Blog Post #11

Ms. Cassidy’s video was a nice breakdown of ways to engage students with technology. In her interview she stated that “You are handicapping your students if they are not using technology. Ms Cassidy technological journey started ten years ago with only five sun-ray computers, but with the help of her administration she was able to launch her students into the technological world. She successful uses blogs, web pages, Skype, videos and wiki’s as her avenues of approach.

Ms. Cassidy uses blogs in her classroom to gain a larger audience. This audience will be able to comment on several student blogs which will help students learning progress. Blogs can also be read by parents, family members and other teachers. Therefore, when students post their work family members can check their progress at their convenience. This promotes learning around the clocks. The best thing about their blogs is that the kids love them too.
The students in her class also use Skype. They use this tool as a virtual connection to the multimedia world. By using Skype teachers, parents, students and others abroad can connect as if they were face to face. This is also a tool that builds a relationship with people with whom you would have never connected.
The third tool she used was classroom video. These videos can help students learn to produce and interacts with others. These videos can be used for short plays, book reports and classroom tools just to name a few.
A social networking tool that Ms. Cassidy uses is Twitter. I personally have shaky feelings about twitter, I too feel as if I am talking to myself on twitter. Ms. Cassidy also had the same feeling, but with proper use of twitter she has definitely expanded her PLN.
I received good advice from this video. Ms. Cassidy’s comment about the use of blogging as a physical education teacher really helped. I can use her advice to post practice schedules, rosters, game schedules or any changes to my blog. This will keep my students and parents updated throughout the day.