tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-243241922011-04-22T07:11:40.641+12:00A space to reflect and discuss how technology is impacting on our children's learning from the parent perspective with a particular focus on under eight year olds.Sonjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07870877345405913856noreply@blogger.comBlogger101100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24324192.post-52314905885211898702009-04-22T22:29:00.003+12:002009-04-28T16:39:34.640+12:00

So with my head full of ideas from research I had been skimming about at risk adolescents and literacy I took my ten year old and his twelve year old friend down to check out the Dowse this morning. I want to digress here and comment on the value of quality early childhood education... Jon's centre was five minutes walk from the Dowse and it was quite common for a couple of the teachers to take

Sonjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07870877345405913856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24324192.post-39042215079755961722008-09-22T12:13:00.002+12:002008-09-22T12:27:35.859+12:00

I've commented before on the new literacy tasks our children need to get their heads around when engaging online. Well Saturday I was hit again with how their world is different from ours.Jon is a very skilled cartoonist and writer and has also been exploring gaming animation. He had made a birthday card for one of his friends on Friday and the elf he had drawn on the front was the kind of good

Sonjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07870877345405913856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24324192.post-52204134152682467032008-06-19T21:32:00.004+12:002008-06-19T21:57:58.073+12:00

I was contemplating a fresh start with a new blog and but then when I came back to this one I realised that my posts from two years ago are still relevant to the things I want to say. So I thought I'd just start with a new post and a new commitment to writing.There are a couple of things on my mind today - both to do with history and change.Last night I had organised a "farewell" for a site we

Sonjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07870877345405913856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24324192.post-1145964542867898352006-04-25T23:29:00.000+12:002006-04-30T20:44:49.680+12:00

Living and learning with digital nativesToday was ANZAC day in New Zealand and Australia, the time when we remember our war dead and those who have served in the armed forces.One of my new interests is digital scrapbooking and due to a New Zealand designer developing a heritage ANZAC day kit, I went looking for information and images to put a page together about two of my great great uncles (

Sonjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07870877345405913856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24324192.post-1145524039597265032006-04-20T20:44:00.000+12:002006-04-20T21:07:19.603+12:00

Marc Prensky talks about us as adults realising we are immigrants to the digital native's land and not trying to keep up with the technology. The kids are way ahead of us. Looking at these photos the obvious conclusion is that Jonathan (7) is showing his Grandad (70) something on the computer.In fact what is actually happening is his Grandad is teaching Jonathan how to distort/edit pictures in

Sonjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07870877345405913856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24324192.post-1145408560239481682006-04-19T12:35:00.000+12:002006-04-19T13:02:40.250+12:00

Some pictures are worth 1000 words especially when you know the story behind them. Easter Saturday morning I got up about 7.30 and wandered through my silent house in search of my morning caffiene. I noticed as I went past that Jonathan was out of bed so expected to see lights and hear the television but no...My quiet little mouse was exploiting the opportunity to play one of his games on my new

Sonjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07870877345405913856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24324192.post-1145156985826151182006-04-16T14:50:00.000+12:002006-04-16T15:10:58.750+12:00

Sometimes you get caught unwares...you assume so much about your child's competency that they take you by surprise with something they dont understand.A few months back I noticed how Jonathan was having to learn a different structure when he typed in a web address from the writing he was doing at school. Its pretty tricky to be seven and learning that there are always gaps between words, a

Sonjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07870877345405913856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24324192.post-1144147625780043472006-04-04T22:35:00.000+12:002006-04-04T22:47:06.020+12:00

I have been thinking how our view of the child influences what we see as "appropriate" use of technology. In fact it goes further than that to what kinds of activities we think children should participate in at all. Obviously anyone's thinking in this area can not be polarised into black or white generalisations but rather they reflect a continuim.At the heart of my view of the child is a sense

Sonjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07870877345405913856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24324192.post-1142884301900945752006-03-21T07:43:00.000+12:002006-03-21T07:51:41.910+12:00

One thing I feel quite strongly about is that the use of digital technology doesn't preclude my children's use of "traditional" forms of ICT. A book is a form of information communication technology. Jonathan might be a thriving digital native in a cyberworld but he loves to read as well. One of the first uses my middle dd put the internet to was searching Amazon for books. She was 9 at the

Sonjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07870877345405913856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24324192.post-1142727812590000222006-03-19T11:37:00.000+12:002006-03-19T12:23:32.596+12:00

Hi I'm Jonathan and I am 7.And I am Sonja, his mother!and Sonja is my mum and she is funny.I started this blog as a place to try out some ideas about young children, computers, the net and other digital technologies. As a parent of five children aged 24, 22, 18, 16 and 7 with a commitment to encouraging them to be lifelong learners I find Marc Prensky's work about digital immigrants and a

Sonjahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07870877345405913856noreply@blogger.com0