Blog Post #11

First Graders in Ms. Cassidy's Class
In the video "Little Kids...Big Potential", the first graders talked about all the technological things that they do in Ms. Cassidy's class. The first graders talked about how their writing has improved while writing on their blogs. Before this class, I would not have understood this, but I agree. I think that my writing, or at least my grammar and editing have improved. They went on to talk about using wikis, videos, Nintendo DS, and Skype.

I love just seeing the pictures and how focused the children are with the computer. It would be hard to see a child that focuses on a book in first grade. I loved the idea of using wiki to better understand things like traditions. I think that using something online and getting several people to comment on it will get a more comprehensive answer to a question. I thought it was interesting to hear about using an Nintendo DS to help with problem solving and sharing.

Skype Interview with Ms. Cassidy
In her interview with Dr Strange, Ms. Cassidy goes into detail about how she started with technology. She mentions that she started with five computers that she could not put any software on, but they had internet access. She started to research what she could do with them which expanded into blogging and other things.

Ms. Cassidy says in her interview that she is always pushing the envelope with her technology coordinator. I hope I can say this when I become a teacher. I want to be at my administrators door saying, "Look at this cool new thing!". She goes on to say that not all administrators support her technology driven classroom. I wonder how it is to work with that. I asked her on twitter. I am waiting on a comment back.

Although there has been talk about it in my previous blogs and videos I have seen, I guess I have never thought about how much this will be a blessing for parents. Ms. Cassidy said that parents love it because they can see how their children are doing whenever is convenient for them, not just at parent-teacher night. She then mentions: "technology and children go hand and hand". That is a statement I need to remember! "They like not having to power down when they are at school." This mentality is probably the reason why the children in the pictures look so focused. Another thing Ms. Cassidy said that I had not thought was that children get excited about writing for many people. Why write on pencil and paper for just me? I never thought of it that way.

I like the idea of having a classroom hub website. Ms. Cassidy mentions how she tells her students not to click on the advertisements on the sides of the website. I like the idea of having one website where a student can find links to all the websites they need for the class like a symbaloo of sorts.