My students need two iPods to reach auditory learners. We must adapt our teaching style to reach the child rather than expecting the child to adapt their learning.
If we teach today's students as we did yesterday's, we are robbing them of tomorrow."âÂ" John Dewey We have long been aware children come with their own learning style. Every child can excel, but some do not. We must adapt our teaching rather than believing a child can adapt his learning.
My students are all so different.
Some touch me with their understanding hearts always finding the lonely and cheering on the strugglers. Others amaze me with their love for reading, math, science, music, or art. They come from different backgrounds with different experiences. They come with their own strengths and their own weaknesses. They also come with similarities, limitless curiosity and intense desire to succeed. Every child should feel the excitement that comes when they see their own potential. Some children are visual learners others are auditory, kinesthetic, or tactile but they all deserve to succeed.
My Project
We hear iPods, we see teenagers blaring music with earphones on. Educators in Oregon saw classroom technology and found results with rising test scores. An iPod integrates audio seamlessly into the curriculum. Readers can jump to any point in an audio book, or play a famous speech accessed from the Library of Congress. Sites like World Book Encyclopedia are easily accessed without twenty seven students waiting in line for the only computer. Using an iPod budding writers can produce weekly podcasts reviewing content studied during the week. Struggling readers can listen and read along with books on their level at their own pace without fear of embarrassment. Comprehension becomes exciting when students retell stories using the voice recorder. Educators and technology specialists are using the web to share lesson plans and ideas using iPods. I hope to use those ideas as a resource to reach students on their terms. I will use any method to improve learning children deserve that.
An iPod in the classroom won't reach every learner but for the children it reaches another success may make all the difference as they discover their own potential.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Walsh and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.