Tuesday, September 7, 2010

iPods in the Classroom

Our school has a new iPod Touch cart for classes to use this year.  After setting the iPods up and putting apps in folders to help make it easier for students (PK-6th) to use, I rolled them out and used them with a 3rd grade class last week. It was a very exciting day...not only for our students, but for me. I really had a geek moment when they were ready for use!
Many of our teachers have attended Project Zero at Harvard. One technique they learned there is for students to create a "Headline" about various topics they are studying in class.  So, with that in mind, I came up with the first lesson. We are an all boys' school, so this lesson went right along with boys! The boys used the Create a Martian app to design the martians that were taking over the earth. They had 3 minutes to make their martian perfect! Once everyone had a martian, we took a snapshot of it by holding down the power button and the home button of the iPod, which basically takes a screen shot of the iPod screen. Then, the boys went to the Photos app and found their picture. They emailed it to their teacher (I have all teachers set up in the contacts app). The teacher printed it from her laptop to a color printer and the boys then created a headline about martians taking over the earth.
Not a bad lesson for their first introduction to the iPods. They boys worked great and really loved the chance to be creative with the martian and headline.
One thing I thought was really interesting is that with the first 7 classes I have used the iPods with, only one or two from each class had NEVER used an iPod or iPhone.  WOW!  

8 comments:

Akevy Greenblatt said...

We don't have i-pods but you gave me a great idea. I could have each student create their own avitar on voki and name it and write about why they gave that name.
Thanks for the idea

mrchrishill said...

Dear Lord,
Please give me a son one day that I can send to have so much fun learning at this school. AMEN.

mrchrishill said...

Dear Lord,
Please give me a son one day that I can send to have so much fun learning at this school. AMEN.

Josh Bennett said...

Wow!! I am jealous of your iPod Touches! Did your school write a grant for them, or just very fortunate to have the funds? I'd love to bring more tech to our really rural school!

Cindy Brock said...

Mr. Bennett, we just had the funds. Very blessed and feel fortunate to have them. I'd love to share ideas...are you on twitter or have a website? I'm @cindybrock on twitter if you use it.
Where are you located?

mathspears said...

That is such an awesome use of integrating technology into the curriculum. I am currently completing my Ed.D. degree with dissertation topic, SMARTBoards in the math classroom, with a huge focus on technologies in the classroom.

Brooke said...

Isn't it amazing how the kids take to the technology and have even had prior experience with it? I've even had a couple of 4 year olds whose parents have an iPad at home and definitely some who have played the iPad games on an iPhone. Pretty fun and exciting stuff!

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