“Mrs. Morris’s Spanish class is a great example of how our teachers use cutting-edge technology to create exciting and memorable learning experiences for our students.”
In Mrs. Morris’s first grade Spanish class, students created a weather forecast for the United States. Each student was assigned a region of the country. Students then learned how to say their part of the forecast in Spanish. After a series of rehearsals, Mrs. Morris unveiled a map of the United States on the front board and students gave a weather forecast that any successful news anchor could admire.
Hearing the recording through the iPod helped students learn new words in Spanish and develop proper pronunciation. “While the lesson seems pretty basic, the technology makes a big difference,” said Mrs. Morris. “Students really enjoyed hearing their voices and they were able to recognize pronunciation mistakes on their own.”
In another activity involving iPods, students were asked to write about what their favorite season is in Spanish. Students wrote paragraphs and practiced reciting their writing with a partner. When each student felt comfortable with the pronunciation, Mrs. Morris recorded the student presentations with an iPod.
“It’s a new twist on the cooperative learning experience,” said Mrs. Morris. “Students were able to help each other with pronunciation and the final recordings were outstanding.”
Mrs. Morris also uses iPods to create visually-rich learning experiences for her students. In another lesson, she had students watch a video on the iPods. Again working in pairs, the students were asked to respond to comprehension questions while viewing the video.
“Watching the video through the iPod is great because it allows students to pause and rewind parts of the video they didn’t understand while the rest of the class can proceed,” said Mrs. Morris. “Through the process, students often end up explaining concepts that their partners were unsure about.”
“Not only do our teachers know how to use new technology like iPods, they do an outstanding job of incorporating it into our students’ daily learning experiences,” said Principal James Karaba.
