Early in the school year I decided to adopt a motto for my teaching this year “do something new everyday.” I feel like I have stayed pretty true to this, even though it has more likely been “do something new every week.” A lot of this has centered on my technology use in the classroom. I am continually looking for new ideas and new resources that I can apply in my classroom.
I’ve decided to highlight some of the things I have been doing in my classes up to this point as a way of recapping and documenting basically the firstquarter of this school year. First up is iPod Touches. The school district has purchases a set of 20 iPod Touches for each building (HS, MS and Elementary). Early in the year an email went out notifying the staff of their availability. Well, I was the first to reply and requested to have an app added to them so I could use them in my Earth Science classes. Since I was the first (and only) teacher to request the iPods I was asked to manage them for the high school. This brought a little extra work but mostly extra benefits, namely, the case of iPods almost never leaves my room!
Here are a few of the ways that I have used the iPods so far this year:
- Student research on planets (PlanetFacts and Solar Walk)
- Podcast for content – (AstronomyCast)
- Star guide for star parties (Star Walk)
- Uploading my own podcasts and screen capture reviews.
I have a few more ideas/uses coming up in the next couple of weeks but I will save those for when they happen.
One of the best things that has come from having the iPods in my room and from managing the set for the high school is it has allowed me to look for ways to encourage other teachers to use them in my classroom. After a lot of suggesting and discussing other teachers have begun to use the hordes of available content in their classrooms. I hope I can continue to help other instructors find ways to use this technology in their classrooms, it is what helps me to learn more and try new things.
digitalteach 
November 21, 2010 at 7:06 PM
I would use the money for a down payment on a house but that doesn’t work because the money is from the school and has to be used for school stuff. Personally, I would be the librarian at a school and get like 4 laptops, even if I was my dreamed elementary teacher I would probably get a few awesome computers in the classroom with the latest tech that the kids could play with and still learn at the same time. LJ I think what you have planned for those kids is awesome! I wish I would have had as dedicated a teacher as you.
November 22, 2010 at 6:27 AM
Thanks!