Blog Post 11

Little Kids.... Big Potential is a video created by Kathy Cassidy to highlight some of the interesting work her students are doing in her classroom. She has incorporated many aspects of learning that much older students would find advanced and difficult. By introducing students to blogging and Skyping at such a young age, Kathy Cassidy has given those children fortunate enough to be in her classroom an advantage throughout their lives.

I really was impressed with this video. Typically we think of much of this work as difficult, but these kids were able to do a great deal of the things we do in EDM 310. One of my main complaints with a number of the ideas we've discussed so far this semester is that so much time would be required to teach the technology in the methods of learning. If this technology is learned in elementary school as one of the foundations, along with math, science and reading, then a world of possibilities will be opened to students. This type of learning at a young age would cause a domino effect of learning throughout life.

The Skype interview with Kathy Cassidy shed light on how exactly she developed her method of teaching first grade children technology. It shows just how special of a teacher it takes to pursue something outside of the normal curriculum and implement it into a classroom. She explained that most of the initiative was her idea; too many times teachers can fall into a lull and teach the same methods over and over for years. It is important to not become complacent and Ms. Cassidy certainly hasn't.

After learning about all these different technological applications in the classroom, I understand that it is important to incorporate at least some technology into the curriculum. In a perfect world students would learn these types of things at a very young age, but obviously this is not a perfect world. As a future middle or high school English teacher, I realize that most if not all of my students will be unfamiliar with some of this technology;however, if the core learning requirements can be incorporated into technological methods, then it is important to use these methods to promote more learning.