Blog Post #11

Ms.Cassidy's First Graders
Ms. Cassidy has a first grade class in Canada. I her classroom technology is not a foreign thing. The students in Ms.Cassidy’s class use different sorts of technology every day. Although her students are young, they learn how to make blogs, videos and all sorts of different technology. The students in her class use their blogs very often. They write on their blog and comment on other blogs. This allows this to connect with people outside in the real world. On the class website there are different types of learning activities that are labeled by pictures. The students can select a picture and it brings them to an activity to help with practice things what they have already learned. Also, the students can practice this at home with a parent and show them what they have been learning at school. I love the idea of having some fun practice work for the children online. This allows them to learn to use the internet, how to navigate through the classroom page, and practice what they learned in class at home. Also, it gets the parents involved in what their child is learning. I would definitely use this in my classroom.
Although technology is starting to become more and more a part of the education world, some people are still not welcome to this change. Some people want to keep teaching the ways they were taught, which is depriving there students and causes a lack of engagement in the classroom. If a teacher ever comes across this type of problem the best way to handle it is politely. First, explain the benefits for the children while using the technology. Next, show that the technology is helping and not distracting the students. Then, show examples of before the students started using technology and after. If you do all of this eventually people will warm up to the idea of using technology in their classrooms too. If a teacher takes on some of these changes in their classroom it could change their classroom forever. When you allow technology in the classroom it engages the children because it is already in their normal everyday lives so it is nothing new to them. Children probably know more than we do when it comes to technology. Also, when we bring technology in the classroom and a class website is used it allows the parents to see what the students are learning. It also gets parents involved in helping the students learn at home and keep them informed. There are so many things we can do to include technology and it is our choice how much we include it in our classroom.