In The Beginning

I am a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher in a large 4A Title I School. I teach Clothing Design, Early Childhood Education, and Human Development. There are an increasing number of ipad blog or informational websites sites for core subject area teachers such as Math, Science, and English...but there is not much for Career and Technical Education teachers...YET! I am creating the blog I wish I had so you will benefit from my experiences, no matter what you teach because teaching is teaching! I have received so many questions about how it is going or what it is like to teach with ipads that I decided to start blogging my experiences for teachers like you. As more and more tablets are delivered to teachers there will be more resources and more experts available to help. Until then I hope this helps you!

I received 30 ipads for my classroom about five weeks ago. There were many growing pains but my kids are now comfortable using them, they have become a normal part of the classroom. I've discovered many tricks and tips that I hope other teachers will use to make the introduction of ipads a smooth transition.

I've seen other blogs that tell teachers how to unpack their ipads and handle the technology side of the tablets. I'm very lucky that my ipads were delivered to me in a cart (COW-Computer on Wheels) ready to go, the technology department took care of all the set up so I can focus on teaching.

Here are a Tips to help you get started!

1. Security: Assign every student a number so if an ipad goes missing you will have a starting point to begin your investigation.

-This also helps students because their work may be ipad specific and they will need to use the same ipad every day

-Kids don't want to take an ipad that isn't theirs because they are afraid someone else will steal theirs and they will be responsible for it. If a student does take an ipad that isn't theirs by mistake then another student usually informs me (because they want their own).

-I have not had a problem with security

-Mark your ipads with a number in some way (technology did this for me on the ipads but then we got covers, black covers that a marker wouldn't show up on. I used white out to mark the number for each ipad.

2. Ipad Sharing: Ipads were not designed to be shared and I have up to five students a day on the same ipad! Some apps don't make students log on or off. This means that if one student in one class does an assignment then the student in the next class will have access to the answers! Their answers are public! This can lead to cheating, which doesn't help kids learn. To avoid this problem you simply find apps that perform the same function and put multiple apps on your tablet, for example, find more than one flashcard app or more than one mind map app. Then tell certain classes to access specific apps. I had one class do their work in Popplet and another use Graphio-both mind map apps that perform similar functions. Both classes made a mind map and met the daily objective without seeing another student's answer, kids may figure this out, my students have not though.

3. Apps! Apps! Apps! I've spent a lot of time researching apps (I refuse to pay for apps so every app I will ever list is free unless otherwise stated) below is a list of what I've used so far (as I find and use new apps I will share that on this blog):

-Edmodo: This app is like Facebook for school. Students can turn in their work, I can post assignments, give quizzes, polls, etc. Students come in every day and get their ipad then they get their Entry Task off of Edmodo.

-Dropbox: This is a "cloud." A cloud is a place on the Internet that I picture a filing cabinet...my very own. A cloud is a place on the Internet for you to store your documents and pictures. It's a great way to back up your files.

-Popplet: A mind map tool

-Grafio Lite: Another mind map tool

-Lino: A virtual cork board

-StoryBuddy Lite: Students can make a children's book, my students in Early Childhood Education made a "story" that was more like a Power Point on Child Abuse and Neglect so this app can have many functions in the classroom.

-Ted Talks: Bring a guest speaker into your classroom! Ted is a collections of speeches on specific topics by experts. My students have loved every one I've shown.

-Moodboard Lite: My students have used this as a mind map or it can be used like a virtual poster. My students in Clothing Design made a "poster" using Moodboard.

-Flashcards Lite: Students can study for tests and make flashcards for vocabulary using this app or

-A+ Pro

-Educreations: A virtual whiteboard. Your can use this like Power Point, they can use it as a mini whiteboard, you can record as you go, there are a lot of possibilities and I would consider this a staple in the ipad classroom. It's the best virtual white board I've come across.

-Cloud On: Looks like Microsoft! Has Word-like program, Power Point-like program, etc.

I do not use the following regularly yet but I'm excited to do so in the NEAR future!

-Evernote: Students should take notes using this app and not the notebook on the ipad because students can log in and out of Evernote. The notes they take on the ipad are public for all to see, steal, or alter. Evernote allows you to take pictures to help understand concepts and they can access it from anywhere they have Internet

-Use Evernote with Skitch because the two apps will talk to each other. I have not used Skitch yet because I just learned about this from a co-worker but I'm excited about it so I wanted to share it!

-Nearpod: You can create lessons using this app and a Power Point like slide show that you control from a teacher ipad will be shown on every student ipad! You can give polls, show videos, and so much more!




-Glogster: I've been told a Glog looks like an Infographic (look that up on a search engine, they are very cool and becoming more and more common). This knowledge makes me want to use this now! I just learned about Glogs and I'm excited to use them in the classroom!











-Word Cloud or Wordsalad: To be used with vocabulary




Haiku Deck: Also, a cool app for vocabulary. You can have students match a picture to the word to help them visualize concepts.




-Photocard: Students can send a post card to someone about something in class. They could pretend to be a character in a story, write to an author, explain a concept, the possibilities are endless!

Those are a few of the apps I've used and am looking forward to using. I'm going slowly because I know you have to slow down to speed up. There is a huge learning curve every time you implement a new piece of technology into the classroom. I'm enjoying it and I know I've come a long way. I have a long way to go but I'm over the first speed bump. I hope that by documenting my journey I help you with yours and if you ever have any questions please let me know, I am a teacher after all!

I'm including the next section so you can see where I began...

When I first received the ipads I wrote a journal of my experiences I thought it would benefit you to see how I felt, where my head was, etc:


Friday, October 26, 2012

I’m overwhelmed with the ipads. I want them to be amazing, and I want it now! They are going to make things easier but a second order change is never easy. I think my kids are feeling held back by me so I want to give them freedom to show me the projects they can create, I just don’t know how to do that…yet. I know that this will be a gradual process but I feel stuck right now. I want to sink into my old assignments and methodology of teaching but that would not allow the ipads to do what they were intended to do…change teaching, change learning, and prepare students for the world they will live in.




Lesson Planning Goals: I’m going to look at my objectives, big ideas, and power standards. From there I try to find apps/resources/etc. that will engage kids in the lessons.



Current uses:

1I post assignments on ‘Edmodo,’ students can do it in Google Docs. Pictures also can be uploaded into ‘Edmodo.’ Students can take a screen shot of their assignment OR take a picture of their assignments and turn them in that way.

2I had my Clothing Design students label and hand write types of hand stitches on ‘Educreations.’

aStudents then showed me-they can hold it up like a whiteboard. I can use this to make sure every kid answers every question, every time!

Uses: Vocabulary, lectures-ask for feedback

In Human Development my students watched a video/speech on ‘Ted Talks’ and then I asked them to sit in an aggressive way (the video covered types of body language and the messages they can send). Every single kid did it! Then I asked them to show me a passive way to sit, every kid sunk down in their seats.
 Students were more engaged if they have the video in their hand than if they watch it at the front of the room or even if I lectured. Interesting, didn’t see that coming!

Even students that never turn anything in were just so excited to have an ipad that they were engaged and eager to work on the tablet.

In Clothing Design some students were struggling with hand stitching and types of stitches and I have thirty students! I can’t get to all of them so I told students they could try to find an instructional video on You Tube (while they wait for me to get to them). This will actually SHOW visual learners how to do things step-by-step AND students can watch it as many times as they need to if they missed something. I want to look into recording my lectures so my kids can re-watch them whenever they need more help or have questions.

 Engagement: Every kid does everything I ask on the ipad , just because they like it. The ipads have increased student motivation tenfold in my classroom.

Struggles:
 I don’t know how I will be able to grade assignments that are on the ipad, I’ve found some solutions (see #1 of current uses), but I want more. Student work on ipads is stuck on the ipads! I am not going from tablet to tablet to grade student work! This is supposed to make my life easier. I use Edmodo but Edmodo doesn't currently support ios (ipads). I hope they will soon...until then....

I cannot monitor the use, while I am helping students the other students are using the tablet as a toy, this is a classroom management issue I will continue to address. The younger students are the guiltiest of this.

I can’t find the books I want for my content (Human Development, Early Childhood Education, and Clothing Design). My assistant said if I get him a list of books he will get them for me so hopefully this will be addressed soon. We paid for the ipads...I don't want to pay for books! I've contacted our librarian about checking out books electronically, that would be great!

I have trouble finding presentations in my content area on Discovery, PBS, Ted, or even CNN. I guess I could have the kids seek out current events and have them find things which will enhance problem solving skills. It's easy to find Math, Science, or English resources for lessons but as a CTE teacher I have to get more creative.

Thoughts:

I think I need to let go of the idea that I have to plan the lesson and have it more student driven. Let them show me what they can do on the tablet after I give them the objective and parameters. They can demonstrate learning in so many different ways. Student choice will also help them support their own learning style, increase motivation, increase students success AND self-esteem.

Therefore students are going to research careers and use the information they find to make a product to share with the class (I am going to give several samples such as Use Educreations, Cloud On, or Story Buddy Lite to make a Power Point like product. Students can video tape themselves talking about their project, make a poster and video tape it slowly (to use ipads in some way-this was only for students who really struggled with the transitions for the ipads and was not offered as an option right away), they could make a mind map about their career using Popplet, Grafio, or Lino. They could make a virtual poster using Moodboard.

So much more to come! I'm learning more and more every day!