Yay for technology...
Eh...for our iTouch.
I really wished I could have found more or better uses for it in the classroom! I did use it (when I was able to - no wi-fi for guests) for my literacy lesson, though. I used dictionary.com and didn't need to have wi-fi. However, I really wanted to use my iPad because it's bigger and easier to see. I found that, having only one iTouch, it was more distracting for the students. They thought it was cool that I had brought one in, and that I was using it for school (since they're so used to iPads, iPods, and iTouches as only forms of entertainment). I don't know how many times a student asked me if I played Angry Birds on my iTouch! I understand that it may not be likely that a school would issue iTouches for each student, but I wonder (still) if the students and teacher would find the technology to be old and useless...eventually.
We all wished that our iTouches were newer and had a camera/video feature. Or 3G. I found myself not really using it because of this reason. With the students, the only app I used was dictionary.com. I would have liked to allow students to use the educational math games I downloaded, but I felt it would have been too distracting to the other kids who wouldn't be able to use it at the same time. Plus, I think my master teacher would have frowned upon my giving a "video game" to a student.
Though I was not able to use the iTouch as much as I would have liked, I think I could have easily used it to record students reading and play it back to them. I think they would find it interesting to hear themselves read. It might make them aware of how the sound when reading: expressions, pauses, pronunciation, pace. I see a lot of benefits for the iTouch; however, for the moment, I don't see it with this particular iTouch. I think there are much more possibilities with a camera/video feature and 3G. I am very glad that we were able to experiment with it. It made other teachers wonder what we student teachers were learning in our tech classes. It definitely needs more experimentation in the classroom, but I really do believe there is more benefits to having technology at the palm of your hands.
I guess, my biggest question as of now is: how can the iTouch help the teacher during teaching, during lessons? I see how it can supplement learning. The students can use it for projects, as a dictionary, as a recorder. But how might a teacher use one iTouch for a lesson? Would it be used that often as part of a lesson? Or would it pick up dust, just like the other dictionaries in the class?
Eh...for our iTouch.
I really wished I could have found more or better uses for it in the classroom! I did use it (when I was able to - no wi-fi for guests) for my literacy lesson, though. I used dictionary.com and didn't need to have wi-fi. However, I really wanted to use my iPad because it's bigger and easier to see. I found that, having only one iTouch, it was more distracting for the students. They thought it was cool that I had brought one in, and that I was using it for school (since they're so used to iPads, iPods, and iTouches as only forms of entertainment). I don't know how many times a student asked me if I played Angry Birds on my iTouch! I understand that it may not be likely that a school would issue iTouches for each student, but I wonder (still) if the students and teacher would find the technology to be old and useless...eventually.
We all wished that our iTouches were newer and had a camera/video feature. Or 3G. I found myself not really using it because of this reason. With the students, the only app I used was dictionary.com. I would have liked to allow students to use the educational math games I downloaded, but I felt it would have been too distracting to the other kids who wouldn't be able to use it at the same time. Plus, I think my master teacher would have frowned upon my giving a "video game" to a student.
Though I was not able to use the iTouch as much as I would have liked, I think I could have easily used it to record students reading and play it back to them. I think they would find it interesting to hear themselves read. It might make them aware of how the sound when reading: expressions, pauses, pronunciation, pace. I see a lot of benefits for the iTouch; however, for the moment, I don't see it with this particular iTouch. I think there are much more possibilities with a camera/video feature and 3G. I am very glad that we were able to experiment with it. It made other teachers wonder what we student teachers were learning in our tech classes. It definitely needs more experimentation in the classroom, but I really do believe there is more benefits to having technology at the palm of your hands.
I guess, my biggest question as of now is: how can the iTouch help the teacher during teaching, during lessons? I see how it can supplement learning. The students can use it for projects, as a dictionary, as a recorder. But how might a teacher use one iTouch for a lesson? Would it be used that often as part of a lesson? Or would it pick up dust, just like the other dictionaries in the class?
Newer? They're 6 months old :).
ReplyDeleteI'm wondering why it would need to be used for lesson by the teacher. What if there are times when kids learn best when they are not listening to a teacher talking to the whole class at once? How would they learn then?
Too bad there wasn't more chance for experimentation. I think that people who did actually hand them to kids once in awhile found dimensions of this tool that they hadn't expected.
What did you think of the classroom uses you read about on the tech wiki?
I liked your question of how could a teacher use this for a lesson. One way I was thinking was to create podcasts for individualized lessons and students could watch them on the Touches.
ReplyDeleteRemember that video we watched last spring of the teacher who had students watch lessons of him teaching and then as a class they worked on the assignment together. Then students could Skype (or with an another app) to each other about the lesson and learn together. Just a thought.... :)