Chp 2 Rethinking Education

First of all, even though this won't be the focus of my post, I want to say that by the send of this class I think I will be a "Technology Enthusiast" by the end of this course.  When I pictured myself teaching, I imagined all the techniques and methods of my elementary teachers because overall, I had a great educational experience.  However, while taking this course I realize I have the capability to make my students learning experience even more powerful than my own because of the advancements in technology.  Back when I was in elementary school admiring my teachers, I could have never imagined the future possibilities of my classroom because the powerful, technological tools I well utilize had not even been invented yet!
With that, the idea that really sparked my thinking the most in this chapter was on page 11 talking about communities.  The text goes into detail about "the movement of communities of place to communities of interest." In summary, it explains how communities used to be based on physical locations and neighborhoods and now the definition is changing to encompass a revolutionary kind of community we choose for ours focused on our personal interests.  Now that there is communication to link people together, like web cams, Internet, etc, location is no longer a barrier.  For my classroom, I want to adopt this idea to allow my students more freedom in their education.  I want keep the structured, organized whole-class instruction by subjects for topics like reading,writing, math, science, social studies.  However, for more specific topics like space, fire, marine life, water color painting, etc, I want to give the students the opportunity to explore the topics of their interest more in depth.  I was talking to Lalani about her educational experience, since she grew up in a Montessori school system.  She really enjoyed the responsibility of pacing herself to get her necessary work done and getting to explore and make her own conclusions.  Some projects she would learn and get done quickly if they did not interest her.  However, when she discovered in interesting subject she had the time and freedom to seek more information on it.  The teacher in her classroom was less of an authority figure and more of a friendly resource if a students had questions they could consult him as a possible resource.  In my class, during free learning time (I'll come up with a more intriguing title) I will structure learning like the Montessori system.  I would not be able to answer every question about stars, but I can teach my students to effectively utilize the Internet to fin answers to any of their questions.