Blog Post #11

Ms. Cassidy’s Classroom Approach

After watching the video of Ms. Cassidy’s class and then the Skype between here and Dr. Strange

one of the main points I got out of it besides what tools and strategies I am going to use in my classroom is the fact that as teachers We cannot teach this generation and generations to come the same way we taught 20 years ago, or even 5 years ago. This is because the world has changed so we as teachers must change the way we teach and what tools we use to teach our students. I have decided that in my classroom I will defiantly use student blogs as one of my tools for learning. I chose student blogs because it allows the students work to be seen not only by the teacher but it allows the whole world to not only sees their work but they can also leave comments to the students on what they think about their work. This would make it very exciting for a first grader or any student to have someone commenting on their work. Blogs are also a good way for a student’s parents to see how well their children are doing in school.

Some of the impediments you might encounter using this in your classroom could be that parents do not want their children on the internet posting work and putting their self out there. I would address this by using the same strategy that Ms. Cassidy’s used by sending home a letter the first day of school explaining what exactly we will be doing online and that the will not be using full name and that they could even make up a screen name such “M_shadows48 class blog ”. This would possibly make the parents feel better about their child’s safety online for internet bullying and possible creepers.

Blogs also help improve the student’s ability to writing and communicate. The communication skills that they will learn are more than just talking on the phone or messaging on Facebook but they will learn how to talk and communicate through Skype and Twitter. This means that with something as simple as blogging students will improve their writing, collaboration, and communication skills. If teachers do not take advantage of the tools online then we are not only handicapping our students but ourselves as well because technology is here to stay so we need to use it to our advantage.