If anyone has proven technology's usefulness in the classroom, it's Kathy Cassidy. Ms. Cassidy of Moose Jaw, Canada employs every kind of technology from Skype to video games in her classroom. The results are astounding.
Ms. Cassidy's students genuinely seem to enjoy school and learning. Students even remarked that they preferred blogging over other mediums of communicating their ideas. The students' writing improved as a result of blogging and their communication skills grew more vast by using Skype. According to Ms. Cassidy, the students love technology in the classroom because it's a "part of their world".
For Ms. Cassidy and her students educations is about "always pushing the envelope and asking about new things". Ms. Cassidy's Thesis for implementing technology in the classroom rests not only on student's ability to learn for themselves, but for the ability to collaborate and learn with other people online as well.
Ms. Cassidy stated: "Find a way that works for you to keep in touch with technology". She goes on to state that denying students of technology in school would be handicapping them. Ms. Cassidy also is a strong advocate of the personal learning network. Though not extremely into social networking herself, Ms. Cassidy employs Twitter due to its expansive nature. Ms. Cassidy states that Twitter provides important links and allows access to a personal learning network that can answer questions one may have. In addition to technology, the 21st century classroom must have Collaboration. Ms. Cassidy stated: "Collaboration is not cheating". Collaboration is an extremely important skill that is becoming more prevalent in our modern world. Preparing students for collaboration will be preparing them for a healthy professional life. Employing technology in the classroom teaches students another important skill, filtering information. In the Information Age, filtering information is more important than ever.
Overall I feel that Ms. Cassidy is an amazing example of how technological implication in the classroom can help students develop more. In my classroom I plan on employing technological mediums such as Skype, ITunes U, among others. Technology is always evolving, therefore so must Education.
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Hello! You did a great job on this blog post! I also think Ms. Cassidy is an awesome teacher, who knows the importance of technology in her classroom. I think she stated it best when she said that teachers are handicapping their students when they deny them the use of technology. Once again, keep up the good work!
ReplyDeleteWill you use blogs in your classroom? I hope so.
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