Technology in the Classroom: A Professional Blogfolio

I just wanted to write a quick note because of something exciting that I saw today. I ventured home to Weyburn to meet my co-operating teacher for my internship this Fall and was lucky enough to see her class in action in the computer lab. The kids were researching various weather instruments and creating slideshows to use for presentations to their peers. Not only did they know exactly how to create slides, insert pictures and texts, etc, they were applying the same “rules” that we had talked about in class with Dean Shareski last week. They were working in pairs explaining to each other how “the background can’t get too messy or it’s hard to read” and which colours “are nicer to look at.” Even though the technical language wasn’t there, they understood the basic concepts that would help their presentations be visually appealing. At first I was shocked at how efficient these grade 4s were, but then I realized they have grown up with these kinds of things (digital natives?) In any case, kids’ capacity to learn, grown, and take control of their education continues to surprise me!