 iPods are a technology that can be used in many ways—and if you
can make some part of a lending library, they can have a powerful
impact on family/school communication, participation with content
AND student achievement. Two accessories--an AV cable and a carrying case would allow students to share school with their families. The AV cable allows the child’s family to attach the iPod to the TV to share the video/project. The carrying case is a hard one that will fully protect the iPod and hold the iPod, power adapter and AV Cable. A third accessory--an attachable microphone, allows the teacher and family to talk asychronously. What iPods can be used for: ➢ Sending home communication to parents—IMAGINE . . . your child has an iPod sitting on the corner of the desk--because it's her night to take it home. The teacher walks by and has a mini-conference with her about her writing. The conversation is recorded, and that night you can hear the conversation--the questions the teacher asks, the responses of your child, and you are there, virtually, for a moment of your child's day. ➢ Sending home projects—SUPPOSE you couldn’t come to Literacy Night. . . but the day after , your child brings home an iPod with their project on it, and you get to not only see it, but hear it, too--with your child right beside you. ➢ Sending home content videos with students—WHAT IF every child came to the beginning content conversation with background knowledge of the instructional topic --they had taken an iPod home before the unit with a United Streaming video on it--and the children who normally do not participate in classroom conversations can now do so because they have some vocabulary and some prior knowledge. ➢ Creating podcasts on content and projects—ENVISION the enthusiasm of the students to work with them--they are used to the technology, being digital natives. Check out podcasting on the iTunes site. ➢ Increasing vocabulary through common family experiences—PICTURE a family watching the content videos and older siblings sharing their experiences, parents learning the vocabulary and KNOWING what students are supposed to be learning. ➢ Communicating about the student's work—SUPPOSE the teacher helped your child read into an iPod throughout the year and sent it home periodically? You could hear the change in the child's fluency and oral reading skills. ➢ Thinking about involving parents that dropped out of high school--or English is a second language, and written progress reports are just too hard to understand—IMAGINE in your child's class, once a week or so an iPod comes home with the teacher talking to you about your child's progress, and showing you work as she talks. Written language is no longer a barrier to communication. ➢ Sending home parent homework help—how many times have you not understood the homework directions—or how to help your child do math? WHAT IF the teacher sent home a “Parent How-to-Help guide” on the iPod? WE WANT TO CLOSE THE ACHIEVEMENT GAP WITH THE USE OF IPODS What educators know works in closing the achievement gap • Continuous assessment for learning…requires specificity regarding what we expect kids to learn as well as specific feedback about learning to date and some dialog between student and teacher about what makes sense next (iPods for assessment/project-based or problem-based learning…podcasts, audio/visual portfolio) • Background knowledge…prerequisite knowledge and skills that makes new knowledge and skills accessible (iPods for increasing background knowledge…virtual field trips, scaffolding for homework --teacher questioning through specific tasks) • Preteaching…providing an initial “pass” at new knowledge and skills to increase readiness for “learning with the rest of the pack” (iPods for preteaching via UnitedStreaming videos, sharing content projects created by others or downloaded web resources) |
Additional Ways We Can Use iPods in Education:
➢ Guided audio tours ➢ Foreign language practice ➢ Class news reports ➢ Quizzes ➢ Interviews ➢ Conversations recorded on iChat ➢ Vocabulary practice ➢ Test review ➢ Tutorials ➢ Dramatic Readings ➢ Role Playing ➢ Assessment of learning ➢ Book Reviews ➢ Collaborative Podcast- Students respond, contribute, build chapters of a podcast across distances ➢ Reflections- Teacher and Student ➢ Storytelling ➢ Oral histories ➢ Books read by parents or students for young readers ➢ Community involvement ➢ Soundtrack creation ➢ Share a website- blog with others ➢ Capture language development, patterns ➢ Staff Development ➢ Study of Best Practices ➢ Teacher or Student Mentoring ➢ Organizing and displaying QT movies for curriculum support ➢ Narrative of professional video to demonstrate understanding in new ways
ideas in the red box adapted from “iPods in Education” handout by Lucy Gray and Karen Percak (fellow ADEs) with permission |