BYOT Parent Night

BYOT Parent Night

Last night I led, with the help of some amazing teachers, our school's Technology Parent Night. This is the second year that my school has included BYOT classrooms and we are growing! There are a few classes with iPad carts, which means every student has an iPad (cool huh?). Then there are other classes that have some iPads, Laptops, and Desktops. The beauty of BYOT and why we are able to expand is that it doesn't require us to purchase any devices. The students are encouraged to bring in their own devices that they are comfortable using every day and they will use them with a specially designed lesson.

Something I reviewed for the parents at Tech Night was that we were teaching their children Netiquette. Of course I got a "chuckle", and I think it's because they thought I made it up! I bet the students knew what it meant! I loved the reference to Netiquette in the textbook (Figure 2-34). At the elementary level we really try to instill in them that: 

1. What you write on the internet is there forever

2. Don't use text talk, type in complete sentences

3. Treat others how you want to be treated

4. Keep safe by not giving out any personal information

This Edmodo Poster for Netiquette is a short, sweet, and to the point reminder for students.

Being a connected learner is right at our fingertips now-a-days. I used KidBlog last year as a tool for publishing writing for my fourth graders. We would practice writing through each step and when we reached publishing, they were able to post their final piece to KidBlog. Now the students were writing to an audience! The students were required to comment on their classmates blogs. I noticed overall that students were very vague in their comments; for example, "cool", or "I loved your writing". This year I want to start the kids off with "comment starters" so that they can pinpoint to the writer what it is about their writing that they enjoyed or admired.

Another key to connecting learners with KidBlog is that this website can be viewed by anyone on the web!

I found out about ePALS Classroom Exchange in Module 2 and it is something I would like to implement in my classroom this year. I was hoping to use ePals to create meaningful project-based learning. I haven't decided on exactly how I would use this tool or which subject I would integrate it to. Your thoughts? :-)