With the ever changing world of technology and the progression of kids being placed into that world at younger and younger ages, I feel that an essential tool for the classroom would be the iPad. An iPad is a simple to use piece of technology for all ages with it's touch screen interface, easy to use parental control restrictions, and kid friendly applications it can be used for both recreational and educational purposes within the class; whether it's time for the kids to sit down and learn, or it's time for them to spend a few minutes playing. The iPad, as I have seen through my own time using it as a student while in the College of Education, can be utilized for almost every subject within the classroom; whether it be mathematics, or even music class with very little instructional time needed before hand to be able to use and fully enjoy these applications. Not only could this technology be used by itself to teach the children it could also be utilized with the other materials in the classroom through more traditional hands on activities; for example: A student could spend fifteen minutes utilizing and application to learn about their favorite type of animal, what they look like, what they eat, the environments they like to live in, and whether they are mammals, reptiles, amphibians, etc. Once they had finished learning all about the animal they wished to learn about, the child could then be placed into a project center where they use both art supplies as well as their developing hand writing skills to make a picture or model of that animal in their natural environment and write down a little bit of what they learned about the animal to show the rest of the class. The iPad can also be utilized in the Pre-K and Kindergarten classroom settings as part of their story time centers, not only can it be used from a teachers stand point to read any manner of children's book that the class may not have a hard copy of, but it will also allow the children to follow along with the teacher as they read building both their listening and reading skills at the same time allowing them to pay closer attention and retain more of the information or life lessons that come at the end of most children's books. The technology being implemented into these new touch screen devices can even go as far as to benefit children with special needs, those who are slower at learning, or can't grasp objects fully, would be able to use their hands to keep up with the other students, help them write out or possibly type what is needing to be written in a document format where before they were required to carry around small word processor computers in their bags; it would allow children who are deaf but learning to read be able to read along with lessons, those who may not have sight would be able to have their iPad set up to speak to them each setting and be worked by voice rather than by touch. The possibilities that touch screen portable technology can bring to the educational world are truly limitless and I hope that you will take the time to fully consider my request.
The release of the iPad mini at the start of November 2012 the world saw an even greater change in the way technology could be both durable as well as compact, two things that are essential for young children in a classroom setting who not only like to play with anything and everything, but also have a tendency to drop them. The iPad mini comes at a starting price of $329 US for either color scheme, includes all of the features it's larger sister hardware includes, and utilizes a 16GB hard drive which would exceed the space required for the children to learn so that the iPad could be used over and over again without ever being afraid of filling up it's data storage space. A full total for this product including estimated shipping and handling still comes to an even $329 per iPad for the apple website offers free shipping on all iPad mini products at this time. Detailed information about the product as well as shipping and pricing information can be found at the following link : http://store.apple.com/us/buy/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad_mini
An alternative to the iPad product that uses much of the same functions but on a lower scale would be the Kindle Fire product by Amazon, at a much lower price range it is able to utilize applications, watch videos, and still keep it's original functions as an E-reader technology, however, it does not have the same span of applications and utilization that the iPad product line has to offer. Some of the features that would benefit the students using the Kindle Fire product is that there are many parental control settings that can be set as far as time usage where it will prompt the child when the time limit set for them to use it is up, no matter what they are doing on it, and restrict them from even utilizing the touch screen further until the next allowable bracket of time is set. I personally have not had much time to sit and utilize the Kindle Fire to it's full extent to see what it's maximum capabilities are, it's pricing, feature list, and other relevant information can be found at : http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Dolby-Audio-Dual-Band-Wi-Fi/dp/B0083PWAPW/ref=r_kdia_h_i_gl
Classroom iPad Request
With the ever changing world of technology and the progression of kids being placed into that world at younger and younger ages, I feel that an essential tool for the classroom would be the iPad. An iPad is a simple to use piece of technology for all ages with it's touch screen interface, easy to use parental control restrictions, and kid friendly applications it can be used for both recreational and educational purposes within the class; whether it's time for the kids to sit down and learn, or it's time for them to spend a few minutes playing. The iPad, as I have seen through my own time using it as a student while in the College of Education, can be utilized for almost every subject within the classroom; whether it be mathematics, or even music class with very little instructional time needed before hand to be able to use and fully enjoy these applications. Not only could this technology be used by itself to teach the children it could also be utilized with the other materials in the classroom through more traditional hands on activities; for example: A student could spend fifteen minutes utilizing and application to learn about their favorite type of animal, what they look like, what they eat, the environments they like to live in, and whether they are mammals, reptiles, amphibians, etc. Once they had finished learning all about the animal they wished to learn about, the child could then be placed into a project center where they use both art supplies as well as their developing hand writing skills to make a picture or model of that animal in their natural environment and write down a little bit of what they learned about the animal to show the rest of the class. The iPad can also be utilized in the Pre-K and Kindergarten classroom settings as part of their story time centers, not only can it be used from a teachers stand point to read any manner of children's book that the class may not have a hard copy of, but it will also allow the children to follow along with the teacher as they read building both their listening and reading skills at the same time allowing them to pay closer attention and retain more of the information or life lessons that come at the end of most children's books. The technology being implemented into these new touch screen devices can even go as far as to benefit children with special needs, those who are slower at learning, or can't grasp objects fully, would be able to use their hands to keep up with the other students, help them write out or possibly type what is needing to be written in a document format where before they were required to carry around small word processor computers in their bags; it would allow children who are deaf but learning to read be able to read along with lessons, those who may not have sight would be able to have their iPad set up to speak to them each setting and be worked by voice rather than by touch. The possibilities that touch screen portable technology can bring to the educational world are truly limitless and I hope that you will take the time to fully consider my request.
http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Dolby-Audio-Dual-Band-Wi-Fi/dp/B0083PWAPW/ref=r_kdia_h_i_gl