Whoops

Unfortunately, I just realized that I didn't actually answer the question about why technology should be integrated into the social studies classroom. I really just responded to the reading assignment for this week. So, please think of this as an addendum to my first post.

I think that technology should be used in the social studies classroom because we increasingly use technology in all aspects of our lives. Technology can help us enrich our subject in many ways, such as illustrating points that are difficult for students to grasp by giving them visual examples at the click of a button. We can use it to help students work together on a class project, like the math teacher in Winnipeg (I really love what he did, if you couldn't tell), have them ask us questions any time of day, and help them improve their writing, reading, and communication skills by using technology. And, honestly, technology often makes things more fun to teach and learn...for me, anyway.

Also, I knew that September 1 was the anniversary of Germany's invasion of Poland, but I did not know that today was also the fifth anniversary of the Beslan hostage crisis. The BBC news this morning did pretty great pieces on both of those things, but the one on the schoolchildren in Beslan was really interesting. Some of the children that were taken hostage were interviewed, and it was quite touching--a bit disturbing, though, as in the case of the little boy who spoke in a very matter-of-fact way when giving a tour of the school, saying "This is where they shot my father...this is where they threw bodies out of the window." It was interesting, but kind of heavy to watch firs thing in the morning and over breakfast.