Do Not Google This In Class!

Wait, Stop, Do not go any further before reading this!  What you are about to read is EXTREMELY important to utilizing the internet in your classroom!  In a recent example of integrating technology into the classroom, I stumbled over a water cooler story about a classroom example of what NOT to do.  

The teacher began by introducing the unit of research using tradebooks, informational texts, magazines, and the internet.  Texts, as you can imagine, give you exactly what you are expecting, but are limited in what each will offer.  The internet is highly engaging, and offers endless towers of information, and are child-directed.  This could include videos, interactive games, images, articles, blogs, text, interviews, and the list goes on.  However here is where you must BEWARE!  When researching a subject you must be careful what exactly you are having the kids research, as well as, where they are looking for their information.
Mrs. "B" was having her students research animals; adaptations, descriptions, food cycle, habitats etc.  This sounds harmless, but here is where it gets interesting. Because the internet has such a wealth of information, your student may be linked to information that is completely NOT what they are looking for.  Several of the images that appeared for animal adaptations were highly inappropriate.  She also mentioned that after pulling up an animal video on youtube, the video to follow as a reccommendation was Britney Spears, "Slave."  Of course that showed up because of the albino boa constrictor used in her video.
I am sure teachers have endless experiences in which this type of situation has occured in their classroom.  So our school adopted an internet search engine called nettrekker.  This is a search engine that is safe for students because of content provided, as well as, tiering the readability, and content so it is specific to the child who is researching.  You can learn more about this search engine by going to http://www.nettrekker.com/us. 
With all of the infusion of technology into the classroom, students are using the computer for typing more than they used to.  However, the skills of typing are not being taught due to computer lab funding being cut.  Instead of focusing on standards or skills of teaching cursive, should teachers begin implementing instruction on typing?  Or could this be a homework assignment that the students practice on their own time?  There are several free typing practice websites out there for this instruction.