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I hope all is well out in blogger world. I know I am staying busy and happy. As we start a new unit on media literacy in the classroom, I am interested in seeing my own connections at South Junior High School. This blog topic could not have come at a better time. Ironically enough, my classroom has been integrating technology more and more. The students are expected to participate and even analyze the different uses of technology.
To my complete surprise, the cooperating teacher in my ESL classroom was able to have one Ipod touch for each student in the class. If only I had that luxury growing up! I was fascinated to see how technologically competent the students were. Because the classroom lessons focus mostly on English integration in the curriculum, my cooperating teacher makes it a priority to expose her students to the English language consistently. The children are often either reading independently, working in small groups to complete a reading textbook lesson, or working on the computers with some English activities. One day last week my cooperating teacher had each individual record his or her own voice in the Ipod. I had no idea the Ipod touch could do that! After reading into the added microphone, the children would then listen to themselves read, as well as follow along with the text. The kids absolutely loved this! They were so motivated to read fluently into the microphone and listen to themselves afterwards.
This use of technology really gave the students an opportunity to critique their own reading and listening skills. They were their own listeners! Students were also able to analyze and critique the effectiveness of this use of technology. Overall, as expected, they were very pleased with the activity!
The way your cooperating teacher used the iPods--as a way to encourage students to read--is intriguing. What are some other activities we could use the recording aspect of the iPod to encourage reading? I wish I was familiar with iPod touches. Do you see any other helpful uses of them for the classroom? I've seen teachers try to upload games on their iTouch and then share them with the class.
ReplyDeleteOh there was so much the children could do! I was SOOOOOOOOO impressed. Not only was there the internet, there were so many educational games that the kids loved. The kids were having fun while learning!
ReplyDeleteDear Tony,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your post! I am so glad to hear that you were able to experience media literacy being used effectively in the classroom.
Using ipod touches seems like a wonderful way to encourage students to participate and be motivated to learn. It seemed like, for the most part, students stayed on task and did what they were supposed to be doing with the ipod touches. How did the instructor ensure that students stayed on task and were not disracted by all the other features that the ipod touch offers? Were there any specific management techniques that she used?
Thank you, once again, for sharing your experience. It is intriguing to hear about effective, educational experiences like this. It provides real-world application to what we are learning in the classroom.
Courtney B.
Courtney:
ReplyDeleteQuite frankly, the children remained on task. They knew having the Ipod touches was a privilege. They knew that privilege could easily be taken away. My cooperating teacher made sure to remind the students just this at the beginning and while using the Ipods.