Technology Teaching Tidbits

Technology is one of those tricky things. I remember the first computer my family got as a child, my mum's first cellphone that only called and the first device I got other than a cellphone (in fact I still have it!). Technology is a fantastic tool in every classroom but it has it's difficulties. 1. Staying charged This is our number one issues in a class that uses mainly iPads and has 1 between 2. Devices are constantly being used then put away and "Plug your device in!" is something I have to say daily. I dream of a day when devices do not require a plug to charge and just need to be near a power source or have long lasting batteries that last for weeks not just a day or a few hours. 2. Practicality for purpose Devices are fantastic to use and open doors for children that struggle with many parts of tradition schooling such as writing. BUT and this is a big one; they are not always fit for purpose. Whether that is because the website needs to be downloaded as a...

Today I introduced my literacy group to the possibility to connect with their favourite authors and was pleasantly surprised with their response. Writing has been hard going as I have been trying make sure to connect with the children who need it and give them enough feedback to make their writing valuable. With 32 children to manage I can appreciate how my own primary school teacher managed. So last night I prepared a short slideshow of past tweeting and a page explaining the requirements. I also collected a list of authors and their twitter usernames. The excitement started early as my students spotted the twitter username list and started to make the connection with what we are doing. It only escalated as some of my students saw the names of their new favourite authors I have introduced them to. We raced through the introduction lead by the kids excitement before getting into writing our questions. Once they had written their question they counted their characters befo...