Ms. Cassidy is a first grade teacher in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. Her students are very fortunate to be able to use the necessary equipment in order to advance in technology. Her class is able to utilize tools such as smart boards, laptops, and Nintendo DS. Students are using blogs to improve writing skills and wiki to ask questions from other sources about different subjects. The students also use skype in their classroom to be in contact with several different classrooms in other areas as well as professionals that would be able to assist them in a certain subject.
Ms. Cassidy has been implanting technology in her classroom for over ten years. I believe that starting early in the use of technology is a great benefit to her students and their future. I especially liked her use of skype in the classroom because she would be able to contact other people around the world that would be an encouragement to her students. In the video she had a geologist that was speaking to her class, now what if this class was in another country and beginning to learn English, a teacher would be able to contact an English teacher in the United States or anywhere else English is spoken, and the student would be able to hear different pronunciation and accents of words from people who speak English on a regular basis and would be able to talk to the students to encourage learning the language. The only problem with the use of skype is that you would need computers as well as internet access, which would be a problem if this school were poorly funded. I was very impressed that students in the first grade are blogging to improve writing skills, when I just started using when in college.
I am glad she is able to use all her resources to educate her students and use technology in helping them overcome obstacles that might have been an issue if she did not have the technology to move forward. Ms. Cassidy has a support system that she is able to use and continue with educating her student with the use of technology. My concern is does is stop with her class. Can these students continue using technology in their future classes or did it stop with her class?
Linda,
ReplyDeleteIt seems that you enjoyed learning about Ms. Cassidy and her classroom technology skills. I do hope that the teachers in their future grades continue to utilize their technology skills and help build upon their foundation. Let's hope that the future teachers do.
Hi Linda,
ReplyDeleteI really liked Ms. Cassidy's ideas as well. Before this class, Skype and blogging are two things I would have never thought to use in the classroom. But with this post, and some others, I cannot wait to use these tools. I like how you mentioned skyping with someone who speaks a different language. That would be neat and helpful.
I'm glad you had concerns about all the technological things. We cannot always be assured to computers and internet. We can only hope! Great post.
-Ashlea