Blog Assignment #11

Ms. Cassidy's Class

Ms. Cassidy is a first grade teacher that takes "technology in the classroom" seriously. This week, I watched three videos about Ms. Cassidy's class; the first video showed her students in action. This video gave an overall understanding of what is really taking place in Ms. Cassidy's classroom. The remaining three videos collectively (one, two, three)make up an interview with Ms. Cassidy where she discusses how she began incorporating technology into her classroom, and how she is continuing to learn new things regarding technology.

In the interview with Ms. Cassidy, she describes how she first got started using technology in the the classroom. About ten years ago, five computers were put in her room. At this point, she knew she had to put these computers to good use as effective learning tools. From this point forward, Ms. Cassidy never looked back. In 2005, she began having her first grade students create their own blog. Yes,I did say first grade! She states the students enjoy blogging and seeing new comments from family and visitors to their blogs. She also tells us that her students are learning and improving upon their writing and vocabulary skills by writing their blogs. The students not only have a blog, but they use other technology tools as well; some include Skype, podcasts, screencasts, Nintendo DS, and iPads. Ms. Cassidy also gives us some insight on providing safety for the students on the web. She states students use only their first names, and when she posts pictures, she never puts a name to a face. I believe these are necessary precautions to take in the classroom, especially with younger students, and I will employ this method in my own classroom where the Internet is used as a learning tool.

Ms. Cassidy talks about her hesitancy with new tools. Just like Ms. Cassidy, I am hesitant when it comes to new tools. I have never been a fan of Twitter, and I rarely use Facebook to share items. However, Ms. Cassidy shows us that we need only to take a tiny step into the new tools to be amazed by the benefits. In her latest blog post, Ms. Cassidy reveals her first experiences with Facebook. After receiving assistance from her daughter, Ms. Cassidy began a class page on Facebook where she would post a link to her class blog each time her students posted. This action resulted in increased parent participation as most parents have a Facebook account, but not all of them had Twitter.

Ms. Cassidy is what I would consider a pioneer in incorporating technology into primary classrooms. She reminds me that learning is never ending, and that technology should not be feared but embraced.