Blog Post #10

What can we learn from Mrs. Cassidy?

The first video I watched was Little Kids... Big Potential. The students in Ms. Cassidy's first grade class talked about different tools they used in their classroom. While watching the video it  looked and sounded like the students really enjoyed using technology in the classroom. One thing I saw in the video that would something I might use in my future classroom is skyping with experts. In the video, Ms. Cassidy's class were skyping with a geologist and she talked to the class about different rocks.

In the first part of the interview that Dr. Strange had with Ms. Cassidy, she talks about using technology in the classroom. About five years ago, her classroom was given five computers and decided to use them as centers since there were not enough for each student to use. One downside to the computers given to the classroom was that you could not download any programs onto them, but Ms. Cassidy decided to make a class blog so the students were able to use the laptops to learn and review different things. She also has much support behind her including administrators above her in the school system. She also has support from the students' parents, which is always a plus since it is their children involved in the blog. The parents are able to go onto the class blog and see the their child's progress in school. This is one way I would definitely think about using in the classroom because the parents can check their child's progress in school whenever they want to. The parents do not have to wait for a progress report or a report card, they can just go to the class blog and look.

In the second part of the interview Ms. Cassidy talks about how she does not use technology in her personal life. She admits that she just recently made a Facebook account only because she could not access some websites because you have to sign in through Facebook. She believes that technology is a great tool for teachers to use in the classroom.

In the third part of the interview students in EDM310 actually ask Ms. Cassidy questions. The first student asks how often she uses the blog in the classroom. She starts to explain that it depends on the year and who all she has to help to see how often she uses it. She says that some of her students even blog from home and that those students tend to blog more than others.She also talks about how when the students first start using the computers she explains to them where they should go so that they do not go to the wrong sites. She said that that is the best way to keep them on the sites that they are suppose to be on.