My own research- how child development plays into using technology in the classroom

       I am currently working on my Master's degree in Elementary Education with a focus in Education Technology. In another course, we are talking about digital literacy. This week we were asked to consider some possible downsides when using technology. While researching, it was interesting to see how much connected with the child development course I am also taking.  I am currently planning a digital storytelling unit for my summer school kindergarten students, so I did some researching.  Story telling and story time is used daily in a kindergarten classroom. Unfortunately, the older children get, the more teachers forget the power of stories. “Although story time is a staple in early childhood education, one rarely observes learners above the fourth grade engaged in a storytelling activity, which is in direct conflict with theorists in education who tout story as a primary tool in learning and memory  (Banaszeqski, 2005).” One of my kindergarten team members is moving to a 3^rd grade classroom next year. She tried to bring me all of her books after the last day of school. I tried to tell her that 3^rd graders still enjoy read alouds, and that she can use them with her new students. It took a few other teachers to hear what was going on to convince her to keep the books. Just because a student can read, doesn’t mean they forget the love of picture books. 

       Through my research, I found that when working with kindergarten students, one has to be very carful when scaffolding learning with technology. I am a huge technology user, so I am constantly looking for new technology to use with my children in my classroom. But is using all that technology always beneficial for 5 and 6 year olds? When planning the scaffolding for 5 and 6 year olds, It is important to keep in mind that most have never touched a computer before. I teach in a very poverty stricken school district, so it’s a little easier for me to plan out lessons with technology, since little to no students have had experiences before.

       Before looking at the child development side to educational technology, I had never before thought about scaffolding limiting growth, or scaffolding TOO much. I always thought scaffolding was a great thing, and as teachers, we must scaffold as much as possible. Dalton had a different point to make. “Successful learning depends on customization, and scaffolding is essential to making it work for each child. However, scaffolding can limit growth and actually cause students to disengage if it is too constraining or if there is no progression toward increasing independence. For example, I may start with an activity that is highly constrained, yet still offers creative choices around the skill that is the focus of the lesson (Dalton p13).” Of course we can lose our children’s interest! Why have I never thought of this before? I have never lost a child’s interest from introducing too much technology at one time. But I have lost interest from not allowing them enough creativity. “When products start to look the same or students lose their creative energy, it’s a sign that there may be too much scaffolding (Dalton p13).” It’s always a hard thing for teachers to give up control, I find. I remember in my first year of teaching three years ago, I had to constantly remind myself that my kindergarteners could do things themselves. I need to continue to remind myself of this while using technology. 

       I am very much looking forward to using technology in a way that is productive for my student's development next year.  I will be careful not to push too hard with using technology. Just like with anything else with children, we must first make sure they are ready, so as not to turn them off from a specific activity too early. Most of the students I will have are from families that cannot afford technology in their homes. Looking at their developmental level while planning the lesson's scaffolding will lead to successful learning in my classroom 

Dalton, B. (2012). Multimodal Composition and the Common Core State Standards. The Reading Teacher, 66(4), 333-339.

Morgan, H. (2012). Technology in the Classroom: Creating Videos Can Lead Students to Many Academic Benefits. Childhood Education, 89(1), 51-53.

Preschool Activities

Sometimes parents ask me what they can be doing with their children to prepare them for kindergarten. Practicing ABCs, numbers, counting, and writing their name are basic skills that help tremendously. I also found another blogger who listed wonderful activities that can be done independently. She uses these for her preschooler while she home schools her other children, but these would be great for anyone to do with preschool age kids at home. 

-coloring page

-books on table {choose about 5 books just for them to flip through...could be library books or off of your shelves.}

-preschool skills activity page {Just a preschool skills page from one of those huge preschool books.  It might have drawing, cutting/pasting, circling, etc.}

-puzzle

The next list are the activities that change each day.  You can keep a special box on top of one of our cabinets that holds some of the "extras" that aren't regular toys so that they are new to your child each time they play with them.  

-activity of the day:

1.      Muffin tin sorting: buttons; cotton swab writing: alphabet {You can print off several alphabet pages  to use during these types of activities.  Use a cotton swab and paint to trace the letters on an alphabet page.}

2.      Lacing beads; santa box

3.      Legos; stacking cups {these are just plastic solo-type cups}

4.      Rice and coins; Animal Logic lineup {rice and coins: store them dumped in a plastic bag kept in the special box}

5.      Play dough/spaghetti/cheerios; balloons {ball of play dough, uncooked spaghetti stuck into it, put cheerios on the spaghetti}

6.      Train bin; Uno cards

7.      Magneticdress up book; sock match {pull a bunch of socks out of  your drawer, mix them up in a basket, and have them match them.}

8.      Puzzles; pet shop box

9.      Muffin tin sorting: crayons; fill the bag: choose a color {fill the bag: choose one color, like red, and say find all of the toys that are red and put them in this bag}

10. Count the lights; zingo {I printed a bunch of pages with the numbers 1-20 on them, and she has to walk through the house and cross off a number each time she sees a light.}

11. Duplo blocks; cut magazines and make collage

12. Cookie sheet with flour; spoon matching activity {put a little flour on a cookie sheet and let them draw in it; spoon activity: plastic spoons with capital and lowercase letters...they can match them.}

13. Play dough; phone number practice {Write your phone number on a piece of paper, and have them copy it several times.}

14. Chalk board painting; cotton swab writing: numbers {chalkboard, water, paintbrush}

15. Strainer/pipe cleaners; sticker book {picked up a huge sticker book where the stickers go somewhere in the book, they have to find the "shadow" of the sticker and put it in the right place}

16. Sorting pie; wash tupperware/plastic dishes

17. Wooden blocks; fill the bag: choose a letter {choose any letter and have them find toys that start with that letter, put them in the bag}

18. Count the windows; dry beans {same as count the lights; you can have dry beans for play similar to the rice and coins}

19. Day and night activity; write name with pens, markers, crayons, etc.

20. Sort laundry; teddy bear counters {teddy bear counters are from our math curriculum}

21. Shape puzzlebox; plastic animals

22. Quirkle; count the cabinet pulls

23. Marshmallows/toothpicks; pattern blocks {build things with marshmallows and toothpicks}

24. Jenga blocks; table fort {throw a blanket over the table and play}

25. Build a letter; white board/markers {build a letter is a book that we have with pieces that allow you to build a letter along with the book...can't find a link for it}

26. Dominos; cutting practice

27. Legos; Rummikub

28. Popsicle stick free play; junk mail {save your junk mail and let them open it, cut it, write on it, etc.}

29. Dot markers; memory match {basically a memory/match game}

30. Chalkboard drawing; muffin tin sorting: coins

Hope this gives you some ideas for your own toddler/preschooler. You can get at least 30 minutes of teaching time out of these. 

If you have any links or ideas to share, please do! 

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Enjoy!

First post!

Welcome parents, students, coworkers, and peers! 

I've been meaning to start a classroom website for quite some time. Our school district doesn't have any space for teacher websites, so I put the thought on hold. I created a personal blog last year, and realized I could just make a classroom blog instead of a website. Now with a gentle nudge from a grad school class, I finally found the time to do it! 

This will be a landing pad for lots of things. Parents, I will keep this updated with information about school, our classroom, and your student.  I will also be posting some ideas we are using in our classroom, that may or may not be helpful to other educators. Lastly, I will be adding some resources I discover as I finish my Master's Degree. 

Parents, please remember to check out our Classdojo page! You can check this throughout the week to see your child's behavior points. Reports are always emailed on Fridays.

Click picture to head to our site!

 This week in our "switch" group, a few students were able to focus primarily on numbers 1-10. These students created a book in which we wrote numbers, glued items to match the number, and added photos of making numbers with our bodies. Here is one example of the number 18:

My current course with Ball State has taught me so much about literacy through technology. I knew quite a bit coming in, but the literacy piece has had so much growth in just the last few weeks. It is so interesting how 5 & 6 year old's writing processes are enhanced by technology. So many times teachers of older grades ask me how in the world I could incorporate technology into learning at such a young age. What many teachers still do not understand, is that we are now teaching digital natives.

This year, my teaching of writing has changed dramatically. Especially in the last few weeks. I am doing a presentation on digital storytelling, and it has opened my eyes to more uses for technology. Another teacher showed us an example of her kindergarten class creating their own digital story. Truly inspiring! This class read the book, Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems, and then made different endings to the story. They then made a picture to go along with their ending, and made a digital story out of it.

The only issue with using technology in writing is the issue of the internet. I am always questioning myself if I am taking all the right avenues in order to properly publish student's work online. My hope with this blog, specifically,  is that students will be able to "publish" a story here, in order to share their writing with their parents/ other students/ the world. My hope is that this will help to spark a love of writing and collaborating in my students that will last for their lifetime. 

Thank you for checking out my blog! I look forward to learning, growing, and celebrating my kindergarteners with you!