That's what one boy said as his class ended their lesson with the new iPod cart for the first time. The boys told our 1st-3rd grade Tech Coach that she was the most popular teacher for the week, because she had the iPod cart! We are a 1:1 laptop school where each boy from the 4-year-old classes through 6th grade has his own laptop. But this is the first year that we have incorporated iPods. I'm anxious to see what iPods can add to classrooms where there are already laptops. Right away I know it's important to give the students practice with a touch screen and the use of apps. I don't get this question much anymore, but on occasion I'm asked why we don't formally teach keyboarding. We have offered keyboarding as an after-school enrichment, but our day is so full that I honestly don't think it's necessary to try to fit in keyboarding - especially if we can't fit in a daily keyboarding class for several weeks in a row. The boys begin using laptops even before they come to our school, and we use them with our 3 and 4 year olds. That's too early to teach the standard keyboarding class. Their hands are just too small. And now with touch screens, I really believe that these children will be using touch screens almost exclusively by the time they are adults.
Today the tech coach introduced a "monster-making app." She told them that aliens had landed and they were to create their own monster/alien. The students had no trouble using the iPods. Most had already used an iPod or an iPhone at home. There was such excitement as they created their own alien. They then emailed their picture to their teacher, which she printed. This was followed with a thinking routine where the students had to create a headline for the "front page" of the paper announcing that aliens had landed. The first iPod lesson was a success as I will continue to evaluate the use of iPods in the classrooms.
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