The Internet can essentially be used as a tool for teaching or a forum for publishing. Regarding the latter, courses like Illuminating Literature are based entirely around the idea that the students will be writing for the World Wide Web. Other courses have students publish just certain projects or excellent work. Students have a global voice for the first time in history -- this is a powerful motivator. Let's use it!Among the many ways to use the Internet as a teaching tool:
- There are resources like dictionaries, thesauruses, grammar manuals, and e-texts (books, articles, poems in the public domain) online. See Writing Good Openers, put together at San Jose State University. Many outstanding resources are to be found at WWW High School English Resources and Purdue's Resources for Teachers.
- There are excellent Online Writing Labs like the one at Purdue University, which puts writers together with resources and online tutors.
- A website called TrackStar collects (and allows you to add) lesson plans which clump together relevant URLs on various topic. Search by subject or grade.
- A teacher can utilize a site that has been constructed by someone else to teach something like vocabulary (like Word Central) or grammar or how to evaluate a website.
- Better perhaps but more time consuming is to create your own site, linking to online resources for your students to facilitate their study. They do this at Dalton but on the school intranet, so the beneficiaries are their students only. An outstanding example is the Odyssey Unit Dr. Bill Barnes has put together for his students. The students later create their own highly sophisticated multimedia project which are published online. Another example of a teacher-created unit is on Dante at Collegiate.
- More and more teachers are putting their course assignment sheets, course description, required materials and other basics on webpages they expect the students to check regularly. At Harker school, this is a requirement for teachers even in the lower school. At Iolani (World Civ example), it is optional, but gaining popularity.
- You can simply give students a topic and let them explore, reporting in on their findings, like Marty at Trevor Day School.
Some ideas on the Internet as a forum for publishing:
- Students themselves can create (individually, pairs, groups, whole classes) sites that become study guides for others. There's an example on MacBeth and also, my own Illuminating Literature class at Iolani School.
- Students can publish creative extensions of literature as one class has done with Invisible Man.
- Students can put together a poetry website of their own poetry (I did this with my Creative Writing class in lieu of my usual "Poetry Book").
- Students can study the sites "out there" on a certain topic and critique them.
- Students can go to sites like Amazon.com which ask people who have read a book to write a review of it for interested shoppers to access.
- There are lots of contests out there for budding writers to enter. Or they can contribute to an ongoing story.
For teachers who want to learn how to use the Internet effectively with their students, read about Global Connections and check out the pace- yourself lessons at www.nsglobalonline.com.
There are lots of books on the topic of using the Internet.
EVALUATING ONLINE RESOURCES