Sunday, November 3, 2013

Blog Post #11



In Ms. Cassidy's video, Little Kids...Big Potential, the students show us viewers everything they have done in class. They use blogs, a class webpage, Wikis, videos, skype, and Nintendo DS. The students discussed what they used each tool for and how they liked them. When I begin teaching I will also like to try some of these tools. I will definitely use a class webpage. Ms. Cassidy's webpage has links to any helpful tools or educational games she would like her students to use. This is a great idea because it keeps all the safe and useful Internet sites in one place so that the young students do not get where they shouldn't be. After seeing this video I can see how tools such as blogs can be good. I was very hesitant to use blogs with young children due to safety concerns. Ms. Cassidy's skype interview with Dr. Strange helped with that concern. She says that she tells her students not to put any pictures of themselves or their last names online. While this aspect may be safe what about other people's comments? Would students end up in a situation where they were talking online with strangers? This still has be worried. Skype also seems like a very useful tool. I will try to use this in the future so that my students can speak to experts in whatever subject we're studying and other students so that they can learn together.

However, I am unsure about using some of these tools in a 2nd grade class. Her use of the Nintendo DS was very creative, but it doesn't seem to really teach anything. I played Nintendogs when I was younger and from what I remember there was absolutely no educational value. I'm sure the children learned how to work together and take care of a pet, but this same lesson can be achieved through group projects and a class goldfish. I feel like the students will focus more on playing the game and beating high goals or other groups than thinking about lessons learned. Ms. Cassidy also mentioned using Twitter and Facebook in her class. Again, my concern here is about safety. Anybody can get on these websites and see what the children are doing. The kids can also speak to anybody. A second concern here is that I know my parents would never have allowed me to have a Facebook or Twitter as a kid if they existed. I wasn't allowed on the Internet until 4th grade and I couldn't have a Facebook until 8th or 9th grade, and they had to be friends and watch. What if one of the student's parents felt this way and refused to allow their child to participate? Ms. Cassidy said that she sent home a letter at the beginning of the year, but what if they didn't like the idea?

These videos have shown me many different tools that can be used in a classroom that I never thought of. I will keep all these in mind while continuing my education and proceeding to my teaching career.

http://mscassidysclass.edublogs.org/

2 comments:

  1. Hello Alyssa, while I was reading this blog post, I realized that you and I have many of the same thoughts and concerns. I really liked the idea of educational games online as well. I liked the fact that these games can be monitored and engaging to the students. My concern was with the Facebook and Twitter accounts as well. My parents did not allow me to have Facebook until the 10th grade so I know that they would not have been o.k with me using it in elementary school. I guess I would have to come up with a different approach to connecting my students other than social sites. This was a great post! Thank you for sharing.

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  2. Hi,
    I also agree that the use of the Nintendo DS was a creative idea but did not really seem to teach anything. I do think it is important for the classrooms to have include educational games as long as they can be monitored. I liked how you pointed out how parents might not agree with their children using Facebook or Twitter most people would just assume that they already have them. You did a great job of descibing all of the videos. Thanks for sharing.

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