Little Kids...Big Potential was such a cute video. It showed me a little bit of insight into what Mrs. Cassidy's classroom is really like. In the Skype Interview, it was interesting to learn that Mrs. Cassidy had started all of this simply because she had received 5 computers for her classroom. These computers only had internet access and new programs could not be put onto them. This, in a way, forced Mrs. Cassidy to use the internet as a learning tool for her students.
It seems like blogging for these 1st grade students is a really empowering thing. Like Mrs. Cassidy said, it makes the kids feel special to think that the whole world can see what they are writing about. I am glad she discussed how she keeps the identities of these children safe by not using their last name or picture with their name. She also kept them away from potentially bad websites by explaining to them the link she wanted them to click on and avoiding the advertisements on the sides of the webpage. Mrs. Cassidy also talked about how each of her students has a "blog buddy" from another school and they discuss how they can improve their writing through the blog and through Skype interviews. That is an interesting idea that would definitely be fun to integrate into the classroom for young kids especially. After watching this video, I feel like it is almost more beneficial for young kids to have access to this technology than older kids because as a child, you typically stay in the same classroom all day with the same teacher. Middle and high school students are constantly changing classes so it would be hard to have "blog time" and "lecture time" in such a short period of time. Maybe the homework I assigned outside of class could be about writing a blog or connecting with a "blog buddy."
I like how she said, even though all teachers should be technologically literate, each teacher should find their own type of technology that interests them. I believe mine is video. I love creating them and I love watching them and I would love to one day see what creative ideas my students can come up with for video projects. I think the benefits of projects and homework assignments such as these is that kids might feel more like it was a fun assignment rather than the typical boring homework. It would give them a chance to connect with others and actually enjoy working on things for my class.
You made a good point about time restrictions in middle and high school classes. Blogging is a good idea for a homework assignment and a lot of kids would probably think it is fun just like making videos! If they're taught all of the cool effects on iMovie or other video software I think they'd have fun collaborating with their peers to do an assignment. Good post.
ReplyDeleteJacey-Blaire speaks for me. But I would add "do we really need lectures?" I think you know my position on that. But then there is TED…
ReplyDeleteThanks Jacey-Blaire!
ReplyDeleteDr. Strange, you are correct, I do know your position on lectures! I still think lectures hold a valuable place in our society though. Like I have said before, so many things in our lives involve listening to lectures. Church services, funerals, weddings, work meetings, graduations, etc. Even Neil Postman said something along the line of, "speech is what makes us human." I do understand, however, that you simply want it to be more engaging and involve students instead of just having them sitting and listening. I think there is a happy medium between lecture and hands-on though.