I must admit that I am getting hooked on the ideas of skyping both for myself in terms of connecting with far flung family members and a brother in the Service, but also as a teacher. While I still don't have my own classroom after 2 years searching...I have gained so many ideas of how this classroom technology can be used! Lisa posted a video from the classroom of Ms. Dunsinger which I was blown away by. Lisa's Blog With students going back to their neighborhood schools, teachers are incorporating a multitude of learners, with and without disabilities into their classrooms. Having worked with children and teens with Autism, making a video to introduce them to the space they will be coming to seems like such a no brainer, yet I have never seen it done, nor thought to do it myself! This use of technology is even easier with small devices such as flip cams, with these, we can record the daily happenings in our classrooms, even students can be incorporated in this recording process.
Ms Dunsinger's blog is motivating for beginning teachers, like myself. I especially like the story telling aspect that was recently posted. This can give students the chance to post their stories online, collaborate and expand stories and allow parents to view what their student is working on in school. I always thought that creating a blog, wiki space etc would be one more thing I would have to keep up after school hours.
Our skype session with Ms Dunsinger and her students opened my eyes to the fact that we can allow students to take the lead on this classroom technology. This session also let me see how useful Skype can be when teaching classrooms to be "global learners". We can easily collaborate with students in different countries ( as we just did), different states or towns. We can compete, collaborate and learn from one another in a way that was not an option when I was a student.
This is a great blog post! I'm so glad to hear that you enjoyed the Skype session! I think that technology can be a very powerful learning tool, and I love how you've shown that through your examples.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your kind words too!
Aviva
I think that is a fantastic experience for children to communicate with students in other parts of the world. They really do become 'global learners!' Thanks so much for posting this, and thank YOU Ms. Dunsinger!
ReplyDeleteBrianna,
ReplyDeleteI agree that the Skype session with Ms. Dunsinger and her students was a great way to personally speak with the students and hear about their experiences using various technology tools in the classroom. I know that I have enjoyed using the tools, so it was interesting to get a student's perspective since I myself do not have a classroom yet either.
I have worked with students with Autism and they really like to know what to expect. They like and thrive on predictability. So allowing them to see their classroom prior to would be wonderful! Also, Skyping with students who are not able to be in the class is a great way to include ALL students. I loved Skyping with Aviva! She is inspirational and I can tell she loves to teach.
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