Blog Assignment 11

First Graders in Ms. Cassidy's Class

EDM 310 Skype Interview

It’s really great to see a classroom using and applying all of the technology that we are learning about. Sometimes it’s overwhelming to think about using technology to enhance a lesson, but Ms. Cassidy obviously does this very well.

In the video she created, I love how it has the text “little kids, big potential”. This reaches back to another assignment we had in which I commented that we must hold our students to the highest achievable standards possible. I don’t think it’s wrong at all to expect our students to learn how to use all sorts of technology at an early age. I think young children are a lot more familiar with technology than we give them credit for.

It definitely gave me a little more confidence after watching her video and listening to the Skype interview. I got some ideas of the techniques that I would love to incorporate into my classroom. I think it’s a great idea that Ms. Cassidy infuses her classroom with technology, but I think it’s especially useful that she uses the computers for center time. This gives children the freedom to discover information on their own. I think this is the best way (maybe sometimes the only way?) for people to learn. In fact, more information can be found about this in Joe Bower's blog post Why Preschool Shouldn't Be Like School. I also think the idea of using skype more in the classroom is something that will be very valuable. In most schools, it will be impossible to take students on all of the field trips that we want to go on, and I think skype could be a very helpful alternative.

There are obvious benefits from this type of approach that Ms. Cassidy has. Aside from the fact that our students need to learn from an early age to be technologically literate, there are other benefits to the student and their families. By providing parents with the links to the class website and their student’s blog, it allows the parent to be more involved and see what’s going on in the classroom. It just makes everything more transparent.

However, there will undoubtedly be a few roadblocks. To begin with, not all students will be guaranteed access to a computer and internet at home. While a majority of the work is done using the technology at school, students may be given outside work to do, may want to visit other student’s blogs, or their parents may want to check up on the virtual classroom. This creates a big problem for me. Another roadblock would be privacy. There are ways to protect privacy, like Ms. Cassidy explains, but some parents may still view it as a risk.

I believe that the positives outweigh the negatives in this case. Students are obviously going to be using technology in the future, whether at home or in the classroom, so we need to prepare our students for that as early as possible. It will be our job as educators to implement and unite other teachers and parents in this journey.