iPods in class

[dozo]

By my senior year in high school, iPods and MP3 players had been outlawed, along with phones. A lot of students got really mad, but I didn't care. It's hard enough for me to concentrate on things as is without music or distracting technology, but I know it helps a lot for some people. I'm just not one of them.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

The problem is that many the new iPods act like iPhones sans the phone calling ability. That includes the ability to text, surf the web, IM, etc.

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

So how does plugging in your iPod help you listen to a lecture again?

 

[FreakyLocz14]

So how does plugging in your iPod help you listen to a lecture again?

The only legitimate use I can see is using a voice recording app to record a lecture.

 

[Mercurybro]

I could also understand it being used in a class that you're taking by your own choice, but if it's for classes that teach basic things, like English and math then I'd say nay, especially if it's in elementary and middle/primary and secondary schools.

Instead of just allowing them to listen to iPods or not, though, maybe the teachers should try to teach their material with a bit more energy. Otherwise they're just going to be competing with an already over-energized entertainment industry to get the attention of the kids they're teaching, or stop teaching altogether. I don't know, I'm not a teacher in one of those schools so I don't know what it's like.

Seeing as how it's hard for me to keep my attention on a certain task myself, I wish I could have learnt how to manage my focus level effectively. With so many distractions around me, I sometimes have trouble focusing on specific things to finish them completely.

 

[Sydian]

Anyone who is an education major of any kind or is already a teacher of some sorts can probably agree when I say that we don't go to school to get our education to go to our jobs and teach students that are just going to listen to iPods during class and not get anything out of it. Since I'm elementary ed, I don't think this will be a problem when I get in front of a classroom, however assuming it would be, I wouldn't be too happy that I've gone out of my way to take math courses that I do not need (and struggle immensely in), but am required to take to teach kids that aren't going to listen to me at all. My education is wasted, and they're not getting their own education. So we negate each other there and neither of us are benefiting. I'm not getting paid to let students listen to music in class, I'm getting paid to teach them.

Instead of just allowing them to listen to iPods or not, though, maybe the teachers should try to teach their material with a bit more energy. Otherwise they're just going to be competing with an already over-energized entertainment industry to get the attention of the kids they're teaching, or stop teaching altogether. I don't know, I'm not a teacher in one of those schools so I don't know what it's like.

Depends on where you are and what age group you're dealing with, though. In some areas, they just don't appreciate the teacher that works his/her butt off to make class something to enjoy. I hope I can achieve that when I get where I'm going, but I mean, it's not always as easy as it sounds. Try getting kids exciting about math. lol :( Even M&Ms didn't work on me.

 

[Yuoaman]

The only time I ever listen to my iPod in class is during tests and the like - I can't stand listening to other people shift and breathe and cough when I'm stressed out, and music calms me. Otherwise, I pretty much leave the thing at home or turned off in my pocket.

 

[Misheard Whisper]

I have my iPod in my pocket all day, and I usually listen to it at lunchtime. I use my laptop in classes though, and some of my teachers don't seem to mind if I just plug headphones in while I'm working. Especially my Spanish teacher, because I'm in a lower-level class that I've already taken the syllabus for (due to timetable constraints) and I've got my own work to be doing. What he teaches is, for the most part, irrelevant to me. And in Classics, the teacher just seems not to notice.

As to whether it helps, I think it does. I work better with music of some kind playing, and just putting the radio on in class is not an option, if only because there will always be arguments over what's playing.

 

[Mercurybro]

Depends on where you are and what age group you're dealing with, though. In some areas, they just don't appreciate the teacher that works his/her butt off to make class something to enjoy. I hope I can achieve that when I get where I'm going, but I mean, it's not always as easy as it sounds. Try getting kids exciting about math. lol :( Even M&Ms didn't work on me.

Yeah.. Like I said, I'm not a teacher, I've only had a little experience teaching other people. If anything, the whole class should know where to go if their grades start suffering and they don't know what to do. It could serve as good practice.

 

[Dark Piplup]

Well music helps me concentrate (if its good music). But playing a game while working is more like just playing a game instead of doin both. You can't. And with ipods you could text someone for help on work. So if it's just listening to music I'd say that that is okay.

 

[BraveVesperia]

In our school we could only use our phones or ipods during break times and for me it would break the concentration of students when the teacher is having lessons but I don't know if it would help during exams.

 

[FreakyLocz14]

During exams? The ability of many portable media players to access the internet, and the tendency of a lot of school buildings to have free Wi-Fi access, and even some devices allowing them to access 3G/4G networks where there is no Wi-Fi, opens up new ways of cheating.

 

[pokecole]

I'm not allowed to have music in class... Like eminem is gonna tell me the answers...

 

[FreakyLocz14]

I'm not allowed to have music in class... Like eminem is gonna tell me the answers...

There have been cases of people listening to recordings of lectures to help them cheat during an exam. Desperate students will go to great lengths to cheat. If you give them an inch, they'll walk all over you.