Oh, How I Love Kidspiration!

I read and commented on Tammy, Whitney and Ashley's videos!! They were all so fabulous.

Through this assignment, I really have learned to love Kidspiration and can honestly see myself using it in my future classroom. It would be inappropriate to simply sit students in front of the computer screen and expect them to teach themselves, but I think it would be a great assessment tool. After introducing a concept (i.e. seasons) to the class and performing numerous interactive activities to expand their knowledge, Kidspiration is a perfect assessment activity. It helps show how much students truly know as they apply concepts, but they are getting to play a game all along the way. This hands-on activity would be helpful to every student. Another HUGE advantage is numerous activities are already designed, preventing me from having to invent every program from scratch.
The only problems I can anticipate relates to the grade level I am teaching. For example, if I am teaching 1st grade, I may not let each individual student access Kidspiration. I do not want to spend all of our time explaining directions and teaching students needed computer skills. However, if I have previously observed that students are comfortable with technology, I will happily let them perform the activity on their own. Another possible problem is the lack of support during this activity. It will be extremely hard to have an effective activity if I am only able to visit with a few students. If I decide to use Kidspiration, I will encourage parent volunteers to come and help with the activity.