AHA!+Moments

I found more “AHA moments” than I thought I would when looking through my classmates’ website summaries! Steve’s site: I really liked the podictionary site ( []) ! I love covering new vocabulary with my students and they always show such enthusiasm for hearing and using new words. I would absolutely love it if my students all had iPods and got this podcast daily; what great discussion that would create! Amanda’s site: I liked the link about freshmen at a North Carolina high school receiving iPods ( []). This was one of many that I encountered that created an “aha” amazement of how supportive and encouraging some school districts are when it comes to integrating iPods into the classroom! I cannot believe the number of schools that have given whole classes or age groups of students their own iPod to use for both learning and fun. It motivates me to keep hoping and encouraging those around me to do more of this in our district. Christy’s site: I was immediately attracted to the site discussing five uses for iPods in the classroom ( [])! I’m anxious to discover more ways to efficiently use iPods in education, especially now that I’m brainstorming my own unit plan. This site talks about creating a podcast for students in a foreign language class if the teacher will have a substitute, but I could see doing that in my classroom with my 6th graders as well. I love that it talks about the fact that even the Supreme Court has podcasts. It just makes the truly educational purposes of podcasts seem more real, and separates the idea of an iPod being a fun fad for today’s youth, to a truly useful tool! Amy’s site: The site Amy found about the digital field trip ( []) is awesome! I would love to do something like this! It talks about creating a virtual field trip for students by having some students record their trip to a museum. How cool would that be for a student who couldn’t attend a trip or for a student to reflect back on something they saw? With budget cuts everywhere we turn, this might be a neat alternative if it wouldn’t work to take a class somewhere. I thought this was a great idea! Jeremy’s site: The site ( [|http://www.coedu.usf.edu/main/spotlight/spotlight_papke.htm]) about iPods being used for special education students is really neat! A student working on her practicum hours recorded the audio of a test being read aloud so that special ed. students could stay in the classroom with the rest of the students and follow along with the test at their own pace. This idea is so great! They listened to the test on their iPod and fit in with the rest of the class. I also really like the idea as a teacher, because sometimes the level of support my students receive depends on who reads the test to them. This would keep things more uniform and I would know exactly what type of support these students had. The video at the bottom of the page is nice and short and really neat to watch. Amanda’s site: Another site Amanda found, that talked about using iPods to “read” standardized tests to students with learning disabilities ( []) really made me think. I can see it definitely being cost-effective, but it is a startling thought that amazing technology like this could start replacing the necessary roles of some of the teachers and support staff that students work with. Hopefully that human touch also continues to be necessary!