This is what my students have been saying to me after I allowed them a little free time with the iTouch. It started simply enough, I wanted to help some of the students be a bit more motivated to pass their math timings. So, I told them whomever passed could use my iTouch the next day. Of course they had to play a math game on it. That day one boy passed! The next couple of days, as this boy sat in the back playing math games on the Touch, the rest of the students continued taking math timings. On the third day, two more kids passed! Now I was in a predicament, 3 kids and one Touch! But it worked out in the end with the students taking turns playing Pearl Diver or Sum Stacker as the other two watched giving advice when needed. As they walked away all of them said, "I want one of those!"
I have seen how technology works in my home when it comes to my own children and their homework. Any homework that involves hopping on the computer to complete an assignment is the one done first and the printed out sheet of math facts is the homework that never seems to get done without me enlisting in some sort of argument. Kids these days live in the virtual world, it is what excites them and motivates them to attempt new things. So, why wouldn't a teacher use this tool in the classroom? Have you ever given an assignment that involved the students using the technology and seen them spring into action. I know that the students who I worked with never gave me groans or moans when I announced we were taking turns with the Touch.
We need to go with this technology thing. It is here to stay and students connect with it. Plus, don't tell anyone....but it makes learning FUN!
Fun. One thing that I think about is *why* kids love these tools so much.. I think that they like the likelihood of surprise, the control that you can experience as you move around, the interactivity with immediate feedback, the built-in problem solving, that most of the tools are at least somewhat open-ended. We're in a new land!
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