Further Reflections on iPod in the Classroom

I am sad to say that the only real use I got out of the iPod this quarter was for my benefit in the classroom and out.  At the beginning I had such grand plans, percolating ideas of splash, creativity and color for the kids in my classroom; thinking of many possibilities for  differentiation and for helping less literate students express themselves.  I had apps downloaded and ready, but had little time to share them with my third graders, and felt that it would take too much time to get them up to speed with it.  Looking back now, I wish I had chosen one or two kids to work with over a period of weeks.  I am sorry that it didn't occur to me until now.  That might have worked.

I will say my students did enjoy being in charge of it, holding it gingerly as it were some sort of holy grail, when I needed to record them for literacy assignments. And the dictionary came in handy on more than one occasion.

There were novelty functions too: a stopwatch, a compass, a level, google world, word play games and math games.  The difficulty was the small key pad which makes typing time consuming, the small screen which limits collaboration; and the lack of video capabilities.  In my own classroom some day I can definitely see making daily use of that feature alone.

I should mention that my kids loved it.  Through their gaming I came to realize how big some of the games are - especially Angry Birds and Cut the Rope.  Their symbols are becoming part of our culture.  Personally I enjoyed Unblock Me and Peggle, not that I had much time for them this quarter!