The Kindle: Are we destroying the meaning of a book?

More and more schools are starting to either have Kindles for students to check out or for them to have on a 1 to 1 basis to utilize for enjoyment reading as well as for textbooks.  Some schools are considering this as part of their initiative to Go Green. 
 
I just bought my own Kindle and absolutely LOVE it!  However, I do have mixed feelings - are we taking the actual book away from our children?  Not knowing the parts of a book in the future?  The joys of holding a book and flipping through the pages?  Or are we making reading a book more fun and more enjoying than in the past by making the Kindle available for our generations of millinials?  Are we making reading time more available by providing it electronically?  Having it available all the time at the tips of our fingers?  By providing it digitally to students, are they more likely to read?  More likely to enjoy reading?  Maybe! 

I am considering buying my 9 year old a Kindle for her 10th birthday in a month - am I bad to consider yet another electronic device for my kids?  I don't think so -  I do believe that it will allow for her to enjoy reading more because she is so intrigued by technology as am I.  I always tell myself I have no time to read - maybe it's because I forget to get a book and bring it with me everywhere??  For some reason, I haven't left my Kindle behind anywhere!  I take it with me and pick it up when I am waiting, when I am in between classes, when I am going to bed and can't sleep.  It's always there and I can always go online and choose a different piece of reading material to switch to if I want to.  It's a great thing for us who enjoy technology and the gadgets! 

I do worry that when used in a classroom or school setting - who is monitoring the use of them?  What about games?  They can be downloaded sometimes for free and instead of reading a child may be game playing when they are supposed to be reading?  Just another downfall to this.  I don't know how I would feel about the Kindle in my classroom, it would depend on the policies and procedures I guess.

Another article you may enjoy regarding this particular subject:  
Every Student Gets a Kindle In Clearwater, FL

1:1 Schools : A Study on 5 Programs - How Do They Really Rate?

"A compilation of four new studies of one-to-one computing projects in K-12 schools identifies several factors that are key to the projects’ success, including adequate planning, stakeholder buy-in, and strong school or district leadership. Not surprisingly, the researchers say the most important factor of all is the teaching practices of instructors—suggesting school laptop programs are only as effective as the teachers who apply them."(eschoolnews, accessed on 4/2/11, 1:1 Programs: Only as Good as their Teachers!?)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomcochrane/

I would have to agree with this quote from the above sited article.  As educators, we cannot just hand over a laptop computer to our students and expect every aspect of education to change over night as to how things are taught, how things are learned, and how a student will respond or how a teacher will teach!  Like all subject matters and such, adequate planning will be even more important when teaching in a 1:1 school due to the likelihood that the students using the computers will be more tempted to get off track by checking facebook, email, google docs, twitter, etc.  The teachers will need to keep the students going and make sure they are staying on task.  I also believe that parents need to be more involved in their child's homework and projects that they are working on for school.  Some children may take the computer home, but only be gaming or social networking on it.  Therefore, as educators, we need to make sure that parents are in this with us.  That they will be checking in on their children when they say they are doing homework on their laptops and that they are making sure things are getting done.  We need everyone on the same page when we have students in a 1:1 program just to make sure that everybody is being held accountable.  Which comes down to the teachers - as educators, we need to be more on top of our own game.  As Robin Galloway has stated many times in his lectures during my Ed. Tech and Design class, administrators need to plan ahead and each teacher needs to be trained and given a laptop first prior to giving them to students and just telling the teachers to teach.  This would only make for an expensive notebook to take notes in .  Teachers need to be trained to know how to "teach" students on a laptop and make it worthwhile so that students are engaged and tasks are project-based.

I believe that it will be harder for teachers to teach with students having 1:1 computer program in their school.  I believe it will be a distraction to start out with but as students become used to the program and used to the way things will work in such a program, it will get better and I am sure we will eventually see every school in America going to a 1:1 program for their students.

Smart Boards in Early Childhood Classrooms

I am amazed at what Smart Boards can do for Early Childhood Education!  I have seen them at work in elementary classrooms, but to look at how they can enhance the early childhood classroom is amazing!  Research shows that children are more likely to have longer attention spans with the smart boards and to learn easier and even more content due to the hands on experiences that Smart Boards provide.  

Working at a campus childcare center, I see a great need for these - It would enhance us technology wise!  Not only does it enhance the education that the children receive even more but it allows teachers to be more organized, align lessons with standards in an easier fashion since the HATCH system comes with the standards already included for Head Start and NAEYC, build digital individual portfolios, capture work samples as they are being done, and it builds on technology for these children whom in this generation are already technological saavy!

I love the integration with this program that allows teachers to compile digital portfolios on each individual child as well as to have Smart Board conferences with families!!!  No need for paper as assessments, work samples, videos, pictures and other items are stored within each individual digital portfolio!! AMAZING!!!!

I tried to find a price for this item, but it appears that you have to call to get that information.  I am going to check into it though as I definitely believe it would be a good addition to any early childhood education program!

I have included the link below to a You Tube video that shows how an early childhood education classroom has implemented the HATCH Smart Board System into their everyday curriculum.  It gives you a better idea of what it would actually look like in the classroom setting.  

A classroom example

Giving Children a Head Start in Education!

I believe that the Head Start program is one of the finest in the Nation giving children and families what they need to have their children obtain a quality education.  By taking what Head Start gives children and incorporating technology into the early childhood education classrooms, makes it even better!!!  I know many classrooms that are currently bringing in smart boards, computers, laptops, cameras, ipods, ihomes, ipads, and cell phones into the classroom to be used with children birth to 5!  This is amazing and what is even more amazing is what we can do with this technology in our classrooms with these children!!!  This is what this blog will be about: as a teacher, learning what is out there for technology to be used in my own classroom as well as to research what is up and coming and what other people are doing all over the world in regards to Early Childhood Education classrooms, especially in the Head Start category as well!!  I am looking forward to this exciting new adventure I am setting of to do.  Who knows, I may even go get my Ed. Tech and Design Minor that I have been looking into!  I love teaching, I love children and I love technology and better yet, have a passion for all three!!!

Welcome to my blog!

Welcome!  This is my new blog just for me!  I will be keeping you posted on my professional life on here.