Blog Post #10

What can we learn from Mrs. Cassidy?
I believe that one thing that we can learn from Mrs. Cassidy is the importance of changing teaching techniques for the benefit of the student. Mrs. Cassidy knew that technology would greatly influence her children and educated herself on how to properly teach her students. I believe one problem we have with teaching is teachers who want to stay with the same teaching techniques because it is easier for them. The students should always be top priority and Mrs. Cassidy is a great example of that. Mrs. Cassidy has been teaching for a long time and continues to educate herself for the benefit for her students. As a future educator, I will do my best to keep myself educated on current technology in the classroom like Mrs. Cassidy.

Mrs. Cassidy spoke of her rules for online work. Two of her main rules were do not use your last name and do not post pictures of yourself. I completely agree with these rules. I also like how Mrs. Cassidy said on her class blog that she has websites that are safe for the students to go to from the blog. This is easier for younger students to understand when navigating online. Mrs. Cassidy discusses with her students what to click on and what not to click on so the students have a better understanding of what to do. Sometimes some things like "make sure you do not click on the flashing ads at the top of the page" are forgotten to be told to students because you assume they already know. You should never assume your students know something. As an effective teacher, you should always explain to your students what you want them to do. Another idea Mrs. Cassidy had was a class Facebook. This would be an easy way for students to communicate and parents to have more involvement. The problem with this is having students on Facebook and not being able to control what they write, share, and post. This would involve having to have a specific discussion about the do's and don'ts on Facebook and mostly likely having it more than once. You might also end up having to have the same conversation with a few parents. One way to go around this is to make sure comments and post must be approved before being shown on Facebook.

Lastly, I would like to say that people who are questioning blogging in the classroom should watch Mrs. Cassidy's class video. The students are very proud of their work and are excited to blog. It is so great to know that students are proud of what they've done and want everyone to see that. All students should have a chance to feel that way and Mrs. Cassidy provides them with that opportunity.