While evalulating the ethics and use of technology in early primary grades, we will address the following professional questions:
How and when is technology useful in the K-1 classroom? Is it appropriate?
How do we make effective use of technology in the K-1 classroom?
While researching the use of technology for early primary grades, we addressed the many social concerns regarding safety and the use of the internet as well as appropriate use of technology for young students in early primary grades. After investigating multiple sites and looking for appropriate credible resources we located several valuable sites. Safe online surfing from the Federal Bureau of Investigation offers valuable information for teachers on internet safety for children. Another useful site is offered by the Northwest Education Technology Consortium, which is comprised of state education agencies from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and the Northwest Regional Education Laboratory out of Portland, Oregon. This site offers information on how the interent can be more effectively used for various age groups including the early primary grades.
In addition to looking at the ethics and use of the internet for children in early primary grades such as Kindergarten and First Grade, we also looked for important instructional resources in the areas of literacy and mathematics. Some valuable resources and sites that we found for instructors are listed in the lower sections of this report page.
Why Should First Graders use technology?
Kathy Cassidy talks about using techonology and blogging to create community, reach a larger audience and connect students to the world withDigital Porfolios
Kathy Cassidy uses techology regularly and effectively in her first grade classroom. Her entire blog is a great resource for ideas and how-to's on using technology in the primary classroom.
Here is an RSS feed to Kathy Cassidy's blog: Primary Preoccupation
Using IPads to do Word Work with Kathy Cassidy of Primary PreoccupationWord Work Apps
One of the ways Kathy Cassidy uses technology in her first grade classroom is to differentiate instruction in word work and spelling. These are some of the apps she uses.
from Kathy Cassidy's classroom
from Kathy Cassidy's classroom
Using Blogging to give students an authentic audience for their writing
Although he is writing about an older students, this article by Ben Curran (writing form Education Weekly) explains how blogging provides students with an authentic audience for their writing. He writes, "I believe it's important for students to have their writing read by more people than just their teacher. When they know that their families, their classmates, and people from around the world can read what they write, the impact is measurable. Students pay closer attention to everything from the mechanics of writing to word choice to structure to clarity." Blogging and Writing
Using internet research to develop critical analysis of sources
As we teach our students to decode texts, we ask them to be critical investigators and analyzers of information. The internet contains a wide variety and print and multimedia sources that offer similar opportunities for teaching students to critically decode, investigate, and analyze the information they are uncovering. A "Curriculum Development Officer" specializing in "Information and Communication Technology" for primary school classrooms put together a set of Tools for Teaching Search Skills in Primary Classrooms. This is a great first step in helping young learners to be critical surveyors of information they encounter on the internet.
Using video to teach letter sounds
For students developing basic phonic and phonemic skills/comprehension, videos can provide an entry point for engaging in letter-sound pairing while providing a multidimensional audio-visual reference for students to refer back to. Young learners can make quick clips or video stories to document and present their phonemic awareness.
Mathematics:
Here is a great app I found via twitter with math for K - 2. It seems much more fun for kids to use than pencil and paper.Kuggaa Math App
Students can work individually at their own pace or it can be timed. They can try again if they make a mistake to gain mastery over the concept.
Social Studies:
Teaching Geography and Culture via Skype:
"Amy Rosenstein, who teaches third grade at Concord Road Elementary School in Ardsley, N.Y., has taught geography by organizing Skype conversations between her class and people in Hong Kong, Italy, New Zealand, Kenya, Brazil, England, Albania, Israel, and soon, India. She interviews potential speakers beforehand and suggests they show items that are native to their homelands to enhance the exchange, whether it’s native garb, falafels from Israel, or Albanian instruments. A May 11 Skype session with elementary school students in Kenya turned into a singalong when her students belted out a song in Swahili and the Kenyan students belted out a song in English." Read more: article by Olivia Waxman at TIME TECH http://techland.time.com/2012/11/28/how-teachers-use-skype-in-the-classroom/#ixzz2DfEUVyuD
Social Justice:
Here is an article about allowing cell phones into the class for education purposes from edudemic website. Reasons to start using cell phones in your class Many of the uses would work well for K-1. The article is pro cell phone but it sparked a discussion on twitter about social justice. Specifically, does this give some students an advantage when not every student can afford to have a cell phone? You can look at the discussion on twitter by searching for BYOD/BYOT.
When technology is provided to students by the school and then used for differentiated instruction, iDr. Ted Hasselbring and Margery Mayer writing for Scholatic call it, "The Great Equalizer." Technology:The Great Equalizer
Assessment:
Here's a kindergarten teacher who says she's using her laptop to assist in her individual assessments - I want to know more about that!Kindergarten Teacher
By: Emily BN, Tina, Ryan, and Kara
While evalulating the ethics and use of technology in early primary grades, we will address the following professional questions:
How and when is technology useful in the K-1 classroom? Is it appropriate?
How do we make effective use of technology in the K-1 classroom?
While researching the use of technology for early primary grades, we addressed the many social concerns regarding safety and the use of the internet as well as appropriate use of technology for young students in early primary grades. After investigating multiple sites and looking for appropriate credible resources we located several valuable sites. Safe online surfing from the Federal Bureau of Investigation offers valuable information for teachers on internet safety for children. Another useful site is offered by the Northwest Education Technology Consortium, which is comprised of state education agencies from Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and the Northwest Regional Education Laboratory out of Portland, Oregon. This site offers information on how the interent can be more effectively used for various age groups including the early primary grades.
In addition to looking at the ethics and use of the internet for children in early primary grades such as Kindergarten and First Grade, we also looked for important instructional resources in the areas of literacy and mathematics. Some valuable resources and sites that we found for instructors are listed in the lower sections of this report page.
Why Should First Graders use technology?
Kathy Cassidy talks about using techonology and blogging to create community, reach a larger audience and connect students to the world withDigital PorfoliosKathy Cassidy uses techology regularly and effectively in her first grade classroom. Her entire blog is a great resource for ideas and how-to's on using technology in the primary classroom.
Here is an RSS feed to Kathy Cassidy's blog:
Primary Preoccupation
Here is her Twitter feed:
Twitter / kathycassidy
Literacy:
Using IPads to do Word Work with Kathy Cassidy of Primary Preoccupation Word Work Apps
One of the ways Kathy Cassidy uses technology in her first grade classroom is to differentiate instruction in word work and spelling. These are some of the apps she uses.
Using Blogging to give students an authentic audience for their writing
Although he is writing about an older students, this article by Ben Curran (writing form Education Weekly) explains how blogging provides students with an authentic audience for their writing. He writes, "I believe it's important for students to have their writing read by more people than just their teacher. When they know that their families, their classmates, and people from around the world can read what they write, the impact is measurable. Students pay closer attention to everything from the mechanics of writing to word choice to structure to clarity."
Blogging and Writing
Using internet research to develop critical analysis of sources
As we teach our students to decode texts, we ask them to be critical investigators and analyzers of information. The internet contains a wide variety and print and multimedia sources that offer similar opportunities for teaching students to critically decode, investigate, and analyze the information they are uncovering. A "Curriculum Development Officer" specializing in "Information and Communication Technology" for primary school classrooms put together a set of Tools for Teaching Search Skills in Primary Classrooms. This is a great first step in helping young learners to be critical surveyors of information they encounter on the internet.
Using video to teach letter sounds
For students developing basic phonic and phonemic skills/comprehension, videos can provide an entry point for engaging in letter-sound pairing while providing a multidimensional audio-visual reference for students to refer back to. Young learners can make quick clips or video stories to document and present their phonemic awareness.
Mathematics:
Here is a great app I found via twitter with math for K - 2. It seems much more fun for kids to use than pencil and paper.Kuggaa Math App
Students can work individually at their own pace or it can be timed. They can try again if they make a mistake to gain mastery over the concept.
Social Studies:
Teaching Geography and Culture via Skype:
"Amy Rosenstein, who teaches third grade at Concord Road Elementary School in Ardsley, N.Y., has taught geography by organizing Skype conversations between her class and people in Hong Kong, Italy, New Zealand, Kenya, Brazil, England, Albania, Israel, and soon, India. She interviews potential speakers beforehand and suggests they show items that are native to their homelands to enhance the exchange, whether it’s native garb, falafels from Israel, or Albanian instruments. A May 11 Skype session with elementary school students in Kenya turned into a singalong when her students belted out a song in Swahili and the Kenyan students belted out a song in English." Read more: article by Olivia Waxman at TIME TECH http://techland.time.com/2012/11/28/how-teachers-use-skype-in-the-classroom/#ixzz2DfEUVyuD
Social Justice:
Here is an article about allowing cell phones into the class for education purposes from edudemic website. Reasons to start using cell phones in your class Many of the uses would work well for K-1. The article is pro cell phone but it sparked a discussion on twitter about social justice. Specifically, does this give some students an advantage when not every student can afford to have a cell phone? You can look at the discussion on twitter by searching for BYOD/BYOT.
When technology is provided to students by the school and then used for differentiated instruction, iDr. Ted Hasselbring and Margery Mayer writing for Scholatic call it, "The Great Equalizer."
Technology:The Great Equalizer
Assessment:
Here's a kindergarten teacher who says she's using her laptop to assist in her individual assessments - I want to know more about that!Kindergarten Teacher