MP3 Player

As an avid user of my iPod, I was intrigued to see a post on the ListServe about the uses of MP3 players or iPods in the classroom. I must be honest, I only use my iPod for personal, music use. An avid collector of music I have roughly 16,000 songs on my iPod. However, I have always been skeptical of how this portable music player could be used in the classroom. The post by Miguel Guhlin changed my stance.

(http://www.mguhlin.net/archives/2007/04/entry_3123.htm)

Miguel uses the iPod, or MP3 to teach students learning English as a second language. This is a great tool for this very difficult task. Students are given the opportunity to listen to the sounds of English and follow along while they read. They can speak into a recorder to hear their own voices played back to them to check their diction. The player can then save the sounds for later practice and use. Very cool.

When thinking of the uses of an iPod or MP3 player in a high school history classroom, I still have my doubts. I believe the device could be used, but not with the effectiveness that an ESL teacher may be able to use the tool. Podcasts for students to download would be the most viable way to use the player. However, when you see your students everyday, the ideas brought from the podcast would probably be covered during the day's lesson. Sometimes students have a hard enough time listening to me in class, I can't imagine them wanting to listen to someone else talk about a historical subject. This being said, I do think if a topic was presented well in the podcast format it could be a nice vacation, or weekend assignment when the kids are away from school.