Required Listening

I think it is a great idea to incorporate iPods into the classroom. Taking a device, such as an iPod, something that kids see as enjoyable and on trend, and bringing that into an educational setting, can definitely make learning more meaningful to students. I never thought about how helpful an iPod could be for a student struggling with the English language. Having students learn songs that are popular in English can definitely help them with learning words that are commonly used in our society today. It can also help with pronunciation, and teachers can move from the words of the songs to the written lyrics, and students can work on their spelling as well. I do think it is important to make sure that the students are actually learning the material and not just memorizing words. The words/lyrics need to be explained and understood for the language barrier to be truly broken. Overall, I think putting learning to music is a fabulous idea because, in general, it is typically very easy to memorize songs/tunes and they stick with you much longer than simply memorizing a list of facts.

I was also thinking that it may not be the best idea for iPods to be a requirement for the classroom. Students should have access to them at school, but I know, in my school for example, there are some families that could just not afford it and they would not benefit from having one. Schools need to offer them to rent, but I would just want to make sure that students were not feeling like they are being singled out when they have to ask to borrow one. I get really sad when I see the ‘haves’ and have-nots’ in school, and I want to try to keep that reality to a minimum as much as I can in my classroom.