I am a grade four teacher with Rocky View Schools. This school district has embraced the use of numerous innovations and initiatives in order to enhance the learning of the 21st Century Learner. One initiative available to teachers is to apply for a “Technology Innovation Grant”. Continue reading
Using iPads to Develop Writing Skills
The students in my class recently completed a writing project entirely on the iPad. Here is an explanation of what apps were used!
Planning:
The students planned their story using the app MindMeister a brainstorming app.
First Copy:
The draft copy was written using the app iAWriter. This is a very simple and uncomplicated word processing app. The keyboard is very basic and easy to use. The students quite prefer doing their writing projects on this app. I also really like the word count on this app. The students were given a guideline to write a story that was to be about six hundred words. They also used the word count to ensure it had a balanced beginning, middle and conclusion.
iPads and Teaching Mathematics – Classroom Story #3
The Theory and the Curriculum
The Alberta Mathematics Curriculum for Grade Four has a heavy component in which the students are taught how to add and subtract three and four digit numbers using a variety of mental math strategies. My experience has been that it is a lot easier to teach the students how to do the work but it has been more challenging to have the students explain their understanding of exactly how they were able to complete the work. In other words, the students are required to think about their thinking, also known as metacognition. Continue reading
iPads and Integrated Learning – Classroom Story #2
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n the last post titled iPads and Inquiry Learning – Classroom Story #1, I shared a classroom story of the inquiry learning that occurred. In my observations it was the iPad that facilitated a deeper understanding of the concepts in our Simple Machine Science Unit we were studying because the students were easily able to explore the various terms and concepts as well as investigate their inquiry questions using Google Images and Google Websites. Once they found the answers and images (without identifiable copyright status) they were able to easily insert their newly discovered information into their Pages document. In addition, it was my students who shared how much they loved how fast they were able to acquire the information and how they could easily put it into their project work. During inquiry learning , the iPads are so intuitive and as a result enable the learning to be so seamless.
Similarly, I have discovered the iPad is also brilliant for facilitating integrated learning. Not only did this unit have an inquiry focus, but it also was integrated across the subjects Science, Math, and Language Arts. Continue reading
iPads and Inquiry Learning – Classroom Story #1
Recently, we completed a wonderful inquiry project titled Amazing Amusement Park Rides. It was designed and delivered as an inquiry problem based unit following the principles of Understanding By Design (UbD). The essential question was “What simple machines are used in amusement park rides and how do they function?”
The final project consisted of each student designing and constructing a unique amusement park ride using primarily recycled materials. The final goal was to create a class amusement park that upon completion was showcased in the gym to guests including the student body and teachers, parents and community members. The special guest invited was the manager/engineer of the amusement park located in close proximity to our school. He toured all of the rides, interviewed the students about their ride, took notes and provided all of the students with constructive feedback. Continue reading
The iPad 2 Split Keypad and Young Student Learners
The iPad keypad is very user friendly for young learners for two significant reasons. The first is the split keypad on the iPad 2 and the second is that there are significantly fewer keys for the students to navigate through. As a result, their keyboarding skills improve faster and more quickly.
Split Keypad
When the students initially received their iPad 2, I made a conscious decision to just give it to them without much instruction. The only thing I did was give basic expectations for how to handle them appropriately. I wanted the students to conduct their own inquiry and experience discovery learning with this new classroom device.
My first observation was that some of the students had some experience with the iPad 2, others had some experience with the iPad 1 and some students had no experience at all. But what I witnessed next was unexpected and quite remarkable. Continue reading
A Checklist for Selecting Quality Apps For Your Students
“…we must prepare learners for their future, not our past. 21st Century teaching and learning is NOT about contemporary technology, for 20th Century teaching can continue to thrive with gadgets. Embracing digital devices in classrooms accelerates the theoretical shift to 21st Century pedagogy – but just what is it?”
Greg Bass, Superintendent for Rocky View Schools
The past three blog posts have addressed comprehensively considerations when selecting and downloading apps for your instructional program. Here is a checklist compiling the 25 key ideas in a question format. If you have any other thoughts that I have missed here, let me know. When looking at an app to purchase and download, simply go through the checklist and place a checkmark beside the ones that apply. The more checkmarks there are, the more likelihood the app is a winner!
- Is the app engaging and motivating for the students?
- Can the students easily learn the app independently with some initial instruction?
- Does the app facilitate meaningful learning?
- Does the app facilitate Project Based Learning?
- Does the app support inquiry? Continue reading
Selecting Quality Apps for Your Students: Part 3
Yes, there are even more things to consider when selecting quality apps for your students. This posting is part three of this very important topic.
Similarly, provide apps for the students that allow them to learn and demonstrate their learning through different modalities and even better, multiple modalities. The feedback from my students is that they like the math games that give instant auditory and visual feedback to keep them motivated and challenged to work for the higher level.
I am a firm believer in allowing students to demonstrate their understanding through both text and with visuals like diagrams, graphic organizers, sketches and student drawn pictures. Continue reading
How to Select Quality Apps for Your Students: Part 2
In my last post I talked about a number of considerations when selecting quality apps for your students. This post is a continuation of that discussion:
Be cautious when reading online recommendations about what are the best apps. Thinking I was doing my homework and researching online I have purchased some apps based on these recommendations. However, I have been quite disappointed after downloading them. I am not sure if the app did not fit the learning and instructional outcomes I intended for my students or if there is a whole lot of recommending going on just to push out apps into the market. I can only suggest to review several sites when researching your apps to make sure you are making an informed decision.
I don’t purchase games that do not directly meet the learner outcomes reflective of the curriculum and instructional program. Our students already have access to Continue reading
How to Select Quality Apps for Your Students: Part 1
An interesting phenomena has occurred when it comes to buying apps. The conversations and focus have been on the apps, how many we can find out about and how many we can buy. Let’s face it, there are so many to choose from it is overwhelming, daunting and very time consuming to search them all. It also doesn’t help that many of these apps are free or inexpensive and that it is so easy to just tap the ‘Purchase’ button without putting much thought into whether the app is applicable or appropriate for what we are teaching. In comparison, we never go into a bookstore and buy loads of books even though there are so many available to choose from and we don’t sample every dish at a buffet dinner just because they’re available. But why are we doing this random on mass purchasing of apps when common sense tells us not do it with other purchases in our lives? Continue reading
iPads and Wireless: Ten Things You Need to Know
There are a number of things that need to be in place before having your students turn on their iPad for the first time. This is a list of ten things I have learned and are ‘need to know’ details to make sure it is wrinkle free and smooth running every time:
1. iPads use up three times the wireless resources compared to other wireless computer devices. In other words, one iPad uses up the same amount of wireless as three non iPad wireless devices. That creates significant extra traffic on your wireless network in your school facility. Continue reading