The prompt for this blog is to write about three different students in my 1st/2nd grade main placement classroom, and how an iPod Touch could support differentiated instruction for them. I am immediately made aware of how difficult it is to select only three students, especially after reading and seeing how many different ways iPods are already being used in schools for all students. The first student that comes to mind, though, is very quiet, shy girl whose first language is Spanish. She specializes in staying under the radar and only seems to do the amount and quality of school work that allows her to stay there. An idea I have is to encourage her to use the iPod application StoryKit, in which she can write her own versions of digital stories on the iPod. I would encourage her to do something I had heard suggested, re-create the text for one page and then have a family member do another in any language. If a language besides English is used it will be valued and can be translated by the student or another app so that any family members and I could read what is being written. I see this as potentially getting her more excited about literacy, giving her space to unleash her creativity in ways that are hopefully comfortable and allow multiple entry points for family to support her advances in literacy as well.
Another student I can see potentially benefiting from an iPod in the classroom likes to "check-out" from most things academic and even social in the classroom. To help support him in both areas I would hope offering him opportunities to use a math game app. My idea here is that he loves games, especially computer games, and he does like playing with other students at recess, so maybe he would like playing a math game to increase his own skills and comfort in math, and then, he could teach other students how to play. For example, one game I found includes lots of basic arithmetic to practice, and another game involves counting money coins, just like we often do in class. Usually in class other students are trying to help him complete the math he is uninterested in and I think that it would be empowering and joyful for him to reciprocate and help others with a fun game that encouraged learning at the same time.
Finally, I think of a student who is academically much more advanced than many of her classroom peers, has difficulty maintaining positive social connections, and is desperate for more attention, always. Maybe, when she finishes her reading and writing work early, she could use an iPod app like Dictionary.com to go to students who need to know a definition or spelling and look it up to share with them. She could become more of a helper to other students instead of someone who often disrupts community learning.
After thinking of these ideas plus so many more for all of the students, the biggest limitation I saw was when I brought the iPod to school and discovered that the school did not have WiFi. I could not use any of the iPod applications I had been spending so much time researching, downloading, and experimenting with for this class of students. In today's world, however, I cannot imagine the school will stay WiFi-less forever. Then the potential limitations shift, and it seems that most limitations would then come from instruction that wasn't effective in using the technology. If iPods were used to supplement instruction they must be used equitably and I would want to ensure that they were never a substitute for what the entire class community was doing, that they in no way would ever allow one student to be more separate than the others, but that the technology would aid in community learning inclusion.
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