Blog Post #11

Ms. Cassidy's Class
I really enjoyed the video produced by Ms. Cassidy and the Skype interview. The students were involved with many tools of technology, such as, blogs, wikis, webpage's, Skype, etc. I loved how the student's had their own blog and it allowed them to communicate with their parents, teachers, and even EDM 310 students. I could tell that the students loved to receive comments from other people. I am sure that receiving positive comments from others helped build up their confidence. I know it personally makes me feel better when I receive positive comments from people on my blog. It makes me feel like I am doing a good job and doing something right. I found it to be great that the students learn what to say and not to say to other peoples blogs. You always need to provide positive feedback because like the little boy said, "you do not want to hurt anyone's feelings." I also liked how the blogs helped the students improve their writing skills. The blogs helped make them better writers and also improved on sounding out words. I thought these kids were awesome and I loved to see how involved they were with all the uses of technology. When I first seen that the students used Nintendo DS video games, I was wondering how can that be education in the classroom. I would have never thought about using it in my classroom, but there are tons of educational games you can buy for the Nintendo DS. I think that is great way to use technology and the kids are having fun and learning. I also liked Ms. Cassidy approached internet safety. Internet safety is major concern for our children because of all the negative resources on the internet. The parents are provided with a form at the beginning of the semester that gives the student permission to be on the internet. I think that is important and you do not want to let any student be on the internet that does not have parental permission because it can be a liability on you. Also, she only uses the student's first name and I think that also helps protect the student. If she puts pictures on the internet she does not match the picture with the student's name. I think that internet safety would be a concern in my classroom, but as long as I follow Ms. Cassidy's internet protocol it will be fine. I will ensure my parents that internet safety is important in my classroom and that the children know how to use the internet properly. I would love to have blogs in my classroom. I think blogs are a great way for students to interact with other people. I like how you can post your work online and everyone can see it. It also lets your family members, teachers, classmates, etc. a chance to comment on your work. Blogs also help improve children's vocabulary and their writing skills. I also would like to incorporate Skype in my classroom. Our Skype interview project was the first time I have ever used Skype. I thought Skype was awesome because you can carry on a conversation and see the person from any part of the world. I could use Skype to go with my lessons. For example, if we were discussing weather we could interview a meteorologist. I think that the students would love to do that. I will definitely use Ms. Cassidy's advice in the Skype interview with Dr. Strange. In the interview they discuss is it ok to be technology illiterate? She discusses that technology is not going away and as a teacher we need to keep up with what is going on with technology. I agree with her 100% because technology is always changing and improving. Technology can have many benefits in our classrooms and students love to use it.