Blog Post #11

Ms. Cassidy's Approach to the Use of Technology in the Classroom

In the video, First Graders in Ms.Cassidy's Class,

Ms.Cassidy's first graders from Moose Jaw, Canada, show how they use blogs, classroom webpage, Wikis, video, Skype, and Ninedto DS to share, collaborate, and learn in their classroom. The video was very entertaining and the children did a fantastic job in putting it together. It was great to see first graders using different types of technolgy in their everyday classroom routines. A lot of the technology tools and resources that the students used, I did not use until I was in highshool or got into college. They students seemed to enjoy using the technology and feel comfortable with it. This video is a great example of how even first graders are mature enough and able to use technology effectively in the classroom. When I become a teacher, I would love for my class to use the technology tools and resources that Ms.Cassidy's class uses. The video is inspiring and helpful to me as a future teacher.

In the first part of the video, Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 1, Ms. Cassidy and Dr. Strange discuss the use of technology in the classroom. The video starts off with Dr.Strange asking Ms. Cassidy how she first got involved technology. She got involved with technology about ten years ago, because she was given five Sunway computers, that had all of the features except programs on them. She started her technology journey by, learning how to make webpages and blogging etc. Through federal funding, she was able to get professional development and take time off to work on things. She has had a class blog for about five years and just a few years ago she started doing the video. She explains how she is always adding new things and that she is always trying to push the envelope. She has tremendous support from the school division's technology coordinator and he helps her when she has questions or ideas about new things. All of the schools in the division send home a form with all of the students, notifying the parents that their student's work will be put on the internet. To protect her students identity online,  Ms.Cassidy only uses the student's first name and she does not match the student's name with a picture. She says that the class blog is a on portfolio for the student's work. The parents love the fact that they can go online and see their student's progress and their work. She says that the students love using the technology in the classroom. Ms.Cassidy firmly believes that using technology in the classroom is great and fudmental in  today's world for the students.

                   

In the second video, Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 2, Ms.Cassidy says that she doesn't really use technology in her personal life, but she says that people should use technology for the different things that interests them. Some examples would be to blog if you like to write, use Flicker if the they like photography and so on. Dr. Strange talked about the use of Twitter and how he was able to network and meet people with in the Educational field. Ms. Cassidy says that twitter is a great way to network and communicate with people in the same fields. She said that through Twitter she found about resources and tools that she would not have known about , if it had not been Twitter. She thinks that educators should share resources and network and she believes that Twitter is a great easy way to accomplish that.

In the final video, Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 3, Dr. Strange's University of South Alabama students got the opportunity to ask Ms. Cassidy questions. Some of the questions that the students asked were about her class blog and how the students write their personal blogs. In her class her students blog about once a week and they blog all togther in the school's computer lab. In previous years she let the students blog in a center. Another question was about how to stop students from using someone else's material from previous years. Her answer was that the internet allows the students  to get information from one another and she views this as collaboration not as cheating. She says that it is a shift going in the way students complete their work because of the internet. She says that she approached technology as a way to help her students and find resources and different types of technology to use in the classroom. In the closing part of the video, she showed her backyard which was filled with snow, in the part of Canda where she lives the snow lasts until March or April. 

I thought the interviews and videos from Ms. Cassidy were great and  very informative. It was amazing to me that she

started out not really knowing anything about technology or how she could use it in her classroom. Today, she has a class blog and her students blog, create videos, and use Wikis.This shows how teachers should envolve and try new things that can bebefit them, but importanlty benefit their students. I got tons of great ideas on what I can involve in my future classroom. In my classroom, I will have a class blog and allow my students to blog and create videos for different projects. I am sure that I will some parents who might not feel comfortable with their child's work online, but I would assure them that their safety and well being will always be a top prority. In all of the work that my student's post online, I will check it to make sure it is appropriate and only their first name will be provided. The benefits of having a class blog will be great, because the students will have the skills of writing a blog post, and using the internet. A class blog will also provide the parents with a portfolio of their child's work and they can see their progress and get update to date information all in one place. Ms. Cassidy is a great role model on how teachers can learn and use technology resources and tools in the classroom.