Call for Parent Volunteers!

Today’s hot topic: PTA Involvement.  

Thank you for visiting and participating in our informative, 3rd Grade Classroom blog! Our school’s Faculty Technology Committee and PTA are working together diligently to raise funds, and we would like to invite you to join our volunteers in these fund-raising efforts! The main focus: computers and other great educational technology tools.

Concerns Considered:

• Technology does not enhance learning
• Technology interferes with learning
• Technology cannot provide as much as traditional methods of teaching

It is my great privilege to teach your children using a cooperative learning model. Technological educational tools have greatly benefited students in the classroom through cooperative learning activities. Students cooperate on tasks, which helps children produce elaborate analytical and critical thinking skills. As a teacher, it is my goal to structure high-quality interactions among students, so that students create a partnership in learning with one another and as a whole class.

Class Wish List: 

1. iPad
2. Large Computer Monitor

iPad

Educational inquiry on the iPad!

The iPad could be used in lesson activities done outside the classroom, such as taking video and recording a conversation of a survey conducted on the playground in order to gather data on student feedback of playground arguments. Children learn through hands-on activities done in various environmental settings. As Dr. Anita Woolfolk, renowned educational psychologist, has stated, “cooperative learning experiences are crucial in preventing many of the social problems that plague children and adolescents,” in the United States (Woolfolk, 2010).

Large Computer Monitor

Visual cooperative lesson priming!

The Monitor would be used for watching educational videos to increase student interest in a new lesson topic. It would be on a side table in the computer activity center in order to accommodate students who need to use wheelchairs to be able to use independently as necessary, along with students with other special needs. Technological integration into everyday lesson planning has the potential to generate motivation to learn (Roblyer and Doerling, 2010, p. 48)!

Cooperative learning has been proven effective through much research.  

It is important to utilize this theory-based practice because it gives your children a well-structured environment.  Academics will of course be a main focus in our classroom, and promotive interactions, helping one another, will be the style through which your children will learn.  This will mirror our cooperative world, where your children will be able to live and work with many different people!  Please volunteer with us and together we can contribute to your child’s educational experience!

Comments/Questions? 

Please post below in order to further develop our discussion on educational technology:

Thank you again,
Eléa Bayley

References:

Borsch, S. (2012). Minnov8 Gang 154 - iPad, iLearn.   Retrieved June 6, 2012, from http://minnov8.com/2012/01/28/minnov8-gang-154-ipad-ilearn/
IRIS. (2012). Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology.   Retrieved June 6, 2012, from http://www.iris.edu/hq/programs/education_and_outreach/museum_displays/permanent_displays
Roblyer, M.D., & Doering, A.H. (2010). Integrating educational technology into teaching. (5th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon/Pearson.
Woolfolk, A. (2010). Educational psychology (11th ed.). Columbus, OH: Pearson/Allyn, & Bacon.

DISCLAIMER: 

This blog is an assignment for an educational technology course at National University. It is not a real fundraising blog.

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