Blog Assignment #11

Ms. Cassidy

I think Ms. Cassidy has a great approach towards technology. By using all of this technology, her students are learning not only how to improve their writing skills, but they are also learning video and audio skills. I enjoyed watching the video First Graders in Ms. Cassidy's Class. I was amazed at what all these first graders were able to do! These first graders are able to blog, use a wiki to research information, and Skype. I also enjoyed watching the Skype Interview with Ms. Cassidy. At the time of the interview, Ms. Cassidy said that she had been doing her class blog for about five years, and she started the video about two years ago.

I think her ideas are great and are something that I could use in my classroom. I could incorporate blogging into my classroom. I am going to be a high school math teacher, so I could not think of many ways at first that I could integrate blogging into my classroom. However after some research, I have learned that there are several ways I could use blogging in my classroom. I could ask math questions or pose a math topic and allow my students to respond in their blog. My students could also use their blogs to state any confusion they have about a certain topic or to express any ideas they have about a topic we are currently discussing. I think it would be a great way to document student work. It also would allow my students to interact with other students across the world.

I could also allow my students to use a wiki to research and gather information. I could use a wiki to allow my students to do group work which may would encourage them to work on their math assignments. A wiki would also allow my students to work with different students and schools all over the world. I could also use Skype in my classroom to allow my students to actually see some of the students and other people that they have been communicating with. This would also be helpful for research if we wanted to speak with an expert in a particular field.

Some problems I might encounter by incorporating these ideas into my classroom would be about privacy. Some people might be worried about how safe it is for students to be using the internet and posting their pictures on the internet. I plan to be teaching high school students, so I do not think it will be a huge problem for the most part. First, I will gain approval from the parents and give them the option for their child to opt out. I will also teach my students to only use their first names when they are blogging and using the internet. I also might face problems with funding and access to the technology needed to complete these tasks. Even if I did not have enough computers for every student in my class, I could hopefully solve these problems by allowing my students to work on their blogs and research in the library. I could also allow my students to work in groups which would not require as many computers. I think my students would greatly benefit from using the techniques discussed by Ms. Cassidy. Incorporating technology would allow my students to be more excited about learning and hopefully would allow them to learn more by collaborating with other students. Whatever the case, I hope to teach like Ms. Cassidy and incorporate all forms of technology into my classroom.