Comments for Ms. McQuaid's Technology Blog

Comment on Cooperative Learning and Social Learning in the 21st Century by Shannon Jones

Shannon Jones — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 20:43:24 +0000

Collaboration is a huge part of learning and success for a child. One of my favorite things about teaching is watching the children learn from each other. When my students are doing group activities, sometimes I just sit back and observe and just love to see them interacting and feeding off of each other. I think it is so important for 21st century students to work in cooperative groups because it only prepares them for the future.

Comment on Cooperative Learning and Social Learning in the 21st Century by brookester78

brookester78 — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:29:00 +0000

I love all the great ideas you have like a shared calendars, wikis, blogs and book marking. I too would love to start a class wiki and/or a class blog once my district figures out the privacy and safety concerns with the internet. These are great tools that lend themselves nicely to social learning theory. What age are your students? I think a shared calendar would be great for my teammates and I but a little too advanced for my third graders.

Comment on Constructionist Learning through Web Resources by Shannon

Shannon — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 20:16:58 +0000

Webquests are gerat tools to use in a classroom. Everytime I hve used them, they have been a huge success. It gives the students more freedom and a different approach to completing the task. Webquests give the students the ability to use many resources and technology in the classroom. Sounds like fun in your classroom!!

Comment on Constructionist Learning through Web Resources by brookester78

brookester78 — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 18:11:07 +0000

The webquests that you describe are definitely a great example of constructionist theory. The students are able to create something that is their own and they are able to share it with many others at the same time. This in turn will allow the students to make more of a connection with their information. The students also tend to take off with it, and go deeper into the material as well. .

Comment on Constructionist Learning through Web Resources by Derrick G

Derrick G — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 14:27:56 +0000

Your webquests sound like a fantastic constructivist lesson plans that engage students and allow them to apply the knowledge to something new and unique, helping the student to better retain the information. As an English teacher myself, I too rely upon web resources to engage my 8th grade students. I find that using the technology in a way that allows students to create something is much more effective than even given them the technology to research a topic. Great ideas!

Comment on Using Technology to Help Students Remember by Deborah H

Deborah H — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:56:55 +0000

I am very excited about this week’s readings. Even though I have used Kidspiration in many different ways with my students, I look forward to creating other forms of maps to set their learning in a forward motion. I believe that using the mapping tools, teaching our students the correct way to take notes and then summarize the notes to make it a meaningful learning experience is crucial. Being able to create field trips for my first graders virtually will excite my students. This will give me the opportunity to be the next Ms. Frizzle, if only in my classroom.

Comment on Using Technology to Help Students Remember by jernjul1

jernjul1 — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 05:37:23 +0000

I have been using Kidspiration for several years now. I started using it on AlphaSmart boards to help organize the students writing. It is a great program and the kids really like it too. It is also a great way for students to individualize their work because no to maps are alike. It also helps students to start organizing material in a way that makes sense to them.

Comment on Using Technology to Help Students Remember by Rebecca Green

Rebecca Green — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:06:53 +0000

Julie McQuaid
Your make a very strong point for the use of tables in word processing documents. These tables can be a great tool for organizing information and providing student response areas. It is a great way to provide a basis for the students to extend their notes or research off of. When I am able to use the computer lab, I have used these documents and put them in my classroom’s out folder (on our network). This allowed each student to access the document with the table, save it separately in their own account, add their own notes/research to the document, and then resubmit it to me. The word processing chart was so useful because it adapts its shape based on what the students write in it. Therefore, the students did not have to worry about reformatting the document or trying to write small in order to fit their work in the space provided. They had the freedom to write and create as they needed based on the assignment.
R. Green

Comment on Using Technology to Help Students Remember by Derrick G

Derrick G — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:21:23 +0000

I find the connections you made very important, especially your focus on educators needing to develop unique lessons that can easily be placed in student’s episodic memory. The best teachers that I have known and can remember from my own formal education are those that go out of their way to disrupt the average doldrums of the school day. If a teacher acts differently, dresses differently, approaches a “boring” topic differently, I was much more likely to not only pay more attention, but discuss the lesson later with my peers and recall the information presented, not for a test, but very naturally. Your suggestions for incorporating technology to create these types of experiences are ones that every educator should think about employing in their own classrooms.

Comment on Behaviorism in Practice by Deborah H

Deborah H — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 05:25:42 +0000

The behaviorist theory is alive and kicking in many classrooms. I believe that teachers need to work on the positive aspect of the behaviorist theory to make an impact on our classrooms. By using the different technologies available for all ages of students, teachers can set this to make remarkable learning enviroment for our children. I work in a military community and many of my parents have to have their children in day care, etc for several hours after school. By notifing the after school providers of the many different programs available for our students to work on provides an opportunity for the students to be working on more productive web sites than just playing a game. By providing this information to the child care providers our students are either reinforcing the skills or strengthening them. This helps with the drill and practice that is needed.
I would appreciate any web sites that you might have that could be added to the list. The more sites we can find for the variety of age groups, I see it as a win/win for all.