ipod

This Christmas it was somewhat tricky to find a gift for the big Sprout.  She is of the age where dolls and such are not really appealing, although the ones in her room are still not quite ready to move to new homes.  She likes clothes, but who wants only clothes for gifts (I mean other than me)?  We were going to purchase her a telescope to feed her passion for astronomy, but her enthusiasm for it was a bit mild.  We knew that her heart longed for a puppy, but we were not ready to take that step yet.

In the end we relaxed our self-imposed age limit for an ipod (10 years old) and bought one for this Christmas.  We were very nervous about her use of it.  We ourselves have battled with tech-addictions (and still do), so we didn't want to send our child down that path at age 9.

As it turns out, she is finding all sorts of creative and amazing ways to use her ipod.  Music is the obvious use.  Apps for entertainment are also obvious.  But on top of those she also hunts online for answers to her questions when we don't know the answers, which is becoming more frequent of late.  Now she has learned to track the International Space Station in the sky.  And translate Morse Code.

All of a sudden my mind has exploded with the possibilities for use in the classroom.  I know that I am very late to this party; there are many teachers out there who are doing amazing things with ipods in their classrooms.  But I am wondering how I can integrate it into learning with my older students to help them see the ipod as more than a toy, and see their education as more than a waste of their days until they are old enough to choose to spend them glued to their toys.