Category: Guest post

Today, I have a guest post from Matt Quibly, webmaster for a fascinating website called Qui.bly. It has a forum sort of set-up that enables parents to ask child-related tech questions and get answers from like-minded parents and/or professionals. If they don’t want to post inquiries, parents can peruse a list of topics on areas such as gaming, ebooks, the digital future, and more. We were echatting the other day and Matt shared a list of skills he believes kids develop from exposure to technology. See what you think:

Research Skills: Knowing how to use search engines can significantly improve a child’s research skills, while browsing can also improve their resourcefulness. If children know how to access useful information and feel engaged in the activity they are more likely to retain information than if they were bored.

Logic and problem solving skills: Online games, apps and video games may actually help to exercise the side of the brain responsible for logic skills. There are many constructive apps and games that challenge a child’s mathematical abilities, hidden object games that can help with improving focus and puzzle games where they may be able to improve spatial reasoning skills, just to name a few.

Responsibility: Real life simulation games like The Sims or Oregon Trail can teach children about responsibility. In The Sims, for example, the player is expected to take care of their character by ensuring it eats, showers, goes to work on time, pays the bills. It also shows that it takes repetitiveness and determination to improve the character’s skills like cooking, gardening, athletics and more.

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A Parent’s Perspective on education…

Parents do not always see things as we–the teacher–do. It is refreshing to have them voice their thoughts on prickly issues that are part and parcel to educating children.

Here’s Sara Stringer’s opinion. She is a former medical and surgical assistant who now does freelance business consulting. She enjoys blogging and helping others.  In her spare time (translation: the time spent doing what’s most important), she enjoys soaking up the sunshine with her husband and two kids.

Instilling the Importance in Education

As adults we understand what is so important about going to school and doing the best we can. But sometimes kids just don’t see the point. Some of us are natural scholars and others have to be trained to be so. I have heard time and again that grades don’t count until high school anyway. This just isn’t true.

Sure colleges aren’t looking at what your child does in the 2nd grade, but it’s at a young age they will build the habits that they will carry with them the rest of their lives. Slacking in school is just not an option. 

I am not saying that your child has to be the smartest or that learning disabilities aren’t real. The truth is we all have strengths and luckily we are more aware of this than we once were. But a child who has an extremely creative mind still has to learn math. As awful as it may sound, use the subjects they love as collateral for them to do the things that are harder for them.

But possibly what is most important is keeping it honest with your kids. If  s/he loves the nurse at the doctors office because she helps and is really nice and your child wants to be like her when s/he grows up, explain the opportunities in healthcare. Let her know academically what that career requires and without doing well in school, s/he may not get to live that dream.

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Do your students Skype?

I first met Betsy Weigle over at Classroom Teacher Resources when I ran across a great how-to post she put together on Skyping in the classroom. The more I ran around her blog, the more impressed I became with her expertise and asked if she would do a guest post for my readers.

Betsy holds a Masters in Elementary Education & Teacher Certification from Eastern Washington University and earned her National Board Certification. She attended the Mickelson ExxonMobil Teaching Academy for Science and Math, been a national finalist at the Microsoft Innovative Education Forum and been awarded an Enhancing Education through Technology Grant. Her professional experience includes teaching grades 3 through 5 and substitute teaching from Kindergarten through 6th grade

I think you’ll enjoy this post:

Using Skype to Connect Classrooms

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