ipod article

I thought that the idea behind his article was very interesting. I think that using an ipod for learning has its upsides and downsides. I think that this is a positive learning tool in that it is a great way to get information to students in a way that may make them learn and retain information easier. The idea that you could listen to your class while in your car or at home on your ipod is great. I also think that teaching methods must keep up with the times and ipods are definetly a fixture in society today. I am always seeing people with their ipods on and I can't think of someone I know that doesnt have an ipod, even my mother has one ! The disadvantages I can see with this type of teaching is that in some areas people may not be able to afford ipods. If this was to become part of a class would schools be providing ipods for students to use during that class? Also, technology is great but sometimes it can turn on you. If something happens and you cant send a file or a site is not working it can cause alot of problems for students and teachers. I am also concerned with teachers having to take alot of time for students to understand how to use all of this technology. It make take students awhile to become confident enough with using these ippod features and learning how to send files and record themselves. Just reading the article all of the technological stuff was starting to make my head spin a little. But I do think that this is an innovative way of teaching for some and can benefit students who would prefer a more technological method of learning.

starfall

I love thia website. We use it almost every day in the kindergarten classroom that I work in and the kids love it. It keeps them completely engaged while they learn and they can't get enough of it. I think these types of educational websites are a great way to help the kids learn and they are a great resource for teachers.

Reading A-Z

I just finished the Reading a-z article and I found that I agreed with alot that the article talked about and I see how it is applied in class every day. I work in a kindergarten classroom where the students are now learning to identify letters and their sounds. The article very clearly showed the process of learning the letters and their sounds and now when I see the students learning them in class I understand the process a whole lot better. First they learn to identify the letter then we use pictures to help them sound out words with that letter and the begin to identify the letter with the sound. We also use the starfall wedsite alot. This is a great website that keeps the students very engaged and help them to leatn each letter sound. I also agreed with this article about using online websites for texts. It will save alot of money on books that might never be used and these websites provide great texts for the students to read. I definetly will be telling the teacher that I work with about Reading a-z.