Blog Post #11

Mrs. Kathy Cassidy's Class

For Blog Post #11, I watched two videos about some really exciting things going on in Mrs. Kathy Cassidy's first grade classroom in a small town called Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada. The first video was called Little Kids, Big Potential. This video was very impressive. This little class of first graders is accomplishing some really big things. You could tell when you were greeted at the door of the class and a sign said "College Graduating Class of 2025" that this class is destined for great futures. These students are writing on their personal blogs and commenting on others, working on their class webpage, and using Wikis to learn new vocabulary. They are making videos about what they are learning and skyping with professionals to learn about new concepts. Mrs. Cassidy is also having them bring in their Nintendo DS game systems to play a game called Nintendogs. The students learn problem solving from playing a game they absolutely love. This is truly the way school should be. I also watched a Skype interview with Mrs. Cassidy and Dr. Strange and his class. Mrs. Cassidy is embracing the world of technology. She says that what she is doing in her classroom seems perfectly normal for her first graders because they have never lived in a world without technology. Mrs. Cassidy is such a forward thinker. She has been using this type of technology in her classroom for over ten years now, and things seem to have been very successful. Her administration does not hinder her approach but they haven't pushed for this technology either. It seems she and the technology coordinator at her school are collaboratively adding technology into this first grade curriculum. I would love to see all classrooms run like this one. How sad is it when these first graders go to a second grade classroom next year, and there is no technology being used. We need more Mrs. Cassidy's in education.