Technology Day

   This past Monday was a technology day for my 2nd grade class. We had been going through the stages of writing during the previous week and now we were ready to publish. I would have loved to have used Google Apps for Education, but students in our school don't get those accounts until 3rd grade. So instead we used Microsoft Word. I explained how to open Word and 'Save As' to my desired folder. Then I reminded them that they must utilize the shift key for capitalizing letters as well as for some punctuation. 

   They got right to work and I began to notice that right away they were figuring out how to adjust the alignment and use the heading option for their titles. Kids are great with sharing information so as soon as one person saw something that a neighbor had done they were trying it too. This continued with the frenzy of selecting font style, color, and size to make their writing even more individualized. I had a student ask if she could use KidPix. She told me that she'd used it in first grade and would like to create an illustration to go with her story. I gave her the green light and before long her teammates were also creating illustrations.  My day was pretty easy; all I had to do was praise, encourage, and motivate. 

   What do students want in the classroom? They want the freedom to create something unique. They want a chance to learn - learn by doing! They want an opportunity to click, swipe, and paste until they feel content with the product they are creating. They are more than happy to share their knowledge with peers, and are proud to present their products to me, the class, and their families. I lit a fire on Monday morning and it burned brightly all day. At the end of the day I was asked if we'd continue using the laptops on Tuesday. I could tell they were excited about creating and publishing, and hated to tell them no.This does make me wonder, though, if I could do something similar every day...maybe on a smaller scale?