Blog Assignment #11

Ms. Cassidy

I love that there are teachers in this world that are not as bullheaded as I used to be. Ms. Cassidy saw an opportunity and seize it. It amazes me how she started out with just five computers in her classroom that allowed connection to the Internet, with no programs, and turned it into one of the most influential teaching tools ever. She makes her teaching methods fun for kids. I think that blogging is one of the best things she has done for her class. The students post writing assignments on their blog for the world to see, which is quite wonderful for the kids.

What is one of the most important things to a child? I would think the answer to that question would be recognition, perhaps approval. Any synonym of those will work. I'm sure it is one thing for the students to have recognition from their parents and teachers, but to think someone across the world is seeing what they have came up with. It has to be a great feeling for them. I'm twenty-one years old and I still feel great when I make a clever Facebook post and start getting comments and likes. Everyone in our EDM310 class knows that exact same feeling. So, just think how it feels for a younger student to get that kind of recognition. That is why I know blogging will be something used in my classroom.

Along with blogging, videos will be a big part as well. I have mentioned in older posts about students performing plays or acting out important moments in history. Watching Ms. Cassidy's video of her first graders doing videos and blogging made a light bulb flicker in my head. "Why don't you have your students record their acting?," I thought quietly to myself as I sat on my couch. That way they can upload them on YouTube and even their blogs to get even more recognition. This would inspire them to be creative and fun loving. My only two thoughts holding me back from this is; the fear of reactions from negative comments on the Internet and apathy.

Apathy is something that's going to be found in every classroom around the world. My goal would be to make the assignments as fun as possible to make the students want to complete them. For the subject of negative comments,YouTube can be viewed by everyone in this world and unfortunately that means people that just love to bring others down. Just as a positive comment can make a student feel recognized, a negative comment can make a student just not want to try anymore. A quick, simply solution would be to disable the public from leaving comments, but that impedes from the positive comments. If anyone has any suggestions for me, I would love to hear them.

Ms. Cassidy's first grader's video really opened my eyes to how much fun a student really has once technology is introduced. No matter what age the students may be.