Blog Post #9

After watching the First Graders in Mrs. Cassidy's Class, video, it gave me a good sense of how technology is used in the lower grades. Really, their doing exactly what we are doing now, as college students, which is crazy to think about. Their smarter then we are, and could probably show us college students even more tools that we don't know about! Mrs. Cassidy's class skypes with different people, and even different students in another school. This is something I want to try and do in my classroom one day!

Mrs. Cassidy really stressed the importance of technology in young children in the video, Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 1. She tells us that kids are all about technology these days, which is true, so it's our job to help them pursue their education with the help of technology. Mrs. Cassidy was given five PCs for her classroom, but they prevented any software to be downloaded to them. This is when she began exploring different ways to use the internet, which led her to find out about blogging, youtube, twitter, and even skype. We have been given many tools, unlike Mrs. Cassidy, but it is, also, our job to explore and find even more tools, we have to broaden our personal learning networks.

In Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 2, Mrs. Cassidy believes that we should start using technology, especially in our classrooms, with something we are interested in. For example, I like the videos more, so youtube, skype, iMovie, etc. are along the lines of tools I would use. Some people like writing more, so you may want to go the blogging route. I want to help my students, one day, find their interests, then introduce technology to them using that interest.

One thing that really interested me the most in the video, Interview with Kathy Cassidy Part 3, is all the ways to use technology in physical education. There were a few Physical Education Majors asking questions, and one is, "How can we use technology in physical education?" One idea Mrs. Cassidy proposed was having a working blog, and if something came up to where the coach needed to let his/her students know immediately they could post it on their blog. Another question that came up is, "With blogs being more accessible to the internet, do you fear there is more cheating going on?" She stated that things are becoming more collaborative, and professors should get more creative with the way they want us to present things. She said to use others as guidance and just present ours in a different way. If we were asked open ended questions, it allows us to be more collaborative and there will be no one (correct)answer.