As I reflect back on what has been
valuable learning for me, I am amazed by how far I have come in such a short
time. In the middle of June, I was given
an iPad just days before this course started.
I had no prior experience with iPads and limited knowledge regarding
smartphones. I have a “dumb phone” that works great for calls and texting but I
haven’t bothered to upgrade to a smartphone since 9 hours per day, I work in a
classroom with no cell phone access…so from a cost benefit stand point it is
not worth the money. But back to iPads,
in those first few days, I found myself bumbling and stumbling in my attempts
to navigate the iPad and its apps. I would occasionally holler to my son, who
has an iPhone, for help when I was stuck but I clearly had a lot of learning to do if I was going to use this tool with students come Fall.
Now fast forward to October, nearly four months later, and I am comfortable
navigating the iPad. I know how to
search for apps, purchase apps as well as figure out how to use them. I use the iPad daily both personally and
professionally. I have even begun to use
the iPad with my students. First by
using the iPad to photograph my students on a nature scavenger hunt and then
using these photos to create a slideshow to show the students and have them
reflect on our scavenger hunt and the things we found. I have begun to introduce the iPad to
students in my kindergarten class; teaching them how to take care of them and
we have begun to teach the students how to use the different apps on the kindergarten iPads.
I found
having time to explore specific apps, create projects with these apps, even creating
a blog to reflect and post my learning enabled me to learn by doing. It was hands on and learner directed learning while at
the same time allowing us to complete a common assignment.
After learning by doing, I was then able to think about my learning and
build on my knowledge as well as figure out what I still wanted to know and learn how to do it. Some of this learning was easy and some of it was frustrating and time consuming. All of it was a great diversion while sitting on the couch recovering from major knee surgery. Having
professional peers engaged in the same process helped me to use them for
resources when I was encountering difficulties as well as share my knowledge in
areas that I understood more readily and felt more confident. We definitely learned a lot from each other
and about each other in this process.
I plan
to continue using the iPad, daily, to document my observations of student
learning. The app, Teacher Notes,
enables me to photograph or video or audio record student work and/or thinking,
type a note and assign each observation to the student or students involved,
the learning domain and the content area within that domain. This saves me time with recording and filing
student notes; especially if the observation is for multiple students. I plan to continue to introduce apps to
students during guided exploration.
These apps were picked by our grade level team for our cart of iPads. The apps are varied in content so their uses
will be varied as well. It is my plan
that students will use the iPads to both practice and build upon their current
skills and knowledge. I hope to use the iPads
to make books with my students that can be shared electronically with the
student’s parents. Other ways I use the iPad professionally are really an
extension of my computer such as checking email, calendar features, note taking
features, etc.
I think
it would be great to have time to work on projects or share ideas either in my
grade level or in a K-2 group. I think
sharing of ideas, both what we have been successful with as well as what did
not go well and why, is important. By
sharing ideas we can continue to learn from one another and ideally this should
make the children’s classroom iPad experiences richer. This class has been great and I have learned so much; Thank you!
