Blog Post 11

 Ms. Cassidy's First Grade Class from Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada

It is very obvious that Ms. Cassidy has done a great job of integrating technology into her first grade classroom. The children are excited and cooperative. They are having fun while they are learning! Getting every student to be excited, interested, and involved so that they can achieve their best, can be a real challenge, yet Ms. Cassidy is accomplishing this task very well.

 Skype Interview Between Ms. Cassidy, Dr. Strange,and EDM310 Students

 I like Ms. Cassidy’s ideas about technology in classrooms. It is absolutely necessary, and it is not going away. The sooner we implement more technology into the curriculum, the better equipped the students will be for their future. I completely agree with her concerns about privacy and keeping the children’s identity secure. This is comforting to me, as a parent. You can tell she is genuine about promoting technology in schools. Some teachers say that they want technology in the classroom, just not theirs. I believe it is critically important that we teach students the importance of technological tools, and how to use them properly as learning tools.

My personal favorite, of the technology used in the classroom, is the class blog. It fosters good writing skills. It can be used for any and every subject. Students and teachers can put videos, links, pictures, prezis, time lines, podcast, and other projects on to the class blog. With a class blog, teachers can promote students to become more involved in their academics. A class blog allows students to use creativity and become more collaborative. Teachers can use a class blog to help students’ that are absent. A class blog is also great for informing parents about what is going on with their child in the classroom. This is great for parent teacher communication because they can leave comments on the class blog. I would love to be able to check on my daughter’s progress or look at her work on a class blog. All in all, a blog is my favorite tool and I am looking forward to implementing it when I start teaching.

Some of the problems I see arising from this could be support from the administrative personnel. They could be of the mindset that they didn’t have technology when they were in school, and they might feel like they turned out fine without the technology. I think others just don’t want to go through the necessary steps to learn anything new. With shrinking budgets, there could be a problem with equipment or support. The solution, as with most problems, is to simply be determined that you are going to do whatever is necessary to bring the project to completion. In the case of the administrative personnel, it is possible to encourage the students and parents to call and express that they would like more technology implemented in the classrooms. I know that I would like to see more technology used in my daughter’s classroom. I have been getting computers from anyone that will donate, over the past few months. The benefits of implementing technology into the curriculum, as a learning tool, are endless. Students will be more engaged in the learning process. They will be able to exercise their creativity. They will also have greater self esteem and self confidence, and be able to move on with the ability to achieve whatever they want. I hope that I will be able to use technology effectively, and help my students to achieve their best by impacting their lives in a positive way.