Suzanne's Ed Tech Reflections

After visiting many of the iAchieve classrooms, I have seen iPods being used in a variety of ways.  In one classroom, students begin their math block by practicing math facts using the ArtihmeTick app. In another classroom, they are using the K12 Timed Reading app in an innovative way by connecting the stories to a reading EPO. Even though K12 Timed Reading is a fluency app, the students used the stories to practice sequencing. They read a story and then completed an advanced organizer and/or wrote a paragraph to illustrate the sequence of the story.   So, how have you been using the iPods in your classroom? Be sure post a comment so we can all share the innovative ways we are integrating the iPods into learning.

I love volcanoes and have always loved teaching my 3 rd and 4 th grade students about them. Learning about types of volcanoes, such as cinder cone or shield, or the different types of lava like a’a (ah-ah) and pahoehoe (pa-hoy-hoy). Both of these are Hawaiian words. My favorite is ah-ah. This is the type of lava that is sharp and rough. So, of course, I always tell students they can remember its name because they will say “ah-ah” if they walk across it. They usually just roll their eyes!! But, I am really here to talk about using iPods in our classrooms.

Just testing blogging using my iPhone or iPod touch! It's a little different but I am excited about the ability to do this with our iAchieve students and teachers. It will be a great way to create, communicate, and collaborate!

School has started and we have been working hard getting all of the iPod carts delivered and the iPods set up and synced. Might not sound like much of a job, but I am talking about 630 iPods. We had most set up prior to school starting but then there were updates to many of the Apps as well as moving them to the new IOS4 software. Not a hard job - just a very long process! But now we have classrooms ready for the rollout! Wait. Not just ready - it's actually begun. Today two of our third grade classrooms rolled out the iPods with the students. All of their students have signed and returned their iPod Student User Agreements (one of our requirements) and were ready.

I've been working on developing these "How To" guides for many of the apps we are going to be using during our iAchieve project this year. "Guiding" everyone in different ways to utilize the apps with students. I think I have done a pretty good job but during the process have also seen how we really do all need to work together as a collaborative team. Jeff Geyer, the principal at Papago School, and I met today. We had planned on just spending a few minutes developing our fluency with using the iPods and some of the apps. During the meeting we opened up the Doodle Buddy whiteboard app. It is one that allows you to "draw" with a friend via your wifi connection.

Well, with so much going on the summer has been very short and it is now time to return to school. It’s a little sad but also exciting to be returning to prepare for implementing our technology project for the year. Oh yes, let me share about our technology project. In January 2010, we began writing the application for our new tech grant. The process actually started a month prior when we first learned about the application, previewed it, and attended a webinar.