Mrs.Cassidy uses technology effectively throughout her classroom. She started a webpage that helps students stay focused on what the good sites are, and what will help them learn. She makes the parents sign a permission slip to make sure that it is okay for them to use computers in the classroom. She also takes extra precautions by not only not allowing the kids to use their last name, but she doesn't use the correct picture for the correct kid.The parent's are able to keep up with how their child is doing in the classroom all year round, instead of just parent teacher conferences. Mrs. Cassidy understands that you should want to change because technology is here to stay, and "you are handicapping the kids if they do not use technology". I agree with her because times are moving fast, and to keep up you have to stay on what society is doing. Another reason she stated was that when you write papers in class you typically only have one audience, when you blog the whole world is your audience. It makes an impact on the students when they know that others around the world are viewing their work.
Teachers have to learn how to use technology. Teachers usually only use them for making documents or spreadsheets. In the part three video Mrs. Cassidy was asked many questions by Dr. Strange's students via Skype. One student asked how many times a day or week do her students blog? She replied, they usually blog about once a week, sometimes twice. It also depends on the class size, and what they are covering. This is one thing that I would incorporate into my class, since it will keep parents up to date about what is happening in the class. I know parents would love this because it will be an outlet that shows their child's true creativity, but also keeping them informed and protected, since their full name isn't given out. Watching all the videos showed me a good and smart way of incorporating technology into the classroom that I can definitely use in the future.
Links to the conversations between Dr. Strange and Mrs. Cassidy.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
First Graders in Ms.Cassidy's Class
I agree that teachers should use a lot more technology in the classroom. When I was in school, the teachers barely used technology. I feel that students will become more motivated when they get to use and witness technology at work. Mrs. Cassidy is also correct, by allowing students to be exposed to the latest technology, we as teachers are getting them ready for the real world.
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