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10X: Using Technology to Engage Families

I currently work in a child care center and communicate with families daily. I use several different types of technology: an app that sends emails and daily reminders, the cameras in the classroom, and I sometimes personally e-mail individual families.

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10X: Using Technology to Engage Families

This topic has been brought up before in my previous Writing Techniques for Teachers in Early Childhood Education (ECED422) when discussing how to communicate with families in a professional manner.

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10X: Using Technology to Engage Families

The article suggests that teachers inform families about the importance of communicating with their children and having meaningful conversations. It goes on to say that teachers should model this in the materials that they hand out. I plan to keep this in mind when communicating with the families I encounter now and those that I will meet in the future.

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I had not heard of Fred Rogers or his television show however after exploring the Fred Roger Center website, I took away some great ideas/topics to implement into the classroom. And as a future educator, I was interested in learning about the Incubator 143, the undergraduate research project, these projects are developed by a group of students that truly want to help children in every sort of way whether it be poverty, dealing with death, and teaching children about generosity. It was really cool reading about It and is something I will look into further, I wish I knew about this in high school.

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TOPIC: Technology that Supports Early Learning.

When using technology is class, it makes things easier for the child, their family and the teacher to work on helping the child move forward. When I was a teaching assistant, we often used technology to help the students that had physical, mental and or learning disabilities. It offered us many ways to see where the children were and how we could help them become stronger.

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Digital Story Helps Dual Language Learner Connect with Classmates

It was amazing that the simplicity of the little boy taking pictures of where he lived opened up for a lot of communication. Before he didn't talk to his classmates because he didn't know what to say to him and vice versa. But now that his teacher gave him an opportunity and worked with him, it showed his classmates that he was able to talk to them, while also showing him that he did have more connections with them than he thought.

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When I was younger, I wasn't allowed to watch a lot of TV, but one show that I was always allowed to watch was Mr. Rogers. On the front page of the website, there's a picture of his handwritten lyrics to "It's you I like." this was one of my favorite songs growing up and my mom used to sing it to me all the time.

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On "The Fred Rodgers Center" link, I read, "Going to School". In this article it mentions how parents should think back to when they were going to school and the emotions they felt, and I felt a connection to this because when I went to school my older siblings all told me about the fun days they would have at school and how much I was going to learn. This is a great strategy to help children not worry about their first day of school and to help them feel confident.

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The Fred Rodgers Center

"It is through relationships that we grow best -- and learn best" - Fred Rodgers

In another class (Infant and toddler Development) we were discussing how important relationships are for young children to learn from. While human connection is what majority people define as relationships, it also applies to the relationship with inanimate things, such as technology.  When used appropriately, children can learn so much from technology and be better prepared for our continuously evolving digital world.

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The Fred Rogers Center website talks about how they provide trainings to meet the needs of educators and home visiting programs. This reminds me of what I learned in my SPED 301 class about people who went into the homes of children to help them better adjust to different things.

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The mission Statement of the Fred Rogers Center: helping children grow as confident, competent, and caring human beings.

The personal connection I have to this is that as child Mr Rodger's neighborhood was one of the few shows that came on my TV. I have strong connections to the characters on the show and remember seeing Mr Rodger's as being such a caring and loving presence. I think it is very important for children to become caring human beings for themselves and for others. I value his commitment to instilling empathy in young children.

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"Use technology tools to connect with other children in their communities or globally using e-mail, blogs, or video conferencing."
This is something I noticed during my internship, the students used a website called edmodo to interact with their teachers and classmates and to complete assignments.

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Although I watched the show when I was younger, I had no idea that Mr. Rogers was so involved and passionate about technology. I think it's incredible that his legacy is being kept alive doing what he loved.

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On The Fred Rogers Center website, they say "human connection is the simple active ingredient in any developmental relationship with a child" and this is something that has been stressed in many of the education classes I've taken in the past. They believe in the importance of human connection to a child's development and in education classes I've taken in the past, it has been discussed that human connection is a big part of a child's learning.

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Digital Story Helps Dual Language Learner Connect with Classmates

Dual language learners often are left out because they can't communicate with other classmates. I learned in ECED 460 that they usually understand the topics discussed but because they aren't fluent in the classroom language they aren't able to contribute. Technology allows these student to communicate and relate to classmates and contribute to discussions.

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"Use interactive digital games as a way to explore math, reading, social studies, and science concepts."

I had a personal connection with this statement because I can remember playing interactive games in class as a tool for learning.

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Fred Rodger's Center is committed to educating the whole child and emphasizes the importance of social and emotional development in young children. We discussed social and emotional development extensively in EDUC 201.

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5 year old boys uses his knowledge and love for Titanic to connect and build up his social skills with his peers.

During circle time or before lunch, I would put on a interactive story that allows children to follow along and all the activities that the book says to do.

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Fred Rogers center.
I just read piece of an article that, in which the author was talking about how much Mr. Rogers impacted her parenting. I thought about the fact that children's TV shows are technology or screen time. I never think about how children's shows are written from the point of view of the child and give helpful techniques to calm the child in moments of frustration.

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I had no idea that Fred Rodger's legacy was still being lived out today through his center. The center works with teacher, librarians, professional developers, families, and students in order to ensure technology is being used appropriately in classrooms.

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"Children’s books are wonderful conversation starters, and study after study has shown how much kids gain from the back-and-forth interactions elicited by turning the pages of a book. Now that e-books are part of the picture, the importance of these conversations has not receded."