ITouch and Differentiated Instruction

In my kindergarten main placement there are several students who would benefit from having an ITouch for differentiated instruction; however, the three students I choose for this post are two ELL students and a student with developing motor skills.

A: Is an ELL student with a very low verbal skills even in his native language of Spanish.

Other Hispanic ELL students try to speak Spanish with him in class and he is withdrawn. He is one of the youngest students in our class with an August birthday, which in kindergarten makes a difference. With his young age, very low language skills and little to know preparation for kindergarten, such as colors, shapes and holding a pencil or scissors he has qualified for extra help at school. Twice a day A goes and works with a specialist.

The Touch could give A get the extra help he needs in class, with colors, shapes, letters and sounds. And since his parents are Non-English speakers, using an app like Dragon Dictation that can translate into Spanish and would allow them to read the notes and extra activities A is given when working with the specialists.

E: Is a student who is similar to a student I worked with last year when I was volunteering in a kindergarten class. The student last year had just missed qualifying for extra help with the school's Occupational Therapist for handwriting, including stroking from the bottom and pushing harder with the pencil. E is like this student in that his letter formation is poor and when writing he doesn't apply enough pressure, his writing is very light and difficult to read.

I do not think that E would need or qualify for help with the an OT; however, I do think extra help with the Touch could help him develop his motor skills. Using an app that helps him form letters and have to apply pressure the screen with his finger to form the shapes of the letters will help E develop the motor skills necessary for writing. An example of this is I Write Words. This app has students trace letters in the correct formation, if traced incorrectly or too lightly, the shape will not appear on the screen.

D: Is a student who is also an ELL but his language skills are higher than A's; however, he has very low self-esteem. He gives up easily, and won't participate unless he has to. He gives up because he still struggles with his letters and counting from 1-20 and doesn't want to fail.

As part of our math curriculum we use a "penny chart". This chart also includes nickels and dimes, helping students skip count by 5's and 10's and it is also used for addition and subtraction. An app that can be used to help D with his counting and math is Coin Math. This app could be used as a supplement to the curriculum and give D the extra help with counting coins and doing math with money. Having this extra help on his own with his own Touch can help him gain self esteem and overcome his fear of failure.