Traveling the World with Second Graders. Technology in My (future) Classroom and Connecting us to the World.

          I have traveled to many different countries, 30 to be exact, and each one has impacted my life and made me who I am today. A lot of other millennials have barely even left the state they were born in (my brothers have left the state of Michigan less than 10 times to go to other states). Although travelling the world is not feasible in the k-2 band that I wish to teach, it has become possible to experience others cultures through the use of technology.



          The SAMR model represented above shows varying ways one can integrate technology into the classroom, and the scale of impact the technology has on the lesson. For my lesson(s) I would be shooting for Redefinition. I want to redefine how we study geography, and different people, and languages. I want my students to be knowledgeable of the world, not worldly. One example of something that I would do if I had a second grade class would be to find a country around the world that we could be pen pals with a second grade class in. One of the common core standards of second grade English Language Arts is to write a letter. We would write our letters, type them up (or get help from a buddy) and email them over to our partner country, swapping letters. If printing was not possible in the country we ended up partnering with, I would opt for covering the expense of sending the letters out of pocket but limit it to twice or so that year. Another way I would use technology in this regard is skype sessions where we can talk face to face with these students in different countries.

          I would love to utilize technology in a way that gets students to genuinely care about someone that they have not even met and spark their interest in the world.