iTouch for Differentiation

The iPod and cell phone have transformed childhood. The iTouch and other such devices may just transform schooling. I am privileged to have an iTouch on loan from my university. When thinking about possible uses for my fifth grade classroom, I think of three almost immediately.  Student J has a very hard time reading. If he had an iTouch or iPod, our lessons and books could be stored in audio format for him to listen to. Student C has extreme organizational dilemmas. He can read well, but struggles in almost every other area of class work. The iTouch would give him a tool for hearing instructions over and over and possibly seeing a video describing the current activity. He could use math games to help him with basic math and he could use Dragon dictation to help him with writing. I noticed one of the girls struggling with fractions the other day. If we had several iTouches, the kids who struggle with a topic or subject could use an appropriate app to help them solidify the ideas and procedures for that topic. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to pop an iTouch into the hand of every child who struggled with the chapter quiz today?