Blog Eleven

I know I cannot be the only person who does this, but watching videos like Little Kids... Big Potential gets me so excited about being in a classroom! I mean, how adorable are these kids and their readiness to learn!? Watching how Mrs. Cassidy incorporates technology in her curriculum was very helpful to me, and it even gave me ideas to try with my future classroom. I love that she did not limit her students' use of technology because of their age. Kids are much more capable of using technology than they are give then credit for. Mrs. Cassidy also made some very interesting point in the Skype Interview with Dr. Strange about technology being "apart of kids' worlds." This statement is so very true! Kids, now days, are brought up in a technological world, they love it! Watching these first graders breeze through the use of Skype or Blogger made me ashamed because I am a soon to be educator and I don't know it well enough to do some of the things that came so easy to them. Although, thanks to EDM 310, I have become MUCH more "technologically literate."

One of the techniques the Mrs. Cassidy talked about, that I will be incorporating into my curriculum is blogging. I see how much blogging has helped in this semester in EDM and how excited it has made me about learning more about technology and ways to use it in my own classroom and i could only only hope to pass that same excitement on to my students! I also see how it has affected students, like Mrs. Cassidy's first graders, and I want my students to have the same opportunity. Students get excited when they know more people are reading their work, and that is something pencil and paper does not offer. Another great thing about blogging it that students are made to think for themselves! When posting blogs, you start with a blank screen and from there the student is allowed to take the topic wherever they choose! They are given more room for creative thinking using blogs. However, blogging will NOT be the only way technology is used in my classroom!

Having technology in a classroom can be very expensive! The would be on impediment that might be encountered, especially for a low income school. Not all schools are as privileged as others. While some schools have a computer per each student, other schools, like the school I work for, have one computer per class. However, if I was faced with the problem have not having the money but for one computer I would be forced to find a way around, over or through this "brick wall" because I believe having technology in the classroom is VERY important.