This was our first year of being 1:1 with iPad in grades K-8, our high school went to laptops. I had no clue how much of an impact the iPad would have on me both as a parent, as the teacher and also as the learner. Now that the school year is over and I have had 4 days to decompression (read 4 romance novels, and sit outside) I am ready to reflect on the year. Below are the top 5 things I learned this year.
1. It is hard to be an early adaptor. I loved the idea of 1:1, but I thought the bugs would be worked out before the school year started. I was wrong. I spent most of the first marking period crying at home since I was not able to show students what I was doing on my iPad. I feel that I failed my first grading period iPad class. Of course this had all of my special needs students in there. My amazing husband (and support system) bought me an adaptor to play my ipad. Once that happened, we got Apple TV in the classroom. Things turned around.
2. Nothing will go as planned. Every update that came with the iPad brought new challenges and headaches. I would decide to show an app and the students were not able to download it because wifi was down, or they don't have iTunes accounts. By the end I knew what questions to ask on the first day of every 9 week session to work through some of them. In the end, students were instrumental in helping develop a list of apps that can be used instead of just about anything.
3. Students in school right now might be digital natives but they are not tech savvy. They play games, they face time, they Instagram but when you ask them to problem solve or be creative their are crippled with fear. By the end of the marking period, students were starting to take responsibility for their devices and work with their peers to problem solve. By the time they would come to me they would start the conversation with "I already tried ...." Students were taking risks by asking teachers if they can do something different with a project. It was a quiet victory dance when I would hear that.
4. I expect more from others than others do. As a parent, I wanted the teachers to be using the iPad in class. I was sad when my kids came home with 97% of their battery life. I thought others would be as excited as I was having these devices but they weren't. People complained and I grew tired of hearing it. I felt so bad for the tech coaches. I expected our administration to model what they wanted us using the devices for.
5. It is more than ok to give up control in the classroom. I'm not talking behavior management type of control, more along the lines of letting the students teach me or I'm there to facilitate and encourage. Towards the end of the year, my 8th grade students were working on an assignment where they had to use the plot map to write a script for a stop motion movie. They needed scenery and all that jazz. I looked around the room, they were working collaboratively and I was there to facilitate, to offer suggestions and to be there for them to bounce ideas off of. When I meet the kiddos in 6th grade, I would never thought we would get to that point.
With all of this realized I am in a place where I am looking forward. I can not change how others feel about the technology gift we have been given, instead I am going to use it to my students benefit. Let them become empowered, have the independence and ability to create amazing things. I will continue to search out exciting ideas and assignments that force my students to grow their thinking. I will share my ideas with others that want to learn from it. I will not apologize when I step on people's toes by using the technology or when the students ask their teacher if they can do something different. I hope that at some point others will become excited about these ideas and start to use them in the classroom because the students deserve a change.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
The end is near...
Now that we are finished with our state testing (OAA) although I still have Friday to do, I have started to reflect on the school year. It has been an amazing year. There is so much to reflect on both the good, the bad and the UGLY.
By nature I try to maintain a positive classroom environment. I want the room to be someplace where the kids feel like it is their 2nd home. I want it to be a place where I want to spend my time. My typical day has me at school by 7:10 and leaving at 3:30. For the better part of my day, I am in my classroom. I love the color combination, all of my storage, how organized my teacher bookcase is. What I don't like it my table layout. I go from a class of 25 where were are moving and using the iPads to a class of 6 with small group instruction. Currently I have 6 tables. Figuring out how to place them has been an issue all year long. We have been testing out different set ups.
I have to say I love being a resource room teacher. This group of kids I have now, have been with me since 6th grade. When I had some of them in 6th grade, I didn't think we would make it to 8th grade. The amount of growth and maturity they have shown is utterly amazing. It gets me every year. They have allowed me to treat our classroom as a trial and error lab with the 1:1 devices. They have been brutally honest on what works and what does not. One of my kiddos said "Mrs. S. if we can figure it out, then everyone else that is smarter should be able to figure it out." While I agree with him, I don't like him feeling that he isn't as smart as everyone else. He is an amazing kid who can teach you anything about nature. I really am going to miss them once they go on to the high school. I know I prepared them when I am not inundated with emails from them at the beginning of the year.
I have become very tech dependent. It is a part of every lesson that I teach. In my classroom, the students do not see this as only a device to play games, but a device to create. This past week we have experienced "strained" internet issues or apps just disappearing (that was an honest mistake) but it made me realize that I have changed my teaching. We are using the iPad to take notes, record information, and synthesize information. My 8th grade students read 3 different articles on tips for the transition from middle school to high school, they then are creating games with that information.
Right now as a tech committee we are struggling with the thoughts of keeping the App Store on or turning it off in the future. I can see both sides of the coin on this one, but in my specific learning environment, it would hinder the educational process. I challenge my students to find things that work for them. I have banned powerpoint from my classroom, so I now have a list of at least 5 different presentation apps that kids can use.
I am beginning to look ahead at the future. Presenting went so well last week that I want to present again. I have already submitted a proposal to present the same information in October, now I want to add how to become a paperless classroom and manage all of those things. Would that be a session you would want to hear? Especially if I include student perspective?
By nature I try to maintain a positive classroom environment. I want the room to be someplace where the kids feel like it is their 2nd home. I want it to be a place where I want to spend my time. My typical day has me at school by 7:10 and leaving at 3:30. For the better part of my day, I am in my classroom. I love the color combination, all of my storage, how organized my teacher bookcase is. What I don't like it my table layout. I go from a class of 25 where were are moving and using the iPads to a class of 6 with small group instruction. Currently I have 6 tables. Figuring out how to place them has been an issue all year long. We have been testing out different set ups.
I have to say I love being a resource room teacher. This group of kids I have now, have been with me since 6th grade. When I had some of them in 6th grade, I didn't think we would make it to 8th grade. The amount of growth and maturity they have shown is utterly amazing. It gets me every year. They have allowed me to treat our classroom as a trial and error lab with the 1:1 devices. They have been brutally honest on what works and what does not. One of my kiddos said "Mrs. S. if we can figure it out, then everyone else that is smarter should be able to figure it out." While I agree with him, I don't like him feeling that he isn't as smart as everyone else. He is an amazing kid who can teach you anything about nature. I really am going to miss them once they go on to the high school. I know I prepared them when I am not inundated with emails from them at the beginning of the year.
I have become very tech dependent. It is a part of every lesson that I teach. In my classroom, the students do not see this as only a device to play games, but a device to create. This past week we have experienced "strained" internet issues or apps just disappearing (that was an honest mistake) but it made me realize that I have changed my teaching. We are using the iPad to take notes, record information, and synthesize information. My 8th grade students read 3 different articles on tips for the transition from middle school to high school, they then are creating games with that information.
Right now as a tech committee we are struggling with the thoughts of keeping the App Store on or turning it off in the future. I can see both sides of the coin on this one, but in my specific learning environment, it would hinder the educational process. I challenge my students to find things that work for them. I have banned powerpoint from my classroom, so I now have a list of at least 5 different presentation apps that kids can use.
I am beginning to look ahead at the future. Presenting went so well last week that I want to present again. I have already submitted a proposal to present the same information in October, now I want to add how to become a paperless classroom and manage all of those things. Would that be a session you would want to hear? Especially if I include student perspective?
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