Tool # 9 talked about incorporating all these new devices we've learned about this summer into our daily classroom routine and lesson plans. The video by Sir Ken Robinson was very interesting especially when he talked about divergent thinking and the "epidemic" of ADHD in kids today. What he had to say made a lot of sense. Now it's just about incorporating some of the ideas he talked about. Will that happen? We have to wait and see but it needs to start with individual teachers and their commitment to change and technology.
1. It is important to tie technology to the objective because technology is the way children are going to best learn in today's society. We as teacher's need to "catch up" with the technology so that we may best know how to instruct our students. We need to know the desired learning outcome and choose the technology that will fit the lesson. It's important to make sure the activity is congruent with the objective.
2. It is important to hold students accountable for workstations because you need to know if the student has mastered and understands the concept the teacher has introduced. If the assignment is a produced piece of work or the student has contributed to a discussion then you already have accountability. If not, it is important to know if the student has completed the assignment in the workstation. The only way of checking for completeness is to develop a rubric for assessment purposes. Other ideas might include creating a google document where students highlight the stations they have completed and write a response to the assignment. A teacher could also use a web camera or voice recorder for students to record their answers and discuss what they learned.
3. Two links to internet websites I found applicable to the students I teach include Learning Games for Kids and Tutpup. I have already used Learning Games for Kids in my classroom and introduced it using the games for multiplication. It really helped my students try to learn their facts and then they found other games applicable to the classroom. Tutpup could be used for basic math and spelling. I liked the idea of competing against other students in other countries in the area of spelling and math. This past school year my class had spelling bees in order to prepare for Friday spelling tests and they really enjoyed it and reminded me of it when I forgot.
4. Some of the applications I liked for the iPods/iPads include many in the area of reading/literacy and math. Since these are the two main subjects my students and I work on, I felt it best to discuss a couple of these. First I liked the games Word Warp and Shake and Spell. These two apps would definately address the area of writing and spelling for my students. I think they would be more interested to use the iPod (which I checked out for my class) to help in writing complete sentences and spelling words correctly than just being given a piece of paper and pencil. The other app I think my students would respond well to is the iTalkRecorder. I could use this in a listening center and allow students to read books we have been reading during our LLI lessons so they can hear themselves read and compare it to others as well as myself. They could record a cold read and then record the same book again after they have read it several times to see their progress.
5. Other ways to incorporate the iPod/iTouch in my classroom is to let the students have exploring time with the iTouch. I hate to use the word "free time" because of the implications this term has, but to allow the students a certain amount of time to explore and play with the iTouch only increases their skill level with this device and makes them more comfortable checking out the applications. I could use this activity as a behavior reward. The students would have to earn their time based on behavior and work completion. For those students that don't complete assignments can see what they are missing when their peers are using the iTouch and they can't.
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