Using Reliable Internet Information

I have been guilty of pulling information from the Internet in a last-minute crunch and not knowing or caring who was responsible for creating the information. The time that comes to mind was when I was planning an introduction to To Kill a Mockingbird and wanted to give my students some background information on the setting. Besides what they learn in History, my kids are pretty unaware about what life was like in the 1930's in America, so I put together a PowerPoint that would hit on some aspects of life such as politics, art, music, fashion, entertainment, and daily life in the 1930's.

I admit that I was in a mad rush to put the PowerPoint together in time for my 1st period class, and so I Googled this and that, not bothering to find out if the information was reliable, pulling pictures and bullet-pointed information to "educate" my students. Looking back, if I had taken the time to really research the information using the sites we learned about last class period, my students would have benefited.

I take pride in my profession and in the way I teach, but moments like that are great indicators that where technology is concerned, I have a long way to go before I can say that I am completely competent in that area.