Blog Post #10

What Can We Learn from Ms. Cassidy

     In Ms. Cassidy's videos, she references using Twitter quite a bit. For a lot of people, Twitter is still new to them and the concept of using it in the classroom is absurd. But, for those of us who understand that building a PLN is a never ending process that can continually be used, Twitter can become a staple.

      In Ms. Cassidy's classroom, she uses many different tools for technology such as: blogging, tweeting, using wikis, using flip cameras, and many more. Some of the ways she uses these are very similar to what we are currently doing in our EDM310 course. We are all trying to overcome the same thing: overcoming the technology gap that is present in many classrooms. Many teachers are still stuck in the same old ways of teaching. As Ms. Cassidy shows, there are so many very cool things you can do in the classroom and enhance the learning experience with these tools. 

    I believe that I will most use twitter and blogging in my classrooms. Twitter and blogging can go so well together that is hard to not use one without the other. Tweeting is essentially sending out a statement or a question or thought. You can send this to thousands of people at a time or directly to one specific person. By using twitter we can come up with the answers needed or even find new questions to ask. Blogging on the other hand, is a way to share anything and everything. Twitter is sharing at a smaller level with great results but blogging can be seen by people not using twitter, also. 

    I plan to use blogging and skype effectively in my classroom. I intend to have a class blog set up so that my students, their parents, and people from around the world can see what we are doing in our classroom. We will post daily work and fun projects that we are working on. We can also use skype to contact different experts on their work, and apply their conversations to our projects. Ms. Cassidy uses Skype to communicate with another classroom at a different school and has "blogging buddies"! How cool is that? I definitely plan to take that to my class as well. 

     I really think that I will stay similar to what Ms. Cassidy does in how to protect the students. By only using their first names, and not adding a photo directly of them it can keep their identity hidden from people with ill-intentions. I also plan to use some of the more restricted access blogging sites that have monitoring functions. I want to know my students are safe but still enjoying sharing their works. 

   All in all,  I think we can all really benefit from using technology in the classroom when used appropriately. Ms. Cassidy definitely has it down pat. What I thought was most interesting is that she is still learning how to use twitter and facebook. The best teachers have to be learners as well.  I think the best quote that really captures the essence of these videos lately is this: "In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn."- Phil Collins.