IPOD TOUCH do I give you justice?

Unfortuanltely I have not had a lot of time to really get to know my ipod. I have used it in the class room to record interviews and I really love that. However, I have not been successful at transfering these over into the dragon app. The biggest problem I have with using the touch in the classroom is the fact that I only have 1 touch and 24 students.

The student that has been using the math game has improved in her ability to recall her math facts and therefore, she is paricipating in class with a lot more self confidence and does not seem to be as intimidated by the math.

The student that is struggling with word fluency is gaining new words on a weekly basis as she usually stays in with me during recess (her choice) to play various games on the touch. She is a big fan of chictionary and is getting really good at it. I have noticed that she also really enjoys listening to books as she reads along.

I have not had an opportunity to engage my class as a whole with the touch even though I think the story making app would be great fun for the students to use.

I guess my biggest problem with the touch is the fact that I do not have the time to explore all the capabilities this tech tool has to offer. I believe the touch would be a great learning tool to have access to in the class room but if the teacher only has one I am sure it is not going to be enough and I wonder if an ipad might be more beneficial.

Differentiated instruction

In my main placement I have a number of students I feel could benefit from the differentiated instruction available with the ipod touch. I have a  student that struggles to read and write. I will call him Jim. Most of the assignments Jim turns in take him longer to finish and have some type of doodle character in the margin. Most of his problems with writing has to do with small motor skill development. It takes him longer to record his thoughts and his handwriting  tends to be less legible than his peers.  He receives support from a writing and reading specialist twice a week. This student loves to draw pictures of ninjas and other characters and I think he would benefit from the comic application available on the touch. This app is a great way for students to engage in creating a story. Students create a comic strip using pictures they draw over top of.  The creation of the comic strip allows students tell most of their story with pictures and art work. I think this would be a beneficial way to get Jim to engage in the process of telling a story. Creating a story on the touch would give Jim the opportunity to work along side his fellow classmates and produce an assignment that is similar in quality. I am not sure but I would hope that working on the touch to create comics would help Jim build his literacy skills and fine motor skills simultaneously.

I have another student that struggles with word fluency. This student struggles to read and is still not reading  chapter books. She receives support from the reading specialist on a daily basis. This student loves school and loves to play games, especially games on a computer or hand held device. I think the chicktionary game would be extremely beneficial for this student. The game teaches word fluency and I think this student would really enjoy the challenge the game represents as the student plays the game she is asked to  create  as many words as possible from the 7 letters given to the student.

I also have a student that is still struggling to learn her math facts. She has been given flash cards to study at home but it is obvious she is not using the flash cards. I think the multiplication multiplayer math game app would be an excellent tool to provide the support she needs to learn her multiplication tables. Using the touch to run through the multiplication tables is more fun than using flash cards and the touch will randomly run through the math facts in. She can do it alone and it doesn't really feel like flash card work because the student spins a wheel to receive the question.  The touch also offers her immediate positive feed back she would not get when working with flash cards alone.