Blog Post #11

In this video Ms. Cassidy who is a teacher from Saskatchewan, Canada who has learned to incorporate technology into her classroom in a very effective way. I am amazed at the fact that her class was able to use the computers at such a young age. I used to think that incorporating computers and other similar stuff was useless since the users were so young. I didn't think that a young age group was able to use it. I also thought that by allowing young children to use the internet on the computers could expose them to many dangers online but Ms. Cassidy has proven my earlier thoughts to be wrong.
The tools that Ms. Cassidy uses includes but not limited to: a class website, blogs, computer games, video recording, Skype and even Nintendo DS game systems. All of this may seem overwhelming, but Ms. Cassidy was able to put these things to efficient use. To ensure safety, Ms. Cassidy allows her students to navigate the internet through following links on her class website only. She also allowed them to create their own blog that only their friends and family members can comment on. The students do participate in Wikipedia so that they are able to get responses from around the world. The students also use Skype to interact and talk about writing and science. The students are allowed to play Nintendo DS games that will help with their problem solving and math skills. This shed light on how I can help my students in the future. I see more benefits of allowing the children to create blogs and navigate the internet. In a traditional classroom student only uses pencil and papers so some students are not as excited to complete their assignments. This is not the case is Ms. Cassidy's classroom; the students are excited to be able to do their work online and post their things so that others can see their progress. The students are motivated because they know that other people are paying attention to their work and thus the students are encouraged by this fact. In a traditional class, parents would not be able to see their children’s progress unless they came to the school and viewed their child's personal class work file but by using blogs, it makes things a lot easier for parents and for students by helping parents keep track of their child’s progress.
The only fear I still have for young children to use the internet is that the students will play around and may not complete their work and might possibly run into some unforeseen danger. Although these are great techniques that Ms. Cassidy uses I think that it sometimes may take up to much of the teacher’s time to update and monitor the blogs. Due to this time management problem, some teacher might not be willing to use technology inside their classroom so some would rather stick to assigning problems in workbooks and giving out coloring sheets to students. I think that the students in Ms. Cassidy's classroom will be much better prepared for the future than the students in classrooms without technology. If incorporating more technology into the classroom is beneficial for the student’s education and motivates them to learn then it is best to incorporate technology into classrooms everywhere. Some parents would prefer their children to enroll in Ms. Cassidy's class because of the technology she uses in her class. I have learned a lot from watching Ms. Cassidy's teaching styles and hopefully I will be successful in my teaching career so that many parents will want me to teach their children. If you would like to learn more about Ms. Cassidy, you can follow this link to her class website http://staff.prairiesouth.ca/sites/kcassidy/. I am glad that I have a chance to see this video and if you would like to see it please follow these links.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvPZtTej0jQ&feature=player_embedded. You can watch the Skype interview by following this link: http://edm310.blogspot.com/2010/03/ms-kathy-cassidy-skype-conversation.html.