Differentiated Instruction

David, Elisa, and Shawn (pseudonyms) are all students in my classroom that would benefit from differentiated instruction.  David is an ESL student and has minor trouble reading and writing; he is currently and a level 3.  Elisa is in our special Ed program and is an ESL student.  She has trouble with her reading and writing as well.  Due to David and Elisa’s trouble with reading and writing they also have trouble with math, as they need assistance when reading a math problem.  Shawn is a student who is very active and has notable difficulty concentrating in class.  He is perfect for differentiated instruction because it allows him to be active in different ways while still gaining knowledge. 

The iTouch has thousands of applications to help all three of the above mentioned students.   Having access to iTouches in classrooms would help differentiated instruction because it allows students to use different apps that are at different learning levels.  There are tons of apps available in all subject areas that fit with classroom objectives.  David and Elise would benefit from the iTouch apps that allow them to translate from their native language to English.  There are audiobook apps that the students can read along with.  The audiobook apps are great because they model specific reading skills and as we learned from the Optimal Learning Model, modeling the skills we want our students to learn is a key step in the learning process.  The iTouch would also help David and Elisa with math as they could use math apps to do practice drills.  Reading would not be an issue as they could use an application that would read the problem to them.  Shawn would benefit from using the iTouch as a computer learning system.  He is very active and frequently gets up to use the bathroom or get a drink of water always at the time of instruction and/or learning.  He consistently talks about his PS3.  I believe Shawn would look at an iTouch as if it were a video game.  He would practice math and reading while getting the entertainment he usually gets from his PS3.  Most kids like playing video games, so the idea of playing with a video like game on an iTouch will keep interest high.

One of my concerns for bringing iTouches into the classroom is the maturity level of some students.  There would need to be clear expectations and consequences if those expectations are not followed.  There has been mentioned that the $200 iTouch would replace the cost of buying a desktop or laptop computer.  I don’t think iTouches should replace a computer system, but only help to enhance the learning in the classroom.