Edith Bowen Visit

We had the opportunity to take a little field trip to Edith Bowen today and learn about how Mr. Johnson incorporates technology into the classroom. He started by showing us his full set of 30 IPods, one for every student in the classroom. He got these through a grant from the government. The IPods are very useful for the children to use when reading books. They have over 200 books on each IPod, and their collection is constantly growing. He mentioned that right now they are using the IPods as an experimental factor to see how children learn best. They are testing children who only listen to the IPods, listen to the IPod and read along in a book, just read the book, and listen to the IPod while doing other things. I believe that children need to read along in order to get the continuing practice of reading. My sister learned to read like that, and now she is an excellent reader. She would listen to books on tape and follow along in the books. I would like to get a set of Ipods for my classroom and have them in listening centers. He showed us a hook up that you could put six sets of headphones to one IPod. That is amazing to me, and I will definitely use this. He also showed us his 13 regular computers that he has for the classroom. He has them working on spellingcity.com and a fun math facts site. This is so interactive for the children. He also has the children working on the classroom website. I love the website idea where he updates class schedules and calendar events, along with things the children should be practicing and working on at home. I definitely want to incorporate this into my classroom because it is a such a great technological tool.
In class we did four website evaluations. This is an important skill because anybody can put information on the internet, but the validity is not accurate. It is important to check many different venues to make sure that the website is appropriate for what you use in the classroom.