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Kahoot is one of my all time favorite websites to use in lesson plans. I really enjoyed how this idea uses Kahoot to have a book tournament because it is an amazing way to get students engaged in reading.

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Inspired by the Brown Bag Teacher and her blogpost, we held a Book Tournament this year in my classroom. It coincided with the PARCC test and ended up being the perfect activity to do when we were finished the test.

Set up your brackets

The first thing we did was pick our "Sweet 16." I had students each write their top 5 books read this year. They also had to write their favorite chapter book and picture book read aloud and basal story. From their lists, I narrowed it down to 16 books - a mix of read alouds, picture books, and basal stories.

I used the free site { here } to create our bracket. Students then selected the books they thought would win each subsequent round until they predicted a 2015 Book Tournament Champion.

Get reading

Next up, I pulled the books or checked out what we needed from the library. We set a "read by" date so that students would have read the 16 books in time to vote on their choices. Each student had already read at least a few of the books previously.

In order for me to know that students read each book, we used this fabulous resources from Teachers Pay Teachers - The Editable Weekly Reading Record with Comprehension Writing Response Options packet available { here } Since the packet is editable, I wrote in the 16 books titles so that students only had to complete the mini comprehension activity for each book.

Use Kahoot to create the book surveys for each match up

I debated using several different survey sites to complete our voting, but ultimately settled on Kahoot. I liked that it has a very easy student log in and would just display one question at a time. Plus I could add an image of each book match at the top as a visual indicator.

To make the match up images, I used Powerpoint and set each slide to landscape 3 inches x 10 inches. I copied the book covers from Amazon and pasted the pairs - one match up to each slide. I chose "Save As" and saved all of the slides as JPEGs which I then inserted into each Kahoot question.

Vote for the winners of each category

We voted four different days. One day to narrow our choices down to the Elite 8 then to narrow it down to the Final Four and then down to the two books in the championship. Each time I used Powerpoint to update the images to display on Kahoot.

I found Kahoot to be incredibly intuitive. I did not need to refer to a guide as the "Create a quiz" option walks you through step-by-step. In my case I choose "Survey" because there would be no "wrong" answer. Each quiz took around 5 minutes to create. The students are able to use the website or app to access each quiz quickly.

We opted to use the iPads but log into the website. From my computer I would hit "run" and a code would be displayed. Students typed that number into their iPads to access the choices. The questions would only be displayed from my computer - all students saw on their iPads were the choices. This was fun except it meant we could only vote whole group.

Students especially liked that the results for each vote would be displayed following the vote - plus they LOVED the music that played.

Update the brackets after voting

At the end of each voting round, I imported the results into Google Drive (Microsoft Excell is also an option). I displayed the results on the screen and students updated their brackets. I also moved the books on our hallway display.

We had a blast with this project and Kahoot made keeping track and voting a lot more fun. Next year I may hold a book tournament with a different theme - Caldecott winners or books from all different genres or books all by the same author. I can see this being a yearly activity in my classroom with a display of each year's winner.

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USING KAHOOT TO HOST A BOOK TOURNAMENT - Erintegration

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Inspired by the Brown Bag Teacher and her blogpost, we held a Book Tournament this year in my classroom. It coincided with the PARCC test and ended up being the perfect activity to do when we were finished the test. Set up your brackets The first thing we did was pick our 'Sweet 16.'

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Apps are becoming more and more prevalent in our society. Therefore, as educators we must stay up to date with technology. In order to do this, educators can use this graphic organizer to find 60 suggestions on how to do incorporate apps into the curriculum.

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WeAreTeachers: 60 Apps to Teach STEAM in the Classroom

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60 Apps for teaching STEAM Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math #iphone #ipad #kids

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If we are going to use technology in the classroom then we also need to teach our students about internet safety. The following lesson plan does this for us.

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How to Teach Internet Safety to Younger Elementary Students

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A lesson plan for helping students as young as kindergarten begin to understand how to be safe online.

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Easy Ways to Bring Technology into the Classroom

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Easy Ways to Bring Technology into the Classroom

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Through this article you will find 19 easy ways to integrate technology into your classroom.

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Technology has become part of the educational process, but too often it is separate and not integrated into the learning experience.Today, Education World offers easy and painless ways to integrate technology into your daily routine. Included: Nineteen activities and nearly 50 Web sites.
Integrating technology into the curriculum is a priority -- if not a mandate -- in most schools today. Most educational technology experts agree, however, that technology should be integrated, not as a separate subject or as a once-in-a-while project, but as a tool to promote and extend student learning on a daily basis. The challenge, of course, is in finding ways to use technology -- and to help students use it -- that don't take time away from core subjects.

For many teachers, a lack of personal experience with technology presents an additional challenge. In order to incorporate technology-based activities and projects into their curriculum, those teachers first must find the time to learn to use the tools and understand the terminology necessary for participation in those projects or activities.

Used properly, however, technology can be a tool for teachers as well as for students. To help teachers new to technology gain experience in using it, and to help tech savvy teachers incorporate technology more fully into their daily routines, Education World offers the following easy ways in which you can seamlessly integrate technology into your daily and weekly classroom routines.

1. Include URLs in your monthly calendar.
Each month, Education World provides a printable and editable coloring calendar for classroom use. Before distributing copies of the calendar to your students, add the URLs of a few sites that will add to their understanding of the months events -- and encourage them to visit those sites. TheSeptember calendar, for example, might offer links to sites about Labor Day, Grandparents' Day, and Hispanic Heritage Month. (A kid-friendly search engine such as Yahoo Kids will help you locate appropriate sites.)

2. Challenge students with online mathematics problems.
Add a daily or weekly mathematics challenge to your seatwork assignments, math lessons, or extra credit activities. The Math ForumsMath Problem of the Week offers word problems in five categories -- math fundamentals, pre-algebra, algebra, geometry, and pre-calculus. The AIMS Puzzle Corner provides more than 100 math-related puzzles appropriate for students in upper elementary grades and middle school. Most include printable worksheets. Aunty Math's Math Challenges for K-5 Learners offers biweekly word problems for younger students, while high school students will enjoy the news-related math problems at Math Counts. Dont like todays problem? Not to worry! Most of the sites listed also include extensive archives. If you teach grades 3-8, extend your students online math experience and encourage them to match wits with students around the world by participating in the Abacus International Math Challenge.

3. Introduce a word of the day.
Extend students vocabulary by including an online word of the day in opening activities, seatwork assignments, or language arts lessons. The Daily Buzzword atWord Central provides a word of the day and related activity appropriate for upper elementary students. Vocabulary Builder offers words and definitions for students in grades 4-6 and grades 6-9. The words and definitions at A Word a Day and Word of the Day are best for students in middle and high school.

4. Keep them spelling.
Spelling is not a subject that should die in elementary school. Prove it to your middle and high school students by adding spelling to language arts lessons or extra credit assignments. Spelling lists can be found atSpellingcity.com.

5. Make history real.
For many kids, history is only a subject in a book; one that's unrelated to real people, real events, or todays news. Personalize history lessons for those students by beginning each history lesson with a quick visit toToday in History or This Day in History.

6. Make the news a learning tool.
Help students better understand current events and connect todays news to their own lives by encouraging them to further explore the issues of the day.How Stuff Works also is an extensive site with information on a vast number of topics. Today's students, for example, might want to learn How Stinger Missiles Work, How Stem Cells Work, or How Hybrid Cars Work.

7. Keep 'em guessing!
It's Friday afternoon and most students have their eyes on the clock and their minds on a weekend of freedom. If you have access to enough computers that students can work individually or in small groups, try to keep the learning going with some stimulating online games. Solving the problems atMystery Net generally demands more logic than Math. That sites features include Get-a-Clue, a daily mystery appropriate for younger students; See-n-Solve, a weekly mystery featuring USA TV's Detective Monk; and Solve-it!, a monthly mystery in which students read a mystery and then solve the crime. The latter two activities are best for older students. Or, simply reward students for a week of hard work by allowing them a few minutes to play some of the online Logic Games at SuperKids. Games include Battleship, checkers, tic-tac-toe, BreakOut, and more.

Article by Linda Starr
Education World®
Copyright © Education World

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Integrating Tech: More Than Just Having Computers | Education World

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Technology has become part of the educational process, but too often it is separate and not integrated into the learning experience.Today, Education World offers easy and painless ways to integrate technology into your daily routine. Included: Nineteen activities and nearly 50 Web sites.

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Reasons Technology Could be Bad within the Classroom

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Reasons Technology Could be Bad within the Classroom

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From my research I have concluded that technology is good to use within the classroom. However, this article gives a good rebuttal to my opinion.

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by TeachThought Staff

The main argument for technology in the classroom is that emerging students should be able to apply classroom concepts to daily life, and a large part of daily life revolves around technology.

Students today are apt at using technology, and tools such as laptops, smart phones, and tablets are already second nature to them. Taking technology out of the learning equation would be alienating an integral part of the students' abilities. Likewise, even if the student isn't already technology-savvy, that's even more of a reason to embrace the skill. Understanding technology is becoming more and more important in the workplace and other areas; competing with peers in the 21st century simply necessitates the need for technological finesse. But digital innovations can be a source of problems for schools as well.
1. Pace of Change
Not all schools can keep up with the rapidly changing technology.

Upgrading equipment is often costly and schools may not have the manpower to handle the equipment. Most classrooms contain at least twenty students, which can take up a great deal of internet bandwidth in the instance that they all must access their laptop or tablet at once. Likewise, new hires may be necessary for teaching students how to use the newer digital media, yet another expense to the school. This could be as complex as needing an IT staff to work out potential glitches in the system to hiring teachers with a comprehension for various software instead of teachers that are somewhat less skilled with technology. If a student is required to do homework using the tablet, their parents may not be able to help them with any questions they may have if they are not familiar with the software or equipment.
2. Different Social Dynamics
Furthermore, an online school doesn't offer the same social benefits of a regular school. Without a classroom where students can form friendships and relationships with their peers, they may not learn the same social cues as regular students. Without any real face-to-face time with their teacher, they may take the classes less seriously.
3. Distraction
Many teachers believe that smartphones and tablets, with internet connectivity and text messaging services, can merely be a source of distraction for students as opposed to a learning tool. It may be difficult for a teacher to monitor her students so closely in class as to determine whether they are utilizing educational apps on their tablets or browsing Facebook. The teacher must decide whether or not to use filtered browsing on the devices to cut down on distractions, which might not be an option if the child owns the device.
4. Technology Out-thinking the Instruction
There are also discrepancies as to how much of a crutch technology can be to a student. Schools once debated about whether or not certain types of calculators should be allowed in class, as they essentially solved the problems for students that struggled with math. The same may be true for apps that supply quick, accessible answers for problems that a student should actually be thinking about in greater depth. (Ed note: This is also an issue of instructional design than an argument against technology, but it does underscore the need for revised instructional design in light of technology.)
5. Learning Innovation vs Improved Test Performance
The New York Times article "In Classroom of Future, Stagnant Scores," discusses a school in the Kyrene School District that has fully implemented technology in the classroom. Since 2005, the school has invested around $33 million in technology, par a passing vote. Children use laptops and tablets for their work and integrate things like Facebook groups into regular projects. Unfortunately, the school is also suffering from low standardized test scores. (Ed note: unfortunately, it seems entirely plausible that test scores and actual learning may not be as tethered as we'd like.)

While statewide test scores have risen, Kyrene School District remains stagnant in the face of all of their innovation. Teachers worry that while the technology is engaging on a creative level, the students may be missing out on basic concepts like math and language. Other proponents of technology point out that standardized test scores may not be the best gauge of student intelligence and creativity. Still others yet reason that there's no reason to spend millions of well-earned tax dollars on a system before knowing whether or not it is sincerely helpful for educational growth.
This ipost first appeared on Top10OnlineUniversities.org; image attribution flickr utclibrary

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5 Problems With Technology In Classrooms

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by TeachThought Staff The main argument for technology in the classroom is that emerging students should be able to apply classroom concepts to daily life, and a large part of daily life revolves around technology. Students today are apt at using technology, and tools such as laptops, smart phones, and tablets are already second nature to them.

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In this article I found 13 reasons why you should use technology in the classroom.

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For the 45 states who opted into Common Core, using technology in the classroom is no longer a choice -- it's required. Common Core's Standards insist that for any student to be prepared for college and career requires they be digitally and technologically savvy.

From the English Language Arts Standards: Technology differentiates for student learning styles by providing an alternative method of achieving conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and applying this knowledge to authentic circumstances.

From the Math Standards: Mathematically proficient students consider the available tools when solving a mathematical problem. These tools might include pencil and paper, concrete models, a ruler, a protractor, a calculator, a spreadsheet, a computer algebra system, a statistical package, or dynamic geometry software. Proficient students are sufficiently familiar with tools appropriate for their grade or course to make sound decisions about when each of these tools might be helpful.

The standards themselves go into detail. Sprinkled throughout are constant allusions to the importance of using technology, its fundamental nature as the bedrock of education, and the necessity to weave it throughout the academic fabric, regardless the topic, skill or requirement.

Here are 13 reasons why this is a good idea. The first seven are directly from the Standards, the last six from my classroom experience.

2. Technology e nables students to build strong content knowledge wherever they find it. It's easy for students to pursue anything they're curious about with technology. Make available online dictionaries to quickly look up unknown words. Teach students the tricks of quick and accurate online research. Follow the lead of hundreds of schools nationwide that have added the Genius Hour to their curriculum, where students follow school academic guidelines 80 percent of the time and get to follow their own passion for the remaining 20 percent.

8. Common Core expects students to be active learners, authors, not just consumers. Technology makes that happen by asking them to publish, share, collaborate.

9. Students want to use technology. When students use iPads, Chromebooks, laptops, widgets, online tools and a plethora of other digital devices, technology provides a path to learning that students are eager to follow. Why ask them to unplug at the schoolhouse door?

10. Technology is its own assessment tool. To paraphrase James Paul Gee, a professor of literacy studies at Arizona State University: "When students use simulations, games, videos to learn, they have to problem-solve, critically think, transfer knowledge from other learning experiences." That's a good thing.

11. Learning with technology is connected. In a connected, technology-rich environment, students engage with peers, celebrities, relatives and experts worldwide. They like to do that. Why do you think social media is so viral?

12. Technology gives students an equal voice. Student value is in what they produce, not based on age or grade level. Their voices are important; they are listened to. If they publish an ebook, it is judged on the quality of writing, not their age. Where else can this happen?

13. Consider a video. For teaching, that is. Students can pause it, rewind, learn at their own pace. That's technology.
Use these 13 reasons to offset the three most popular excuses for not using technology:
1. It doesn't fit into my program.

2. I'm already juggling too much.

3. I don't have time to learn it or use it.

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach once said, "Teachers will not be replaced by technology, but teachers who don't use technology will be replaced by those who do." Amen.
If you don't use technology in the classroom -- or wish you didn't have to -- share your reasons.
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Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-8 technology for 15 years. She is the editor of a K-8 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum, and creator of technology training books for how to integrate technology in education. She is webmaster for six blogs, CSG Master Teacher, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, a columnist for Examiner.com, tech expert, and a weekly contributor to TeachHUB. Currently, she's editing a techno-thriller that should be out to publishers next summer.

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13 Reasons for Using Technology in the Classroom

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For the 45 states who opted into Common Core, using technology in the classroom is no longer a choice -- it's required. Common Core's Standards insist that for any student to be prepared for college and career requires they be digitally and technologically savvy.

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Ways to Incorporate Technology into the classroom for older grades

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Ways to Incorporate Technology into the classroom for older grades

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This is a great way to get High School students involved while using technology in the classroom.

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I would use QR Codes in the classroom for a number of activities. Whether it was literacy, math, science or any subject, QR codes get students used to using technology in a fun and creative way. The student would grab a cube and complete each of the activities as part of a daily task. I would use this in my 1st grade classroom.

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In this article a junior in high school talks about their negative opinion towards technology in the classroom.

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Commentary

When does technology become too prevalent in education? It is a widely held belief among school administrators that technological innovation enhances education by providing students with personalized attention and technological literacy. Consequently, schools have eagerly increased the presence of the Internet and devices that utilize it. As a current high school junior, I see signs of this push everywhere.

The Internet has become ubiquitous in classrooms across the nation; almost 100 percent of public schools had access in 2005, up from a mere 35 percent in 1994. Ninety-eight percent of "computers for instructional purposes" in elementary and secondary public schools were connected to the Web in 2008, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

In the past, a common technological tool in schools has been the shared desktop computer. More recently, however, "1-to-1" initiatives-one device to one student-have become prominent. In these programs, each student is given a device to use for educational purposes. For example, Central Middle School in Hartford, Wis., began a 1-to-1 program in 2011 that lent a laptop computer to each of its incoming 6th graders. The program now includes the entire middle school.

One-to-1 programs are also taking place in earlier grade levels. The 2011 announcement from the school district of Auburn, Maine, that it would provide Apple iPads to each of its kindergarten students was met with widespread media attention.

The Los Angeles Unified School District, the country's second-largest district, began a controversial $1 billion initiative last year that aimed to provide each student in the district with an iPad. Similarly, the Greenwich, Conn., public schools' 1-to-1 initiative calls for personal devices to be issued to all students by the 2015-16 school year; two K-5 schools have already received 800 devices.

However, the rush to expand educational technology, to become advanced or "forward-thinking," has produced results that not only can be unhelpful, but also can be detrimental to the goal of assisting in students' educations.

It seems that the spread of technology in education is founded on the idea that the benefits extend to every level of the educational system.

Yet this "race to adopt" mentality, whereby more technology at earlier ages and grade levels is viewed as better, ignores the fundamentally different educational objectives for kindergartners vs. older students.

These initiatives, especially those at early grade levels, portend a future in which personal devices of infinite distractions and potential danger permeate the very foundations of education. Students enrolled in the Los Angeles iPad initiative managed to bypass security features to browse the Internet without restrictions, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Kindergarten is a time when children develop personal relationships with teachers and interact socially with other students. A screen does not afford any of these benefits; in fact, it inhibits them.

Perhaps educational institutions go through with these expensive plans because they feel it makes their schools more appealing to potential families. Nevertheless, excessive technology at too young an age poses a serious threat to the continuation of a personal education.

Of course, some technology does have a place in the classroom, but it should not be so prevalent that children just learning to read have access to tools one associates with high school or college-level students.

For example, in 2nd grade, I was placed in front of a computer for a large part of the year to study math. Even though it was an attempt to allow for more advanced learning, I found that mindlessly adding numbers together and typing the answer were too monotonous for me to remain enthusiastic about a subject I had previously loved. Supportive interaction with my teacher was missing.

Although applications on devices like the iPad are certainly more interactive than they were on the desktop in 2nd grade, the principle remains the same: A good score or "thumbs-up" on a screen cannot provide the same level of motivation as a traditional teacher, especially for younger students.

Even leaders in technology from Silicon Valley seem to realize that an education of social skills and human relationships in elementary school is far more valuable than immediate technological literacy.

The Silicon Valley branch of the Waldorf Schools (an international association of K-12 schools) enforces a complete technological prohibition on students through 7th grade, yet it has attracted the children of technology executives, such as those employed by Google, eBay, and Apple, as pointed out by The New York Times.

Given that those creating the future of technology believe pens and pencils are the most beneficial tools for elementary-age children, school systems should reconsider instituting far-and-wide technology changes that represent a possible threat to imperative educational goals.

Published in Print: October 15, 2014, as Technology Is Not the Answer: A Student's Perspective

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Technology Is Not the Answer: A Student's Perspective

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Commentary When does technology become too prevalent in education? It is a widely held belief among school administrators that technological innovation enhances education by providing students with personalized attention and technological literacy. Consequently, schools have eagerly increased the presence of the Internet and devices that utilize it.

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This article details the benefits of a new app that could help students learn how words are interconnected through the use of word trees to develop higher vocabulary skills.

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When the children's television show first hit the air in 1969, many were deeply skeptical that you could use TV to introduce very young children to the basics of reading and math. But the experiment proved to be a remarkable success; Sesame Street has reached several generations of toddlers with its combination of educational content and pure entertainment. And now, Sesame Workshop is using new technology to reach the next generation.

These days, a toddler is just as likely to meet Big Bird for the first time on a tablet or smartphone as on TV, says Michael Levine, executive director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop.

"Kids tend to consume across platforms and across settings. They're on the couch, they're in the living room ... they're on the go. So these mobile media and these interactive platforms allow for anytime, anywhere learning."

"Kids tend to consume across platforms and across settings," Levine says. "They're on the couch, they're in the living room, they're outside even, or they're on the go. So these mobile media and these interactive platforms allow for anytime, anywhere learning."

Sesame Workshop is building on the popularity of characters like Big Bird as well as 45 years of educational research to create new digital products for young children. Testing is a key step in the development of these products.

On a recent day, a number of young children and their parents trooped into Sesame Workshop's corporate headquarters in New York City to try out a new game. As the children played the game quietly on tablets, researchers sat in a small room nearby, watching them on a computer. Michelle Kaplan, who works in the workshop's digital content department, says the researchers were observing how each child interacts with the mechanics of the game.

"We are seeing how he is choosing to help Elmo jump up the beanstalk: Is he swiping? Is he tapping? Is he piloting Elmo with his finger? And the more kids that we put in front of this game, the better we'll understand the intuitive way in which kids interact with it," Kaplan said.

Whether the workshop is creating a new app or a new video, the most important thing is the content, says Sesame Workshop Vice President Rosemarie Truglio.

"People believe just because it's interactive it must be a better educational tool," Truglio says. "You can put pretty crappy content on a digital device."

Truglio says her team asked educators what was most needed to help children develop literacy skills. The answer was: vocabulary.

"We're trying to teach children words in order to build their core knowledge skills," Truglio says. "Children know 'bus' and they know 'car' and they know 'boat.' But do they know the superordinate word called 'transportation'?"

The workshop created a game called "Big Bird's Words," which is aimed at showing kids how words are related. The game has been designed for a smartphone because at a certain point the app turns into a "wordascope." Sesame Workshop's Jennifer Perry says that's a made-up term for a camera-like device that children can use to track down words wherever they might be. Kids put a word, like milk, into the viewfinder, and search for an object, like a milk carton on the kitchen counter, that has the word on it.

That leads the child to a word tree - with milk in the middle and words like dairy, teeth, farmer, cow, farm and goat around it. The tree is designed to show the interconnectedness of words, Perry explains. The point, she says, is "to show a child how these concepts in the real world relate to each other."

Not only does this game introduce kids to large concepts, but it also requires an adult to help the child - a decision aimed at getting parents to interact with their children instead of using the device as a baby sitter.

Ian Rowe, CEO of the New York City charter school Public Prep, says getting parents involved in their kids' education is crucial.

"It's part of the reason we actually launched a pre-K partnership with Sesame Workshop - because so many of our kids were coming in not having enough exposure to language, which then translates into background knowledge, which is the foundation for all future learning," Rowe says.

Public Prep just added the first pre-K program to its existing network of elementary and middle schools. Sesame Workshop is developing materials for the school. On a recent day at the school, a small group of children gathered around an iPad to watch a video about families. Afterward, the teacher led the children in a discussion. The videos are just one part of the family lesson plan - they are used together with books, arts and crafts and writing projects.

"Our videos for children act as sparks, and so we think of it as 'view and do,' " says Sesame Workshop's Akimi Gibson.

Gibson, who works closely with Public Prep, says the videos are just one tool the teacher can use in the classroom.

"Our vision for this year isn't to give iPads to children," Gibson says. "Our vision is always: put the technology in the hands of the adult. So it's the adult's decision to say: Let's come over and let's talk about something, let's delve into this big concept."

Public Prep's pre-K managing director Haifa Bautista says technology is incorporated into the classroom because it will always be part of life for these children - just as books are.

"I mean, we don't hide the books in the classroom, they're right there on the wall, they're on the bookshelf," she says. "Same time, the little screen is available, so that kids can relate to both. And, for us, technology is part of the same journey towards getting them ready for kindergarten."

Once these kids are in elementary school, says Bautista, they will have their own laptops and iPads, so it's never too soon to teach them that technology can be more than just entertainment.
This is the third in a three-part series on early literacy.

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Vocab Tech For Toddlers Encourages 'Anytime, Anywhere Learning'

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When the children's television show first hit the air in 1969, many were deeply skeptical that you could use TV to introduce very young children to the basics of reading and math. But the experiment proved to be a remarkable success; Sesame Street has reached several generations of toddlers with its combination of educational content and pure entertainment.

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This is my personal beliefs and opinions on the article linked entitled Technology and Toddlers.

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Should toddlers be allowed to use IPads, IPhones, and other forms of technology? Or are they too young to be using such devices? This question holds an argument that no other generation has had to face before. However, with the rise of technology throughout our culture it is a subject matter that must be faced. In the article from NPR entitled, Vocab Tech for Toddlers Encourages "Anytime, Anywhere Learning" by Lynn Neary, she proposes that giving technology to young children can be beneficial to developing their literacy skills.She supports this claim through the success of the Sesame Street franchise and their new app that allows students to learn how words are interconnected through the use of word trees to develop higher vocabulary skills. Neary explains that this app introduces children to larger concepts while also aiming to get parents involved in their child' learning through staring conversations about these larger concepts.

While reading this article I was very skeptical towards the idea of giving young children a device as a way of learning. During this time in life young children's development is rapidly occurring physically, mentally, and emotionally. Therefore, I am a firm believer that young children should spend their time exploring their surroundings as a way of learning and that caregivers should relish is the time they spend with children rather than giving children technology to keep them busy. However, as I read this article I began to realize that when used properly technology can be used to advance a child's knowledge. I believe that my opinion began to change when Neary mentioned that technology can be a platform for adults to begin discussions with children about different topics. Upon reflecting on this concept I began to realize that this is something I have used in my own life with children that I am caring for. It is so easy to use technology to help explain a topic to a child that is struggling with an idea. So as a result of reading this article and reflecting on my personal life I have decided that technology is beneficial when used in moderation and as a tool to spur conversations between adult and child.

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Should toddlers be allowed to use IPads, IPhones, and other forms of technology? Or are they too young to be using such devices? This question holds an argument that no other generation has had to face before. However, with the rise of technology throughout our culture it is a subject matter that must be faced.