My most current big project has been to get iPod touches for every student in my classroom... I've managed to secure funding for 9 through the Donors Choose website, purchased 2 because I found a killer deal, and currently have another Donors Choose project for the final 3 to complete my class set for this school year. The whole point of this project is to put every minute of the school day to use as a learning moment. In a traditional classroom, throughout the day there are anywhere from 1-20 minutes essentially lost. These may be minutes when one student has finished early, has no other work to finish, but not enough time to go choose a "fast-finisher" activity. These could be the minute or two when the whole group finishes early and the teacher has students pick up garbage before lining up or transitioning to the next activity. The intent is for these ipods to be ready to use with educational games to practice reading and math skills that are also entertaining and engaging. Here is a link to my Donors Choose project, go check it out. www.donorschoose.org/scarlon
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| Kind of fun to watch them all light up and start charging at the same time. :) |
Anyway... So here I am with all these iPods and so many possibilities! However, I was struggling to manage the apps on them, keep them charged, etc. It was very time consuming, but well worth it. After discussion with my friend Sam (the guy who inspired this project, and our awesome Ed. Tech. coordinator) he shows up with a big white box that has the capability to sync and charge 20 iPods at a time. How freaking lucky am I to not only work with such awesome people, but to have access to tools that make my job and life easier! Sam spend quite a bit of time helping me to set up my 9 iPods and showed me what to do for the next batch of them that come in. Thanks so much Sam for your help and your inspiration for this project.
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| Sam turning on the parasync unit. 9 iPods beeped and started charging simulatenously. |
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