iPods in the School

Title: In Some Schools, iPods Are Required Listening
Publisher: New York Times Online
Date: October 9, 2007
Author: Winnie Hu
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/09/education/09ipod.html
Summary:

Ms. Poli, a teacher at the Jose Marti Middle School in Hudson County New Jersey, initiated an iPod program at her school. Ms. Poli noticed that many of her bilingual students spent between two to four years in Bilingual education before they learned enough English to move into the regular education population. She also realized that at a school where iPods and most electronic devices are forbidden in school were very popular among her students. She decided to ask the Union County school system for 20 iPods in a bid to help her students learn English. She then downloaded songs (English songs), printed out lyrics in English and removed the nouns or verbs or whatever they were working on that session. The students were responsible for listening to the song, and completing the lyrics. She noticed that many of the students quickly learned English, picking up lyrics quickly and even began to sing along to the songs. The principal noticed that the kids had gained more confidence and even began speaking to her when they wouldn’t have ventured to do so before. Students who normally took two to four years to complete their bilingual programs were now being moved into regular classes by the end of the first year.

Perspective and Relevance to Teaching

I think that Ms. Poli has stumbled upon a great idea. If all teachers could be as inventive, as creative and a trailblazer as she has been we could really effect change in our school system. This school is on the schools in need of improvement list because, as a component of NCLB, their ESL program was not making the required strides and/or increases it needed to make. Ms. Poli single-handedly began a trend that will and has caught on in many counties within New Jersey. She is an innovator and I can only hope to accomplish as much as she has.

Monique Powell-Thompson