Blog Post #11

Little Kids...Big Potential is a very interesting video, and I enjoyed watching it. It is about Ms. Cassidy's first grade class learning how to use 21st Century learning tools to learn. This includes Skype, Blogs, and Nintendo DS.

The school provided Ms. Cassidy's class with five computers. She started using these computers with her class because she did not want them to go to waste. The school would not allow the teachers to download anything onto the computers, so she was stuck using the world wide web. She starting using blogging and personal web sites because it was one of the only things she had access too.

Ms. Cassidy's students enjoy blogging because it makes them feel special that the whole world can see what they are writing. She states the internet and technology comes easy to the students because it is already a part of their life. I agree with this because my nephew who is five years old can operate a computer and iPhone all by himself. He can operate a cell phone and play games better than I could at age thirteen.

Ms. Cassidy always keeps her students identity safe by excluding their last name and never putting a picture on the internet of her students. She also teaches them how to surf the internet safely. This is a great thing to teach students at an early age.

During Ms. Cassidy's Skype interview she mentions how she uses "blogging buddies". A student from Ms. Cassidy's class and a student from another class from another school comment on each others blogs. They also Skype with each other to communicate on how to improve each others grammar. I am taking note of this because I will use this in my future classroom.

I am going to use technology such as blogging, Skyping, and making videos in my future classroom. I have a lot of friends who are teachers, and we can get our students to communicate with one another through technology. This will also improve my students communication skills because they will be communicating with children they do not know.