Second Blog -- Nanos to play educational music

It's been awhile since I blogged, but I have been exploring my original question, which was: "Can iPods be used effectively to play educational music in the classroom?"

I use a lot of songs to teach math in my grade three classroom, and managing CDs can be tricky (changing the CD between songs, etc.). I wanted to find out if using an iPod would be easier. Having seen a Kim Sutton math workshop this summer where she used an iPod to arrange her songs into categories, and could access them quickly and easily, I was excited to give it a try. I bought my own iPod, and an iTrip to broadcast songs through my existing CD player/radio.

What I have discovered so far is that the iTrip has its limitations. I'm in a country school where even cell phone signals are not the greatest, and I've found that it affects my iTrip's "broadcastability." The songs are useable, but staticy. I would now like to try using a set of portable speakers, which could be set up at the front of the classroom on my teaching table, and see if the sound quality is better. The kids need to be able to hear the songs clearly and loudly enough to be able to participate fully (obviously). I must say that so far, I haven't been as happy with the results as I thought I'd be, and the thought of spending my own money to buy portable speakers doesn't thrill me. It would only take one "oops," and they'd be toast.

So that's where I'm at.....moving along slowly towards an answer as to whether this is feasible in the classroom or not....still wanting it to work, but limited by a couple of factors and not sure where to go with it next.....Has anyone seen cheap, used portable speakers anywhere?

Suzanne Gravel
Grade 3 Teacher,
South Poplar Traditional