Kathy Cassidy is a first grade teacher in Moose Jaw, Canada. She has such a fun approach to letting her students use different types of technology to do things. In the video Little Kids...Big Potential we see some of the different ways that she incorporates technology in the classroom. One of her students explains that they get to write blog posts and that they enjoy it because different people can see their work and comment on it. There are some rules for writing blog posts, of course you should never write anything mean or hurtful. The students can choose from a number of programs on their "page" depending on what they feel they need to practice more on. The kids seem to love the fact that they can talk to other students from around the world and also see what they are doing via Skype, wiki, and their class webpage/blog.
In Dr. Strange's Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 1 she tells us some of the things she has set up for her students. She explains how she created a personal webpage for her class so that her first graders are not just searching the web aimlessly. Their page has certain apps/programs on it for the students to choose from to get more practice on something or to just review certain subjects. She has had her class blog for about five years. When asked about how the parents feel about their children blogging and making their work public, like an online portfolio, she says that they actually love getting to see their child's work and progress. I know that if i were a parent I would love getting to view my child's work online from my computer. This is so convenient and very practical for today's world. She is also asked how the students feel about the blogging and she says that they love the fact that their work is viewed publicly by people from all around the world. She has their blogs set where they can actually see how many "page reads" their blog/post has gotten. Kathy makes the statements, "technology is part of their world," and "we have to change, because the world has changed." I could not agree with her more! How are we supposed to help our students prepare for their future by still teaching them the way we were taught? The world is so different now. As a teacher, you are actually doing your students and yourself a disservice by not utilizing what technology is offered.
Part 2 of the interview starts off with talking about where to start with technology. Kathy says that you should start your network off with something that you are interested in. She and Dr. Strange talk about how they were both hesitant about using Twitter, but they eventually gave it a chance and learned to love it. I think this is very important! Just because you get frustrated with certain technologies because you don't know how to use them, or maybe don't see their purpose, dose not mean that you should just give up on it, give it time and feel it out. You never know who you might connect with or maybe even be able to help out one day, or better yet someone could help you and answer some of your questions.
In Part 3 Dr. Strange lets some EDM310 students ask questions for Kathy to answer. She reiterates some of the information she has already shared. She also discusses ways to use blogging in other areas of education, such as PE. One student asks about cheating being more of an issue through the use of blogs. Mrs. Cassidy says that collaboration is not cheating and it is okay to "piggyback" off of other teachers projects or lessons, but just present it in a different way.
I really like Mrs. Cassidy's technique with using a class blog and also using small, collaborative groups for some assignments. I think I could possibly run into parental concerns about the safety of their children being online and having their work so accessible. I would have certain rules in place, like Mrs. Cassidy does, and let the parents know that their child's last name is not on their blog and neither is their picture. I believe that by using some of Mrs. Cassidy's approaches I would end up with a class full of students that are engaged and excited to learn.
I believe that parents like to see their kids progress also. What a quick and easy way to do so, by just sitting in front of their computer and pulling their kids work and assignments up. This is a good way to keep students ahead, parents know what they should be doing and when they should be doing it, so they can stay ahead. A nice post
ReplyDeleteGreat read! I love how both them admitted that they were not very fond of twitter as well. I liked the piggy back comment she made as well!!
ReplyDeleteNice post. Very detailed and covered everything of note presented in the videos.
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