Kathy Cassidy: Using Web 2.0 Tools in a Grade One Classroom

Summary and reaction to:
Kathy Cassidy Using Web 2.0 Tools in a Grade One Classroom

Mrs. Cassidy used a podcast to talk us through her blog and the different tools that she and her students used to create it.

She started by introducing her blog and explaining that she used Blogmeister. She mentioned that David Warlick set it up and she said that he could do it for us too if we emailed him.

Mrs. Cassidy used the blog to communicate with parents. She also had a personal blog for each child in the class that she moderated. Anything that children wanted to post was sent to her first and then she gave the final 'ok' before it was posted on the web.

Mrs. Cassidy then talked us through a child's blog. She showed us their writing, drawings and podcasts. She mentioned that students really liked that they could see how many people read their blogs. It encouraged them to post more and it validated the work that they did. They were excited to receive comments from people they knew and people that were too far to meet.

The class had a lot of communication with a class in New Zealand and were able to share their blog with them. The people in New Zealand would post comments and would share information about their home area. This 'friendship' gave these students an exciting and engaging introduction to a new place.

The pictures that were posted on the blogs were posted using Flickr. Many of these pictures were created using Kidpix and then posted on Flickr. Mrs. Cassidy mentioned that to post pictures on the blog using Flickr you must first add them to Flickr. Then select the size that you want and then cut and paste the html that Flickr provides into the blog.

She also explained about using Audacity for the podcasts that were posted on the site. This site also provides a URL that you enter into the blog that links you to the podcast.

Another web tool that was used was Bubbleshare. She explained that it was like a virtual book or slideshow of pictures. This site also provides a html to enter into the blog that links you to the share.

The last web tool that she mentions using is a wiki. She used it with a small group of students. They wrote stories together. The only downside that she mentioned was that only one person can use it at a time.

Mrs. Cassidy mentioned that these web tools inspired her students to learn. I'm really not surprised. Whenever I present something new and interesting to my students it always excited them. I think that if I could find a way for technology to work for me then my students would love it. I may want to try a blog in my class next year. It would be fun and interesting to see how it goes. I especially think that I could use it for a place to put homework online. Each day the blog could be updated by me or a student and then students could access it at home.

The one concern that I had was that a child would post something inappropriate if not being watched closely. Blogmeister's option of having the student's posts sent to the teacher before posting is great. I love the idea of checking over the student's posts before they are posted. That feature would be a must for me if I ever set up a class blog.

I don't feel that I learned too many new things from this podcast. I think that it is because I have been in the class for a couple of months and also because I did the 2 other parts to this assignment first. Although I didn't learn anything new, it was nice to see how it can be used in a lower level classroom.