Innovative Approaches for Fostering Learning

 

So as you know, I have a 1st grader.  She is seven years old and knows how to use my cell phone better than I do.  She knows how to make a call, send a text and of course play games but does she know how to research or use the internet to find answers?  I didn't think so but what do I know. 

Well this week, her class started an animal research project.  They are using the Ipads to research their animals. As the 1st grade team was talking to me about their project (because I am the Instructional Coach) I thought to myself, "my child will have a hard time but maybe some others will be able to handle it."  Honestly, I just thought my child was too young to understand how to research.  So I knew what was coming.  I would have never thought that she would be able to do this as such a young age.  But then I figured well maybe she can only do it with a teacher or adult.  So she came home, I asked her what she did in school and she told me.  Then she decided she needed to show me, with my phone.  She pulled up the internet, typed in her animal, which was a leopard and then chose a site.  She then read it to me.  Of course there were words she had difficulty with but over all she was able to tell me about the information she had found.  Then she decided she wanted to know about other animals and begin researching different items. 

This project got my child fired up about research and what to use the internet for.  This project also opened my eyes as to what my child CAN do.  My child is very lucky to have such a great teacher who looks for new ways to teach the children and the best ways to foster learning in and out of the classroom.