. Students will need to make sure they are required to give credit to authors and owners for their work. Using Inquiry-Based Projects also allows students to conduct deep thought when researching their topics and also develop new literacy skills through essential questioning. Using Inquiry-Based Projects allows for students to become self-motivated when searching for the correct information to problems that arise.

One professional development goal that I would like to pursue would be using teaching tools from the web to teach students the validity and reliability of a website for supporting information on a topic. Using screen casting I would show students the key element s when looking for reliable sources from the internet. I would give examples of bias websites and point out why the information is not reliable and valid for an Inquiry-Based Project. Then using the web they would be able to create a search on their topic and continue to use the literacy skills that they have learned from the screen casts.

This course has provided me with the correct information to teach students how to support information on a topic and to improve internet literacy skills. Students will be able to adapt to essential thinking and be able to support information on the web using new practices learned. As I reflect on the contents of this course, it has allowed me to enhance my capabilities when teaching students the effective practices when finding and supporting information using an Inquiry-Based Project.