Since my last post, in relation to technology in the classroom, I have yet been able to implement my ideas of using the Itouch in the classroom. I have seen opportunities where the Itouch would be beneficial, but I am having a difficult time figuring out if timing is appropriate. I also wonder would one student using the Itouch and the rest of the class using a worksheet be fair? I almost feel that it would be better if I introduced the Itouch only to students whom I was working with independently…. I guess I am still unsure how to use one Itouch in a classroom of 25?
On the flipside, I have been given an amazing opportunity where I am teaching a science unit to a small group of 5th graders. The unit we have begun is food chemistry, and I have been brainstorming ways I could use the Itouch with them. I have some strange circumstances, I have to teach in the hallway, and therefore I do not have any access to technology unless it is wireless, in the form of an Itouch or a laptop. As a result, my first idea was to use the Itouch to show a YouTube Video on learning about sugar, or nutrition labels, but then I realized that the screen was going to be way too small for nine bodies to group around. My most recent idea has been to obtain an app that provides information about the different food groups and allows users to look up food facts about different foods. I could use this application to allow my students to have access to information and take that information and graph it or use it to explain to me more about their understanding of the different nutrients in foods… I will have to do a little research.
In the hall???
ReplyDeleteYou know, there is regular internet access, too, so you don't need an app for everything. You can just find appropriate web pages.
The "fair" question is a good one, and I'm going to turn it around... is it "Fair" to not give a kid access to a tool through which they'd learn much more than they, because of learning differences, would learn from paper and pencil? We can't just think of what's fair to kids doing "Traditional" school, but what's fair to kids who do learn in distinctive ways. We wouldn't make a kid take off her glasses to be fair to kids who don't have cool glasses... how is access to learning tools different?
And let's shift the question a bit: What would it take to get enough tech in the hands of all kids? Let's not assume that that's impossible!
Good luck in the hall ...
Jane has a point about fairness. But, if you had one iTouch, couldn't you rotate it depending on the subject matter being taught? For example if one student needed it for math and for a different subject a different student could use it? Or what if you had two students share it at a time? Like we've learned in class, kids learn from each other, sometimes more than from us....so maybe pairing the students to use the Touch could be helpful? I haven't tried that out, so I am not sure how that would go:)
ReplyDeleteAnd to add on to the "one gets the iTouch and the rest get worksheets": why can't the other students use manipulatives? That could work for math, anyway.
Good luck!