After watching First Grader's in Mrs. Cassidy's Class, Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 1, Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 2, and Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 3 it was cool to see Mrs. Cassidy's take on technology in the classroom. She started using technology in her classroom ten years ago when she got five computers in her classroom. She has started using web pages and class blogs in her classroom in the last five years. She protects her students by only putting his or her first name on each of his or her blogs and if she puts a picture up she does not put a name with the picture. Some good things about using a classroom blog is parents can go look at their child's work when they have time, and students learn that they need to be careful with what they write and say. Technology is not going away so teachers have to learn to evolve and teach with their new sources.
Mrs. Cassidy approaches using technology in the classroom by making her class blog, use the internet, and skype. Mrs. Cassidy tries to make her class blog at least once a week. A lot of the time it may only be a sentence but they are only in the first grade. Blogging helps kids with reading, writing, and being punctual. Students can use the internet by clicking on pictures to take them places so they can learn. Students can also play games on the internet to help them with their site words or letters of the alphabet. Mrs. Cassidy uses skype in her classroom to be able to skype with people to learn things. It is kind of like having a guest speaker without them having to be in the classroom. My favorite of her approaches was how she uses skype. I have never thought of skype being an easy way to have a guest speaker that can't make it to your actually classroom. I think this will allow more opportunity for kids to learn more from people around the world. I know with using something like skype you could run into some malfunction with internet connection but if that were to happen then I would just improvise with what the guest speaker was going to say or I would maybe try to do it the next day instead. I think there are many benefits to Mrs. Cassidy's approaches but the main ones I like is that blogs help the students read, write, and interact better.
Good post! I liked watching Mrs. Cassidy's videos. I also like how she protects her students online. I think students having blogs is great so parents can keep up with what their child is doing and learning while they are at school. Using technology in a classroom is great!
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