Canton City Schools

Apple’s iPod technology is helping to put learning at the fingertips of students in classrooms across the Twin Cities and the country.

The iPod Touch has been a godsend for Jon Smith, a fifthand sixth-grade special-education teacher at Gibbs Elementary School in Canton, Ohio. His students have a variety of learning disabilities that often cannot be overcome with regular teaching methods. But something as simple as flashcard slide shows on touch screen iPods, with finger
swipes for moving from one digital photo to the next, tends to electrify the kids. So Smith has nudged his superiors into spending more money on the Apple devices. His kids now rack up impressive scores with vocabulary drill apps, devour social-studies moving-picture books, and even watch videos of themselves delivering book reports. This footage, after being taken with low-cost video cameras, is transferred to a computer and then synced to the kids’ iPods. Smith delights in seeing “a sparkle in the kids’ eyes." To view story in its entirety, please click the following links: article1; article2