Blog #11

Ms. Cassidy's Technology Implementation

In Ms. Cassidy's class she implemented the use of blogs as well as using their regular. Her students say that they love the use of blogs because people all around get to see them. They also say that the use of blogs has helped them with their grammar, pronunciation of words, the rules of commenting on their peers blogs and how to be safe on the internet.
She also implements the use of webpages. The students can get on the webpages during free time. The webpages have working links that take them to other pages where they can get extra help and use different online learning tools. The webpages are also available to the students outside of school for extra help at home.
The next online tool she uses is Wiki and Videos. The use of Wiki helps the students learn about broader information that can come from people around the world. They used this when learning about traditions, rituals and the alphabet. The videos are what the students used to show what they have learned in their own classroom. This is how Ms. Cassidy's students show their learning.
Ms. Cassidy also uses Skype to talk to people in different places such as those and other classrooms and experts. She lets her students use their Nintendo DS's in groups for practice in reading and word pronunciation. In using the Nintendo DS, her students have learned how to become better problem solvers and better sharing partners.


My Classroom Technology

The 2 uses of technology I would use are videos and a class. I would also use the blogging, but have only one class blog. I think that in a 6th grade middle school math class, these would be easy to incorporate into an every day class period. The students have to work in collaborative groups for the common core standards. So I would record their presentations to the class on video and make it visible on the class blog. I would also post extra credit work, absentee work, links to give extra help and examples and the different activities that we have done in class for parents and students to see. I think this would help the parents stay up to date with things that are going on in class and give students an opportunity to catch up on work they missed and possibly get extra help if needed from working links.

The videos are something I would use maybe twice a week when each task is done and ready to present as a group. I would use blogs at the beginning and/or end of the week to let students know the different things that have been uploaded for their use. I would also use them in the beginning, middle and towards the end of the semester in open houses or parent/teacher conferences to show them they have access to see what their kids are doing in my class.

Setbacks

By making the videos an in class activity the only things the students have to do is show up, participate and help present with their group. I would not make every student have a blog. I want to work in a low income, inner city school, I realize that most of my students would not have access to computers or internet. Therefore, I would only require a class blog that I would run, but have different activities so that they could be apart of creating and maintaining one class blog. I would do this by having them work in collaborative groups.


Beneifts

I think the main benefits for the students would be giving them a fun, more engaging way to present their work to the class using something other than poster boards or white boards. The benefits for parents would be that they are able to see everything their kids are doing in class and stay updated with the class events and activities. For me, the teacher, the benefits would be being able to showcase my students work, stay in contact and updated with my students parents, create a way to use less paper and give an alternative way for students to get assignments and make-up work.