Chapter 2 Discussion

Here are some of my thoughts on Chapter 2.

1. I am really concerned about what will happen to rural kids who cannot have access to high-speed internet connections and to impoverished children who don't have access to computers at home in any form. We know these kids exist. How do we include them with the resources available at school?

2. On page 32, the authors use a list of metaphors to describe what Internet is to students, but they fail to mention that it's a facilitator for academic dishonesty! The authors are painting a rosy picture about how much kids want to learn using IT, but they forget that the flip-side of that is that students can actually avoid learning anything except how to find ways to cheat.

3. I would like to see answers to the block of questions on page 33. Does anyone have any ideas?

4. I have always enjoyed doing research and I enjoy teaching the research process in my English classes. I really like this quotation: "Society needs more synthesizers capable of filtering divergent sources into a coherent, relevant whole" (34). This is what the research project is all about.

5. Still thinking about the revised taxonomy. I would like to know more about this. Is it a semantic change, or is there really more to it?

6. I would love some help identifying real ELA problems. I am going to search for some. More and more I am realizing that English class as we know it is over. It has to be. We need to broaden the curriculum to teach broad communication skills in addition to studying literature.