Blog Post #11

Ms. Cassidy’s First Grade class is quite technologically savvy. I was surprised to see how much the first graders could do. After listening to the interview with Ms. Cassidy, it made a little more sense that some of the students speaking on her video were out of the first grade. Regardless, it was enlightening to listen to their “tips” on how to successfully blog.

Ms. Cassidy’s comments on why students would want to write on a blog – with an audience versus writing on a piece of paper – with no audience were very interesting to me. I had not thought about this as a motivating factor for students to write, but it is really a good idea. It was also nice to hear that parents were so supportive of the idea. In today’s crazy world, teachers have to be creative and allow parents to be involved in ways that they are comfortable and ways that work with their schedules. Having parents support the use of technology is imperative in being successful with implementing it in the classroom.

It is nice that Ms. Cassidy has support from her Technology Coordinator. Based on our discussions in this class, not all teachers have the support from their principal or school board. That obviously makes a big difference in the success of implementing technology. It was also nice to hear Ms. Cassidy’s thoughts on Twitter. I too have been very reluctant with Twitter. These videos really encouraged me. It was nice to hear how Ms. Cassidy got started, and her tips for being successful with technology in the classroom.