"learning to learn"

Whie reading Chapter 2, a small section continued to sitck out in my mind. The beginning of the chapter talks about how education is changing and evolving so quickly that many educators believe education should focus on more general capabilities such as "learning to learn". That continued to get my attention throughout the chapter because a huge part of learning to learn has to do with technology. Just think about it! Think about how much we use technology in our daily lives! for instance, we want to go to the movies on Sunday but we don't know what time the shows are playing. What do we do? We go online to check and see the films, where they are playing and the movie times. My husband and I constantly get into little debates about various things, for example which state has the smallest population. I thought RI but, thanks to Google, he was able to prove me worng! This leads me to Figure 2.14. This chart shows various learning problems that arise in classrooms, the technology solution and the advantage that the technology solution offers. I teach Kindergarten and am on the constant search for different ways to involve technology in my classroom. There were some things on this chart that we do but there were also some great ideas. For example, it talks about using word processing instead of handwriting. We use Word to practice typing our sight words and spelling words. It also said to use instructional games. We do not do this as often as I would like. I am convinced that we are going to begin using the computer more for learning games. I really don't know why we haven't. Another thing we do was at the end of the chart where it says internet and email projects are great for quick access to information and people who are not locally available. For example, we were studying the ocean my kids got so into the giant octopus. I decided to Google it on my break and I found this amazing video of a giant octopus eating a shark! I showed it to them and they really enjoyed it. when we study insects we also go to this website where they have real time films of ant farms. When we study Lois Ehlert I found a website where it has an interview with her talking about her illustrations. I show it to the children and they just can't believe that is really her! I often Google any of our themes and try to find neat things to share with the chidlren.