I thought I'd take this time to enter my second blog. I've never used a blog before but I'm starting to see how it could be of value in the classroom. Teachers and students could effectively use this as a line of communication. I also think that one of the real benefits would be that students' peers would be able to read and respond to their classmates. I believe that students need to have a purpose when writing. Writing for an audience can encourage a student to do their best work. Because students would realize that their peers could read their blogs, I believe they work to the best of their ability.
I believe that technology can be very useful in the classroom. During my internship I used the internet to find interactive websites that related to my units. Somtimes it was difficult to find websites that I felt were appropriate for grade one because so many sites required that the students be readers. However, I did find some that the students really enjoyed. I discovered that students really enjoy using computers. They found the games to be a lot of fun but they were learning important concepts at the same time. Because they were so enthusiastic to use the computer they were also enthusiatic to learn the concepts I was teaching. One of the units I taught was on nutrition. I found this website had several games that helped the students distinguish between "sometimes" and "everyday" foods. Have a look at it at this website: http://www.dole5aday.com/.
In class we looked at the TuxMath and Tuxtype games. I found Tuxtype to be a lot more entertaining than the typing programs I used during school. I remember that I couldn't wait for typing time to be over so that we could do something fun in computers. I feel that using programs like this would be fun for the students so they would be developing important computer skills and having fun at the same time. What could be a better way to teach these things?
I also noticed that Tristan posted a great website on her blog. The interactive dinosaur website that she mentions is exactly the kind of interactive website that I am talking about. Kids seem to really enjoy exploring these sights and therefore really enjoy learning the content that is addressed. This is one way that I believe technology can benefit teachers and students.
1 comment:
Sarah, I agree with you 100% that having the students write to a real audience gives them purpose to their writing. I believe you because I'm experiencing that right now! :) For myself, knowing that I have an audience who will give me feedback once in awhile motivates me to write more and also to write about more interesting things. So I guess with that in mind you can only imagine what that might do for a student.
I just checked out that website you posted and it's great! There's so many games. Plus, I like that one interactive game where you make your own 5-a-day snack and afterwards it provides you with the recipe that you created. Thanks for posting that!
Also, when you had your grade ones play on the interactive websites did you set it up where everyone played the games at the same time or was it more of a station they visited with only a few students at a time?
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