Blog Post # 11

Little Kids...Big Potential

Kathy Cassidy's class has learned to blog to communicate with other classes, teachers, learning institutions, family, friends and other classes within their school.They are so proud of themselves that they brag about their comments from family members and people they don't know. They receive feedback that builds confidence and helps their writing skills. This is immediate gratification for the students compared to having a picture put on the walls outside their classroom to never hear comments about how great they are or to be put on their refrigerator for a while and then put in a drawer somewhere. Children are little people with the same feelings and emotions as adults. They need to hear that they are doing something well or that they have done something pleasing to you. Their blog is like having an online journal to look at for as long as they want to. They have learned not to post unpleasant things online and they remember to not say anything if they can't say something nice. Some people will develop courage to say things online that they would never say to a person face to face. We have all heard about or read about "cyber bully" cases that have lead to deaths of some students all because of ugly hurtful things said to them or about them on the internet. Ms. Cassidy is teaching her students well about internet safety. They have also learned not to use their last name, just their first. That's good because we never know who is a predator on the internet looking for innocent children to hurt. These tips are not meant to scare them but to keep them safe. There are some bad people in this world just waiting for the opportunity to take a child's innocence from them. The students learn to compare their blog information to other blogs of students their age and grade. That's a great way for them to improve their blogs and the information they put on them. They learn to enhance their blogs even at this young age. They make videos, and are able to Skype with other classrooms and their learning is not limited to textbooks. These children are not limited and can be whoever they choose to be. That's a wonderful thing!

Skype Interview with Ms. Cassidy

I like the fact that Ms. Cassidy merged technology into her curriculum so that the students learn skills needed to continue life long learning. In an interview with Dr. Strange, Ms. Cassidy talked about how long she had used technology in her classroom, how she came up with the idea and how the parents responded to their children using technology in school. Ms. Cassidy started using computers in her class 5 years ago with 5 computers.  She didn't have much software installed on them and wanted to install more but was told she could not. She researched the internet to find all sorts of ideas to use in her classroom using web pages. She began by simply adding web pages and then on to blogging. She eventually kept finding other information to add and continued to do so. The students enjoyed it and embraced the idea of using technology in the classroom. I look forward to the opportunity to incorporate technology and the arts into my curriculum. I believe that if a students knows why they are learning a specific skill and how it will be of value to them in life it helps them to learn that skill and retain the information. Technology can enhance this type of learning and allow the students to relate to what they have learned.