What can we learn from Mrs. Cassidy?

Interviews with Kathy Cassidy

Kathy Cassidy is a first grade teacher that uses technology in her classroom. She started to get involved in technology ten years ago when she was given 5 computers for her classroom. The computers allowed internet access, but weren't able to download any programs. Ms. Cassidy searched online and found some educational tools that her students could use. I like that she talks about how she teaches her students to protect their identities on the internet. She teaches them not to use their last names and not to match their pictures with their names. Depending on her classroom size, her students blog once or twice a week. They also use Skype to video chat with other students or sometimes even experts. Ms. Cassidy posted on her class blog this past week about a Skype session between her students and a group of seventh grade students. They talked about moon rocks and how they were formed. They even got to see some examples of moon rocks. Ms. Cassidy says that she has a lot of support in the way she teaches, especially from parents. The parents of her students like that they can see an online portfolio of their child's work anytime.

Ms. Cassidy also talks about the tools we should use our classrooms. She says that we should start with technology that we would be interested in. She also talks a lot about twitter and the impact it has made in her teaching. She has made a lot of connections such as our EDM310 class. I've been actively using twitter for two years, but I am just now beginning to make connections in the education field. I've learned a lot over the past few weeks with my EDM310 twitter. 

I think Ms. Cassidy makes a lot of great points in her interviews. She comments on how she believes teachers should change their way of thinking about technology. She says that we would be handicapping our students if we do not teach them skills in technolgy. I agree because I think technology is a major part our lives today. We use it everyday in our personal lives and companies even use it for business purposes. It's important for students to learn these skills as early as they can because they're going to need it one day in the future. I like that she talks about using technology in physical education. I've thought about how I could use a blog for my students, but I wasn't really sure if it would be beneficial to them. I think that there are a lot of ways that I could use one now. 

Interview with Kathy Cassidy -Part 1

                                               Part 2

                                               Part 3