The current iPod line consists of (from left to right):
the iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, iPod Classic and iPod Touch. (iPod, 2008)
Our students live in a world that has always had the benefit of the personal computer. MP3 (MPEG-1
Audio Layer 3) players were first developed by Apple, Inc. in 2001 and continue to grow in the number of
users. (See Appendix A) The MP3 player, such as the iPod, are as common as television to this generation.
Educators must continue to be committed to life-long learning and utilize technology accordingly.
The Instructional Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) provides five standards for teachers.
Model Digital-Age Work and Learning is the third standard and it states: “Teachers exhibit knowledge,
skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Teach-
ers should demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the transfer of current knowledge to new tech-
nologies and situations.” (ISTE.org, 2008)
Providing iPods to the elementary “itinerant” teachers will meet the ISTE standard and integrate a
more current technology into the music classroom. iPod usage will eliminate bulky CD cases, skipping disks,
and the problem of “I left it at the other school” last minute lesson plan changes. Power outages will no
longer affect the CD based lesson plan. The Logitech speakers run on a battery for up to ten (10) hours. Bat-
tery power means no more change of plans when the power goes out. It also allows for assemblies outside
with minimal inconvenience.
Keeping audio files on an iPod also will allow teachers to spend more time with students and less
time changing disks, searching for the correct disk and waiting for the CD changer to move to the right CD.
“A playlist is a selection of custom-ordered songs created in iTunes or other digital audio pro-
grams. For instance, if you wanted to just hear every version of "The House of the Rising Sun" that
you have in your iTunes library, no matter what artist performed the song, you could create a playlist
for this and then listen to those versions in order. You could also create a playlist of Christmas songs,
or love songs, or songs about Texas.” (Costello, 2008)
Playlists can be developed for each grade level and each lesson plan. These playlists will shorten the
amount of time needed for lesson planning. As new lessons are developed or old plans are expanded or
modified, songs can easily be added or taken out of a playlist. No longer will a teacher have to find the right
CD to listen to a previously undiscovered song in the textbook.
Songs can be looked up in the song index and then scrolled to on the iPod within a matter of sec-
onds. As new CDs are acquired, such as Music K-8, the resource magazine that both teachers in the case
study use, they can be loaded into the iPod for easy retrieval.
Student vocal assessments can be recorded via an external microphone and played back immedi-
ately through the iPod. Teachers will no longer have to use bulky recording equipment, wait to burn a CD
and then provide feedback on another day.
Additional tools in the form of movies, podcasts and music related to any subject can also be found
and downloaded from iTunes. Appleʼs own website suggests that a teacher can “use audio and video to give
multimedia lessons that span music, art, and literature. Or put 3D imagery like math modeling and science
simulations into students' hands.” (Apple, Inc., 2008) These types of lessons greatly enhance our traditional
curriculum, make what we do relevant and meet our students in a genre that they are comfortable with.

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