I’ll be sure to add some details soon, but for now here are some picks of the kids using DropBox on the iTouches.

To study for their first semester exams, students used a variety of resources on the iTouch:

A Jeopardy Game
http://jeopardylabs.com/play/6th-s1-english-review
http://jeopardylabs.com/play/6th-s1-reading-review

Free Flash Cards App
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/free-…uo=2&mt=8&uo=2

Quizlet
http://quizlet.com/user/hcato/

I think using these study options worked great!  Students seemed to enjoy the reviews and did very well on their exams!

You didn’t think that using the iTouches was just going to be a perfect marriage of classroom instruction and technology did you?  So far, things have been going great, but we did have a slight road bump today when I tried to have the kids take this online learning styles quiz.  The first problem we encountered was that I had to explain to students what Safari was (most of my students are Microsoft/Windows users).  Then we had to have a discussion about how to type a web address into the address bar.  All of that I consider to be just part of the learning experience.  The real problem was the one critical element that I forgot about the iTouches, they do not run multiple programs at the same time.  More importantly, that means that they do not support flash, so instead of getting the cool interactive quiz students were greeted with a little square box with a question mark on it.  Fortunately, being the flexible teacher that I am, I was able to have students rotate and take turns on the four desktop computers that I have in my room.  Of course the lesson was salvaged, but the students were disappointed that they didn’t get to use the iTouches (they are still a novelty in my room, thankfully).  As a consolation prize, while students took the quiz on the computer I allowed the other students to play a neat spelling practice game which seemed to suffice these tech-hungry kids, for now at least. 

Today I officially died and went to teacher heaven!  Here is how it all started, yesterday I had my first period,  6^th grade students silently preview and skim through a great piece about King Tut from their Interactive Readers.  When they were finished I wanted them to do a quick vocabulary activity.  Students were completing these short assignments because we had been discussing text features and vocabulary in non-fiction works, so before we read the piece as a class and really began diving into the story I wanted them to get a grasp of what was going on.  As students started working on their vocabulary activity they of course asked if they could use the dictionary app on the iTouch (they are always looking for an excuse to use the iTouches).  Unfortunately just about the time they started with the vocabulary piece the bell rang.  Without another thought I continued my day of teaching and instruction. 

So as first period began today I asked the students to get out their interactive readers again.  This time we were going to start reading the King Tut piece.  A key part to note is that my other classes were able to get both the previewing and vocabulary assignment completed, so of course I forgot that my first period was not as far along as my other classes.  I watched as my students ran to get their Interactive Readers and then ran over to get an iTouch.  I was sitting at my desk thinking, “What are these kids doing?  Who said they could get the iTouches out?  We don’t need them today.”  I was just about to say something when I noticed John* and Mark* and Anthony*, who never immediately get started on anything, go straight to their desk and continue their vocabulary work.  At this point I seriously was in shock!  I continue to look around the room and saw student after student dive into looking up their vocabulary words.  I officially died and went to teacher heaven when I realized the only instruction the students received were to get out their supplies and yet EVERY student was “in the zone” working on the assignment that they had not completed from the day before.  Now, I know that I have not taught all that long in respect to probably how long I will be teaching for, but I can say that I have never had students, independent of teacher instruction, come in and get straight down to work.  I would venture to guess that most other teachers would testify to the same thing as well.    

While some may disagree with me that it simply was the iTouches that got the kids so hyped on looking up vocabulary words, no one can disagree that we had a great learning day in LAB12 today!

*  obviously I did not use my students’ real names

Today in class student had to make a list of facts and inferences about the mystery box.  Student are eager to find out what is in the box, but they will have to wait until tomorrow…

Anybody want to guess what are in the boxes?  http://twitpic.com/ncae6   If you know (as in I told you) don’t give it away!