Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Five Ideas For Using Your iPod In The Classroom

What? You can use your iPod for educational purposes? Yes!! The iPod is a perfect tool for learning, as well as for listening to music. With the ever growing amount of iPod owners, most being younger people still in school, the iPod is a great tool to use in the classroom.

Apart from getting your students to think you are cool for owning an iPod, there are other ways for it to be put to good use. From foreign language class, to music class, to even art history and more, the iPod is making a big hit in the classroom.

So, you are a student sitting in music class, and all of a sudden instead of your teacher putting on a song in an old music player, they connect an iPod to their computer and out plays Beethovens 5th Symphony. Using your iPod is great for any music class.

The iPod allows you to store and keep all your music in one easy place and lets you set up pre-determined playlists, and is very portable for anyone. The iPod is an easy way to get your students to listen to your music selections, and with the ease of iPod music upload anyone is able to do it.

Maybe you are not a music teacher; maybe you have a foreign language class that is in need of something updated and fun. Using your iPod to play podcasts in foreign languages is simple. Or, you can always make your own podcast to play if you plan on being out one day. Knowing a foreign language is now a more and more important thing to know and having a new and exciting way to learn one is always going to be easier for the students.

Perhaps one of the most useful things a teacher can use in a classroom is podcasts. A teacher can easily search for podcasts relevant to the daily classroom discussion or lecture. Did you know even the Supreme Court has podcasts? You are now able to listen to the deliberations of the Justices when you in the classroom!

The popularity of the iPod has reached a new, higher level when the Supreme Court is using them. Recently, the teacher of a government class I am taking surprised us all when she started playing a podcast of the daily Supreme Court deliberations. It got all of our attention, to say the least. Most people in the United States have never heard the Supreme Court deliberate, and the iPod helps bring something new to listeners all over the world.

Maybe you are an art history teacher, or maybe you just need to show a photo slideshow in class. An iPod is an easy way to store the photos you need and in a specific order that you are able to use it in a classroom setting. The iPod is a very portable device and by storing your photos for the classroom on it, it is simple to bring them in and share with your students.

Now, if you are lucky enough to teach in a school with a seemingly endless budget, then you could be able to buy iPods for your students that already have all the forms and documents that they will need for your class. This allows the student to keep everything they need for the classroom in one easy place. Now, if you are like most of us and money is limited then just using your own iPod to store all of your documents and files for the class is an easy way to keep it all in one place and will cut down on the time and stress it takes looking for them.

These are just some of the many ideas that you can use in the classroom. There are many, many more. The iPod is becoming a popular thing to own, for students and teachers alike. Owning an iPod opens up many possibilities that you might not otherwise have. From podcasts, to photo slideshows, to music lessons, the iPod is making an appearance in classrooms all over the world. Its as if the iPod is taking over the world, but it is good to know that you can use the iPod for educational purposes and not just for entertainment purposes.


http://www.articleshelf.com/Article/Five-Ideas-For-Using-Your-iPod-In-The-Classroom/38530