Assignment+2

Assignment 2 AHA Moments
 * 1) One of my favorite resources came from one of Lynn’s sites ( []). Our school is currently on a fitness kick called “Moving n’ Munchin’ Program. The goal is to have at least 10 minutes of physical activity during our Team Time each morning. I’m constantly trying to come up with 10 minute physical activities for my students to do. They are getting sick of “Sweatin’ to the Oldies.” I found some great pod casts on various training, fitness, and workout videos from Eduranceplanet.com that I could use in my classroom.
 * 2) While visiting Nicki’s site at http://slapcast.com/users/Jamestown, I came up with the idea of having my students create a classroom pod cast of their daily pledge. My class came up with a pledge to help them remember their Tribe Agreements. They recite it when they need refocusing. It would be a good idea to record the whole class saying the pledge and play it every morning after announcements.
 * 3) After viewing Jenny’s article, Using iPods in the Classroom Promotes Interactive Learning and More Effective Studying, I thought about how teachers can use the iPods to meet their music requirements. It is required for students to take some sort of music class at the 5th grade level, and not all students are interested in chorus, band, orchestra, or general music. Using iPods would help meet the needs of the students who don’t fall in any of those categories. I know a lot of my students struggle with music class, so it would be very beneficial to use the iPods to help meet their musical requirements.
 * 4) I really liked how Sharon’s 5th site gave the idea of using iPods to take interactive quizzes and flashcards. My math class consists of 20 selected and targeted students who struggle in math. Oneof the main reasons they struggle in class is because they don’t know their basic multiplication facts. If I could have them use a flashcard feature on an iPod to help them study their facts, I think I would see an increase in their motivation to learn them.
 * 5) My final AHA moment came when I read one of Jodi’s articles, What did the Professor Say? It gave the idea of having students use iPods to listen to lectures. I thought about how I could use this in my classroom. I always hate when a student comes up to me and says, “Mrs. Anderson, my family is leaving for Florida in two days, and I will be missing a week of school. Can you please give me my homework?” I could create a pod cast explaining all of the assignments he/she would be missing while they are on vacation. It takes forever to type up plans for 5 days of missing work. It would be much easier to explain them through a pod cast.