Blog Post #11

Little Kids....Big Potential

This week's assignment introduced us to Mrs. Kathy Cassidy, a first grade teacher in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada who is incorporating many forms of technology in her classroom. This five minute video "Little Kids, Big Potential" displays some of the tools used by students who are fortunate enough to have a teacher that appreciates the fact that technology is "not going away."  The question raised by EDM 310 is "does every teacher have to be tech literate?" One thing that I have realized this semester is that technology is an important tool in the vast majority of fields today, yet the foundation of them all- the system of education- is far behind in teaching methods that incorporate technology. Banks offer online banking services, law enforcement uses "bait cars" and heat sensory detection, department stores are accepting text message coupons, and surgeons can operate without even touching their patients so why is so little of the tremendous array of uses technology offers being incorporated in schools today? I think that one reason is that teachers just aren't sure where to start. Mrs. Cassidy suggests the best place to start is simply finding an area of personal interest and go from there. That was very helpful information for me, I consider as a teacher what is a realistic way for me to use the wonderful things I'm learning in a real classroom. I have become a big fan of blogging so I hope to use that as a starting place in the future as an educator. By blogging I feel certain that it will be easy to grow from there into Skype interviews and even videos and podcasts. Dr. Strange has opened my eyes to Twitter and Mrs. Cassidy has helped me understand that it may take a while to really appreciate its full potential. 
In the interview, an edm student asked Mrs. Cassidy about the threats related with cheating. Her response to this was that she didn't see using info from others blogs, for example, as cheating. Rather she referred to this as more of a shift towards "piggy backing" this is, I believe, technology's greatest capability. Being able to collaborate and share idea's and points of view with the world is key to preparing students for what's to come in the real world.