Blog Post #11

Little Kids, BIG Potential!

Though watching the interview between Dr. Strange and Ms. Cassidy, along with her Youtube videos, I got to learn about and be introduced to her first grade class. Her students were precious! She talked about in her Skype interview with Dr. Strange that she first started incorporating technology in her classroom after she received five computers for her students to use. She teaches in Saskatchewan, Canada, so I'm not entirely sure how school funding goes there, however, here in the USA and more recently in Baldwin county, technology is being incorporated more in classes. Some schools may not be able to provide their students, but they should have computer labs at least, so there should be no excuse not to expose the kids to technology.
We live in a fast pace, technologically advanced world and we, as teachers, need to be up to date so we can keep our students up to date as well. Ms. Cassidy practices this constantly in her classroom. She made a Youtube video with her students explaining what all they do with the technology provided for them. I learned about many resources that she uses in her classroom. In her video, she had her students talk about and explain all the different things they do with technology in their classroom. They even went over basic blogging etiquette. I really like how Ms. Cassidy has really opened up the technological world to her first graders because it is really opening doors of opportunity for them.
Ms. Cassidy uses various different forms of technology with her first graders. Blogging is an excellent idea to use with younger students. They learn how to type, spell, use proper grammar and how to communicate with others all at once. Ms. Cassidy is not unaware of the dangers of using technology with kids. One major concern is attracting unwanted creepers trying to invade into their personal lives. One way she prevents this is by not allowing her students to use their last names. She also uses wikis and skype  to communicate with other students, teachers nd professionals from around the world and they even play a game on Nintendo DS's, called NintenDog, to teach responsibility.
I couldn't imagine what my life would have been like in elementary and secondary school if we were allowed to use all these different methods and variations of technology. Ms. Cassidy has inspired me to use as much technology as I possibly can in my future classroom to make sure my students are technologically literate. She is an excellent example for all future teachers!