Sometimes solutions are right in front of us. One of my kindergarten teachers had been working really hard looking for a way to have a group of her students listen to a recording. This was an important recording she and her student teacher had made on an MP3 player. They wanted to provide it in a center. It was a truly exciting engaging recording. But there was a problem. Their listening center, many of you will recognize this style from the photo, had stopped working. Who knows why.
A short somewhere…age…but it had stopped. They’d found others in the same style but those didn’t have the necessary adapter to fit the tiny MP3 player. They considered re-recording to a different format, perhaps not using a listening center. They decided they might need to ditch their center plan and have each student plug in and listen individually.
But this teacher was determined to have her students work and respond in groups and so she came to me knowing I keep many new tech devices handy. Sure enough I had what she needed. Take a look at the contrast in space alone the new listening center, a Belkin RockStar 5-Way 3.5 mm Headphone Splitter, takes up in the classroom. Consider also the cost, I purchased mine on Amazon for $14, far less than our old splitters/listening centers. The Belkin RockStar Splitter, a great affordable solution for classroom listening centers.