*Pam Cranford
Today I was surfing through TeacherTube.com and listening/watching some elementary classrooms that were very involved in blogging. I already have made arrangements for my students to have Gaggle accounts next year for emailing, but then I began to think if what we really needed was a Wiki to encourage collaboration and cooperation. There are more outlets available for teaching than we will ever have time to fully explore, and I want to use them all!!!
These were the thoughts going through my head when my 4-year-old granddaughter knocked on my front door. Her parents were on their way out to a wedding, and she was going to spend the evening with me. Now most 4 year olds would go straight to the toy box and begin to empty its entire contents. However, I had different plans for this evening. Her mother had brought Madison's bag of library books for us to read, and Madison had a favorite among the group. It's title was No Bows. In fact, using the pictures as cues, Madison could successfully "read" the entire book. So I asked her if she would like to make a movie. WOW! She really wanted to do that, and so we did!
After only 10 minutes, we had all we needed to make an enhanced podcast. Here is the first book Madison Isgitt "read" from cover to cover, and I will treasure it forever.
If a mere 4-year-old can get excited about podcasting and reading, wouldn't the same hold true for all of our children? That same level of excitement was the one constant that became evident over and over again by students blogging in their classrooms. We must get our children involved with technology if we expect them to succeed in this world today because times are changing, and I for one am glad.
These were the thoughts going through my head when my 4-year-old granddaughter knocked on my front door. Her parents were on their way out to a wedding, and she was going to spend the evening with me. Now most 4 year olds would go straight to the toy box and begin to empty its entire contents. However, I had different plans for this evening. Her mother had brought Madison's bag of library books for us to read, and Madison had a favorite among the group. It's title was No Bows. In fact, using the pictures as cues, Madison could successfully "read" the entire book. So I asked her if she would like to make a movie. WOW! She really wanted to do that, and so we did!
After only 10 minutes, we had all we needed to make an enhanced podcast. Here is the first book Madison Isgitt "read" from cover to cover, and I will treasure it forever.
If a mere 4-year-old can get excited about podcasting and reading, wouldn't the same hold true for all of our children? That same level of excitement was the one constant that became evident over and over again by students blogging in their classrooms. We must get our children involved with technology if we expect them to succeed in this world today because times are changing, and I for one am glad.
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