Doing it like Doig.

I really enjoyed each of the presenters that we listened to yesterday. I was most impressed with Steve Doig. His style of journalism is incredibly interesting to me. Using the Internet to research data and finding stories within. I'm sure he sees the world much differently than the rest of us. He has probably uncovered a lot of very interesting stories that would have gone completely unnoticed otherwise. I will probably assign some of my smarter, more analytical students to survey the school about a wide variety of topics. Then, we can analyze and compare data to tell a unique story.

We all know that Google is a very powerful tool. They do the Internet right. It seems they have a vision of the Internet and technology founded in the philosophy that the Web should make life easier. Tools for conversion, calculation, weather, etc all fulfill that way of thinking. 

On one hand, tools like these are a blessing. On the other, as a teacher, they are a curse. Now, students are fully within their rights to question what they learn in school. 

"Why do I need to know how to multiply?" or "Why do I need to know how to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius?" are questions that I'm sure we all hear floating around our schools. Technology just makes it easy. I personally believe that understanding these different types of concepts is important, but when a student asks questions like those, I can't blame their thinking. They have the tools that make some of the common, more basic skills easy... so, yeah, why learn how when it can be done automatically and for free?

However, Doig understands the Internet in a totally different way. He understands how to use the Web in very advanced, in-depth ways. All that I could think of while he spoke was how much more the research essays I teach in my English classes could be improved. I tried to teach my students about boolean search terms, etc, but Doig showed me how much more specific information is available and how to attain it. 

So, these skills that our students questions will continue to be questioned. It's our job to show them how much more powerful the Internet is as a tool. We all see the toolbox, but Doig just handed us the key to all of the other drawers.

Zachary McNulty

Winnetonka High School

Kansas City, Mo.