Welcome Back

Since starting this blog several years ago my life has taken on a few changes, nonetheless, my views regarding the importance of early childhood technology education have not wavered. In fact, they have gotten even stronger than ever.

In the fall of 2012, I was blessed with my 1st grandchild and he is amazing. I doubt anyone who knows me will be surprised to hear one of the 1st gifts my grandson received was an iPad. In fact, the iPad was a shower present from my son…. DGS was still in utero at the time.

You might say, the Apple (literally and figuratively) doesn't fall far from the tree. :)

Over the last couple years, I have watched this newest member of our family connect his physical world and his digital world in ways I could never have imagined. One of the most mind boggling examples of this, is DGS (dear grandson) can identify all of his ABCs and he is not yet two years old. Previously, this ability might have been classified as some form of hyperlexia, but I assure you DGS is quite the social butterfly. I have seen many, many other examples of these technology learning shifts in my DGS that I cannot recall seeing when my own children were little, and I hope to share some of these future posts.


For now, I wanted to take a moment to reconnect with those who have followed my journey since the start and welcome those who are just joining me.


My goals are to still share the great apps I come across, but I feel the need augment my reviews and share my experiences; how I see technology may be shaping the minds of the youngest of learners. Additionally, I have invited others to share their experiences of how they see technology shaping the early childhood learning environment. I promise it will be an exciting journey and I hope you will share it with me.


Thank you,

Keri

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

In The Forest: Learning to See the Path

Recently, I reviewed an emergent reader title by Alexa Andrews titled, In The Forest, in which I rated the book with 1 out of 5 stars. This was a difficult review for me to write because I try very had not to be negative. And while I stand by my original review and rating I have written this post in an attempt to put a positive spin on this rather dull and otherwise tedious book.

Many of you might be wondering what business a negative book review about an emergent reader has on an blog focused on Educational Technology, so let me begin by answering that question.

This spring, I decided to take on a long time goal of mine to write educational product reviews. My goals was to write reviews that could help guide parents and caregivers in selecting those products that best fit their child's needs.

Sounds simple right...

Well as it turns out reviews aren't as simple as I once thought. However, whilst learning all about how to construct a good review, I have had the pleasure of getting to know a team, of what I consider to be dedicated consumer advocates. Most of these "advocates" don't write product reviews for "educational products" or even any profit, in fact a smile comes to my face when I think of the diversity of this talented group. In just a few short months, I have been treated to an insider's look at what goes on behind the scenes and in the creation those enthusiastic and passionate reviews, which ultimately help guide consumer's choices. Along the way this dedicated group showed me what a powerful force they truly are.

Some of the lessons I have learned thus far include:

  • Good reviews are not defined by word count, but by content
  • The power of free choice includes the freedom to make "bad" choices
  • Press enter a couple times to make it easier on your readers
  • To respect different points of views when it comes to "needed information" (aka dog collars)
  • Even the most different of opinions can benefit from a little bit of humor (aka Chocolate Teapots)
  • Never be afraid of admitting weakness (aka brain clouds in spring)
  • And always, always think before you press send 
These lessons do belong in this blog because Padster's is all about the transformative ways in which technology is impacting education and the "impact" made by a devoted product reviewer should never be taken for granted.

So in the spirit of the bringing out the positive in an otherwise negative review here are:

"Three Ideas for Using In the Forest written by Alexa Andrews and illustrated by Candice Keimig"

  1. The book could be used as a gateway for introducing young children to the various parts of the forest's delicate ecosystem and as a gateway to introducing Venn diagrams.
  2. In The Forest has a very predictable and stable vocabulary. Using Fry's 1st One Hundred Sight Words. students could make a tally sheet and create a bar chart from the results of their tally
  3. In the Forest could be used as an example for student's to create a "classroom book" with each child contributing a page to the story. Using services such as lulu classroom books could be sold as a fundraiser.
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