Blog Post #10

First Graders in Mrs. Cassidy's Class
Video Summary: Kids like writing in books but more in blogs because people get to see what they right. Sometimes family members comment on the blogs, which the children like. They claim blogs as online portfolios of their work. They know that in a comment, you should say nice things. They have a webpage like our class blog. Wikis are cool things, they asked people about traditions and people wrote in them, and told them things that they didn’t know. The kids used Skype for talking to other people around the world.

Video 1, Video 2, &Video 3:
We can learn a lot from Mrs. Cassidy. I learned that with a good support system, reaching your goals are easy. Mrs. Cassidy has had blogs for 5 years now. She explains that the parents like seeing the blogs because they can see how the kids are progressing in the classroom. The kids really like the blogs because working with technology is more fun than pens and paper. An audience is one of the most important things kids need for a blog, she says. When children realize that people are looking at their work, they get excited and try to achieve at a higher rate. Mrs. Cassidy also has a cluster map for their blogs so that the children can see what parts of the world are viewing their blogs. I think that is really cool because you can see the different ways the world is connecting. In blog we have writing, video, and commenting all in one lesson. Mrs. Cassidy says that there are more tools online now than there were. The research possibilities are endless. Does Every Teacher Need To Be Technology Literate? She says: Yes, technology is here to stay. Technology today is bigger and better than in previous ways and we as teachers should take advantage of it. She says that we should create an online network as new teachers to explore new ideas. Twitter helps network online for learning and ideas. She says we should keep in touch with technology at all times. Where should we start? What you are interested in? Mrs. Cassidy says, Start where your interests are. This way you can comment and talk to different people or groups to start a network. Use Twitter for a personal learning network for finding new ideas and reaching out to teachers across the world. “Piggybacking” off what other people have done isn’t cheating. It’s working collaborative with technology. She explains she keeps the kids protected by teaching them not to use their last names, and not post any pictures of themselves on the Internet. The students also know which websites to click on during their computer time.

My Classroom:I think Mrs. Cassidy can offer a lot to future teachers. In my future classroom I am going to definitely use Skype. I think that students get excited to talk to different people from around the world. These teachers or professionals can offer guidance and insight for the students in my classrooms. My class can come up with key questions that tie to a lesson being taught in class at that time. Also, I would like to have a class blog. I think students can benefit from having blogs and reaching out to different people from around the world. I also believe that Wiki is a good approach to help students learn from others.