iPod Touch Schoolwide Implementation
There are a number of posts from individuals interested in using iPod Touches for teaching and Learning. At Culbreth Middle in Chapel Hill, NC we began a pilot this past August to place the iPod Touch in the hands of staff and students.
Our staff development for faculty to roll out the new technology centered on teacher coaches leading their groups in exploration through professional learning communities.
Our AVID students use the iPod Touch in the AVID classroom and in all other courses. They have piloted this program, using the iPod Touches daily for note taking, keeping individual agendas, translation for world languages, and accessing research through the Internet. In addition, our AVID students use many of the apps that teachers sync with these mobile devices. As student leaders, they’ve understood their responsibility to work and share this learning tool in collaborative groups.
This winter we were able to add iPod Touch labs for each of our seven interdisciplinary teams and two labs for our exploratory and resource teams. The interdisciplinary grade level iPod Touch labs are housed with each team and shared among the four content teachers (math, language arts, science, and social studies). These teachers plan together so that their students have access throughout each day. They access the internet as needed and use many apps as well.
Teacher current app favorites include: WordBook, Thesaurus, USA, Countries, Brain Tuner, Blanks, Whiteboard, CoinToss, Lose It!, Word Warp, FlipBook Lite. Of course they are using the included apps: Calendar, Calculator, Notes, Clock, YouTube throughout each day.
We held an iPod Touch Day last week with visitors from all over the state and from across the country. We even had a group from the UK come see our students and teachers in action with the iPod Touch. With almost 400 iPod Touches now in use at Culbreth, we’re happy to share what we’ve learned and what we’re learning.
Our staff development for faculty to roll out the new technology centered on teacher coaches leading their groups in exploration through professional learning communities.
Our AVID students use the iPod Touch in the AVID classroom and in all other courses. They have piloted this program, using the iPod Touches daily for note taking, keeping individual agendas, translation for world languages, and accessing research through the Internet. In addition, our AVID students use many of the apps that teachers sync with these mobile devices. As student leaders, they’ve understood their responsibility to work and share this learning tool in collaborative groups.
This winter we were able to add iPod Touch labs for each of our seven interdisciplinary teams and two labs for our exploratory and resource teams. The interdisciplinary grade level iPod Touch labs are housed with each team and shared among the four content teachers (math, language arts, science, and social studies). These teachers plan together so that their students have access throughout each day. They access the internet as needed and use many apps as well.
Teacher current app favorites include: WordBook, Thesaurus, USA, Countries, Brain Tuner, Blanks, Whiteboard, CoinToss, Lose It!, Word Warp, FlipBook Lite. Of course they are using the included apps: Calendar, Calculator, Notes, Clock, YouTube throughout each day.
We held an iPod Touch Day last week with visitors from all over the state and from across the country. We even had a group from the UK come see our students and teachers in action with the iPod Touch. With almost 400 iPod Touches now in use at Culbreth, we’re happy to share what we’ve learned and what we’re learning.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Katherine Burdick on
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Great News! We just uploaded to the app store leveled libraries. Now you can purchase a library of 12 books for 6.99 - almost half the price of buying them individually and it saves app space on your iPod. Currently we have 11 libraries of 12 books each for kinder and first grade. Second up to grade 6 available by March. Kimberly, I will contact you. Thanks, Deon.
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Permalink Reply by Deon Scanlon on
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BRILLIANT idea to create small libraries of books, Kathy. That makes a lot of sense.
I can't wait to introduce them to our early years teachers when school goes back!
Great work!
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Permalink Reply by Brad Pascoe on
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Kimberly's school also has (2) 1:1 classrooms and they are looking to add more.
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Permalink Reply by Mark Marshall on
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Some of these titles appear to be the same ones from A to Z Reading (RAZ kids). Wouldn't it be cheaper just to pay for a class membership and access all these books through the site?
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I could suggest that it is much simpler for a five year old to open the books/libraries on an iPod app, rather than via Safari, although you could link to each book with a homescreen icon.
I would also presume that you need to enter a username/password on the website, which you wouldn't want the students to know.
iPod interface is another plus...
Overall, I think the key benefits are simplicity and offline availability. Maybe it's a little more expensive, but will save time and effort.
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Please email me your contact info. We need to be friends to keep it confidential. Thanks, Kathy
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Permalink Reply by Chelsie Jolley on
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How can I download the libraries? Is it thru iTunes?
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Yes, go to the iTunes store and put Level Library in the search and look at the Apps section and you will see them come up.
Thanks for asking
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I checked and no results came up for this. Is this only available through the US store?
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I can download these from the Australian iTunes store. They are FREE or $1.19 per book, and $8.99 for the Level Libraries.
Kathy - is there information somewhere about the levels - for example, how each book is levelled, how each level is different from the next?
I have seen the LearningA-Z website - for the online 'big books' and support materials, do you need to be a member of the site?
Thanks
Deon
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Hi Deon and Kimberly - I am sorry as I never got notice of these posts. I am so sorry that the apps were hard to find. On my computer I put Laz Reader in the app search and they all come up with no problems so I am not sure how else to direct you. Eleven books and a sample library containing all 11 books in one app (so as not to use up app space on your device) - are free. Discovering Dinosaurs is one of the free titles. NOTE These apps are designed to give children opportunities to practice reading, are developed by educators, and are not cause and effect entertaining games. We all know that to become better at anything you have to do it more so to become a better reader one needs to read more. Because the apps are all delivered to small black handhelds that are only viewable by the person holding the screen - no one in the class needs to know that you are in fourth grade reading a first grade book.
Information on the leveling can be found on our website at http://www.readinga-z.com/correlation-chart.php.
The website is a subscription site - for one class in one school it is $85. The more that buy in a school the cheaper the price. We recently ran a promotion where you could buy 12 months of reading a-z and 12 months of Raz-kids for $99 for 12 months. Readinga-z has over 6,000 books as downloadable printables AND in a projectable format where teacher and students can use virtual pens and markers and then interact with the text ON ANY SURFACE - no whiteboard needed.
Raz-kids has close to 300 leveled books in flash, read aloud, with animation and where the words are highlighted as they are read. Students receive stars for their efforts which they can "spend" decorating a rocket or buying crazy aliens.You can easily spend $99 on just ONE textbook for one child - our site gives you unlimited access 24/7 to thousands of readers , worksheets, assessments, (including running records), high frequency word books, decodables, trade book connections, much much more - more than you can possibly use in a year PLUS space to roster 36 students in RAZ-kids. This means students can read, hear modeled reading and record their own reading and then take a book quiz 24/7. Students use their own loggin and user ID to access RAZ-kids anywhere they have access to a computer making it a great tool for progress monitoring over holidays or periods of illness.
We offer our books in a variety of formats: Printable, projectable with tools, listen-to, watch, record and through the app store. This gives teachers and students the flexibility to access literacy through the avenue that strikes a chord with their learning style.
Please feel free to email me at kburdick32@comcast.net or to check out our websites at www.readinga-z.com and www.raz-kids.com. There are plenty of free samples to see the quality of the product. Thanks for asking and I hope this information helps. Kathy
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I had a lot of trouble finding them also. I tried leveled library, leveled readers, LAZ, all kinds of stuff. I found one by accident, and then clicked on see all by this company to get the rest.
Type in Innovative Language Learning and you will find them.
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