Technology as a Tool

After seven weeks (28 actual class days) of working with iPads, netbooks and desktop computers in the classroom in a 1:1 environment, my students have settled into a pretty swell routine. The apps most used by students to get their work done are Safari for Internet research, and Office² HD for creating documents and/or adding them to their Google Docs. For fun I catch students playing Chess or Rush Hour. Along with Doodle Buddy, still a favorite, those are the apps students use the most.

On my iPad I find myself using Office² HD whenever I need to work with documents. I also use Mail, Reeder, TwitBird Pro, Read It Later, Evernote, Wordpress, Facebook, and Dictionary the most. I have used Gusto a few times when I want to edit my HW webpages on my iPad instead of pulling out my laptop. Our tech guy also turned me on to Desktop, which has been great for connecting to my Macs from my iPad, but I haven't used it as much as I thought I would. Having the PDF Reader has also been invaluable since I get a lot of attachments via email.

What I'm most delighted with has been how students work in a 1:1 environment and how well they make use of the iPads for learning. They are truly using the technology as tools. It's not about the technology, it's about learning and working. I filmed a typical day of my students at work. What you see in that video is what I see every day! This is what I was hoping would happen. The technology is no different than books, paper and pencils were when I was in school. This is how it should be. Check it out:

iPads, New to our District

I am excited to join this community and learning how more people use these type of devices within their classrooms.  My district just recently purchased 20 iPads for use throughout our building.  For us, a K-8 building with only 8 to 15 students per grade and 84 total student population, this is a great chance to use something other than a text book, because in theory every student can have one right in front of them during the entire class.  I, being the "techie" of the group, decided to really pursue them being used.  That led me to this site and to Mr. Meech. 

I would love to hear from anyone who uses the iPod or iPad technology in their classroom.  At this time, we have three of thirteen teachers using them on a weekly basis in their classroom.  Not bad for us, but I want to see more.  I look forward to posting more about our experience here and learning from everyone within this community.

Play First, Work Later

When you bring out math manipulatives you let the kids play with them a bit so that later they can focus on the work of learning with the tool. That was my intent with our new iPads and netbooks. I have lots of ideas I want my students to try out but first I thought I'd let them play. They did ask nicely, after all. :)

I was also curious as to the apps they would gravitate to on their own. At first I was a bit surprised to see kids going to YouTube and Safari. I mean, they could do that on my iMacs. Many were content with YouTube in all of my five classes. Most did try out some apps. Doodle Buddy was a huge hit (Draw Free was popular but I saw more kids use Doodle Buddy). Rush Hour as well. I even got hooked! The chess app was quite popular. Meanderthal made kids curious but the iPads can't take pictures so they couldn't try it out. A few kids checked out Animals HD and the HD Marine Life App. I even had a few kids write a blog! Two were blogs about the iPads and one was actually the current assignment! Here are some of the kids' blogs on the iPads: iPads and Netbooks, The iPads, New iPads, and here's a blog with a Poll Daddy poll and a second student tried it too (it was extremely easy!).

What an awesome play experience! Here are the results of a Google Form asking kids which apps they liked the best.

Here's a video of their first day of play: