Retro to Thing #6

I went to a Technology Petting Zoo today at the Media Center. It was great being able to look at the technology, navigate, and actually use the tools myself. I say myself...but we actually worked in groups to look at the different items, including MacBooks, flip camera phones, and the itouch. Working in groups made the tasks so much more stimulating. We were able to bounce off of each other in our discoveries. When using the Itouch, Shirley, the librarian, and I kept saying, "ooooh, look what I found!" With our co-exploring we found so much more than doing this alone. This made me think of my students. Sure they could sit down and enjoy the educational benefits of this technology and grow all on their own. But working with others causes us to grow in our zone of proximal development. By listening to her, I widened my base of knowledge to include so many other downloads, than what I could have done by myself. Problem solving also goes to a new level with a peer. As we used the itouch, there were several blunders made by she and I. We would help each other out of them, and keep going with the technology. As far as downloads, my favorites were the information and quizzes on the presidents, and the Barnes and Noble reader. I can't wait to watch my students experiment with all of these cool and exciting tools for technology.