Ok....so I am not a professional.....YET!!

What has changed....

Well it has been a while since I have posted. Things have changed....yes they have. It is sometimes amazing what can happen in the space of a year (or two).  I am not teaching Kindergarten anymore. I have also switched schools. I got married!! Ya, there have been a few changes. Change is good, it makes us grow, it helps with resiliency.

I love my new school. I love my new class. I love my new husband. I am still TOTALLY in love with using iPads in my class. I keep learning and growing. Every year I am more deliberate, more transformative. But it just makes me want more opportunities.

I am going to give this blogging thing a go(again). A REAL effort to reflect and share. I am somewhat intimidated with what is out there now. It grows exponentially every second. But here is my five-plus decades of life wisdom.....baby steps. Do something small until it feels comfortable, than grow it and nurture it.

Changes are good....

I am back

I took a slight 'leave of absence' from my blog. In this interim, however, I continued my journey of discovering everything that I can related to the iPad. My class continues to adore using this technology. It is always one of the first discussions of the day, "Who has their turn with the iPads?". "When do we get to use them today?"...There certainly are limitations to only having several to use in a classroom. By default, they have become a learning station, because for the most part, I don't have time during my day to work with two kids at a time. As I have spent countless hours researching and evaluating their use, my instincts still continue to tell me that 'just' having kids work independently using the educational apps really is not exploiting the real value of an iPad in the classroom. During my Christmas vacation, I decided to spend some quality time really delving into possible uses of the iPad besides how they were currently being used.

As an adult user, I found it takes awhile to assimilate to using an iPad. If you are a 'power' laptop user like I have been in the last few years, it just has a different 'feel'. The filing system is completely different (in fact, it doesn't exist...at least not to the degree that I have become accustomed to using on my MacBook). The best way I can describe it (to myself) is I felt for the longest time that I was always having to find a 'work around' as I navigated through tasks or simply familiarized myself with apps. Honestly, I have not mastered its UI....it still feels a bit foreign and I still find myself looking for a way to 'save' or 'save to'. Those kinds of filing and storing tasks still feel don't feel at all intuitive. For my purposes, in my work at school and home, I doubt I will ever give up my MacBook, but I think in order to get to a point where you can start to really evaluate and explore the iPad's best use in a classroom, you have to 'muss about' and figure out basic functions and navigations...otherwise, I think it is going to be relegated to a 'game playing' device or maybe a shiny glass covered 'text'....both, although valuable to a degree, don't reach its full potential.

I finally had a breakthrough when I realized I could 'create' content with the Keynote application. I read a lot of reviews and discussions about it's shortcomings and lackluster functioning, and with it's 'big ticket' price, I had hesitated to tap 'install'. But for my purposes, and because I have intentions to teach my kindergarten kids to use it, it is actually a wonderful asset and I would highly recommend making it one of your first purchases.

I will continue this discussion and my plans to create digital portfolios with my kindergarten kids in my next post.

Beyond the Obvious

For me, the "obvious" when working on an iPad is utilizing apps that can be acquired at the App Store. They are slick, shiny, easy, and interactive. I was immediately impressed with the vast array of educational apps, I could spend hours perusing, and if a budget was not an issue, I could spend ALOT! But I have been very conservative in purchasing apps. Of couse the free apps are always my first preference, and some of them are excellent! I have acquired a few "lite" versions of apps(they are also free). The difference between a lite app and the full price app, is the lite version is scaled back. In the case of an alphabet activity, the lite version would only give you the option of working with the first five or six letters of the alphabet rather than all 26 letters. This gives you a great idea whether or not you feel like the app is 'buy worthy'. I have also found that the more apps you look at the more consumer savvy you become. Certainly some apps have more bells and whistles, but as I have become more familiar with what is available for my kindergarten kids, I can come to a pretty quick assessment as to whether or not it will accomplish the educational goals that I have. I am sure there are a plethora of game-like apps. Right now I am not interested in any of those. I do wish there was a way a segregating the apps that are collecting on my screen. It is possible to move the order that they appear around on the screen, but they can't be scooted to the next page(at least I have not figured out that possiblity). I have thought about how I can go about directing individual students to work in particular apps and not in others, without me intervening or policing their usage. The one thing I have come up with is to take a screen shot of the page and then email the image and eventually print a hard copy. From there I can give each child a menu of the apps that I want them to work on, by looking at the hard copy they can activate those particular apps.

But beyond the obvious.....besides using apps, my next few posts will begin to explore the other uses of the iPad that I have discovered in my class.

What if......

Sometimes at night I can't sleep. There is always something to think about. My little one in class that doesn't seem to be making the progress that he should by this time in the year. The parent letter that I need to write. The sub that I need to call in so I can attend that meeting. Maybe everyone's brain works overtime even when it's supposed to be resting, but it seems like a teacher never has a moment when their thoughts are not invaded with school related content. But sometimes when sleep does not come instead of worrying about this or that, I like to play the "what if..." game. Like, "what if I won the lottery, would I continue teaching?" Or "what if I had a whole class where EVERY parent really cared about their child's education?" Or sometimes even "what if I woke up to the "it's a snow day" call?"

The other night my "what if...." game had the following theme: "What if I had an iPad for every one of my 21 students?" It was an interesting mental conversation. It went something like this:

"WOW...this is exactly what I have dreamed of, how incredibly cool is this! Every child could have an individualized menu of learning activities they could access at a moment's notice....but wait, let's think about the logistics....how do I keep them all charged? Where do I keep them all? How much is it going to cost to buy the apps that I might want to use for an ENTIRE class? What else will I use them for besides just finding educational applications? Will I trust and allow the students to take them home? What will they use them for at home? Will I be constantly feeling guilty that I am not using them to their utmost value? Will their use REALLY have an educational impact? How will I know if it does?".

Maybe my two iPads that I have in my classroom right now will do. Go slow to go fast. I have some things to think about. My educational instinct is telling me that the iPad could transform some aspects of instruction and learning, but I am glad to be going slow.....for now. When I get some answers to those late night musings, I will then begin to play the "How do I get more iPads for my class?" game.

And Then There Were Two

Ok...1 iPad in a class of 21 kindergartners just doesn't work out. I thought that after the novelty wore off, we would get into a normal routine of sharing and "taking our turn". No. So I did it. I cashed in my 20,000 points that I have been frugally guarding for the last few years. THIS year, in the Bonus Points Catalog the first thing that caught my eye was the big ticket technology item of an iPad! I couldn't believe my luck! I don't know how these points are monetized (is this the right word?) and how they decided on the value of the item compared to the points, but I felt like 20,000 points was a GREAT deal! It was a big decision though. I have been saving these points for YEARS!! But having had these couple of weeks to 'test drive' the use of the iPad in my class has convinced me that I really HAD to have another one in my classroom in order to find out if this technology has potential for positive benefits with my young learners.

Our school custodian brought it in when it arrived. At first I couldn't figure out what the package was, then I remembered OUR iPad! It was SO much fun opening the package together with my darlings looking on. It really looks so unassuming and simple as it comes out of the box, so unlike so many other technological acquisitions I have made. There are no tome-like instruction manuals or 1-800-call-India tech support or CD's to load or red, yellow and purple cables. We took it out, turned it on and we were locked and loaded. THIS is why I L-O-V-E the iPad in my Kindergarten class....simple, no mess learning!!!

Sometimes even FANCY technology doesn't win out

I have a student that is HIGHLY motivated by technology. He has been the beneficiary of many technological advances in his short life. He was born deaf and at 18 months received a cochlear implant. Besides the cochlear implant he wears hearing aids and I use an FM system to increase understanding in his hearing. I am not sure if his behavior issues are a product of living in a world where things don't always seem clear or comprehensible, or if, because he has never gotten a clear understanding of what acceptable behavior, he doesn't know how to act accordingly, but either way, my dear friend struggles with our daily rigor and routines. The one thing he absolutely adores is the computer. The first time I met him was at Back to School night. As most of the other children were wandering around looking at the other amenities that a kindergarten room offers, I found him sitting in front of my not yet networked computer trying his hardest to get it to respond in some fashion. Every day he asks "Is it computer day?" When we got the iPad, the look on his face was like Christmas, Halloween, and the best birthday ever. An even bigger attraction, is that his FM system plugs directly into the iPad, so for those precious few minutes when it is his turn, hearing is not a deficit. Of course, the bad news is.....one iPad, 21 students....you do the math. At the most, my sweet student has one day a week for his turn and then it is still be shared amongst at least three other students. This is one of the things we learn and practice in Kindergarten...to share. This is one of the things that B. can NOT do. So unfortunately, every day when it is iPad time, we go through a major meltdown when the realization hits that it is someone else's turn rather than B's.

In a desperate moment when all other redirection and distraction didn't seem to suffice, I had ONE ace up my sleeve. LIVE WORMS! We had just gotten our very fresh and very active and very fat worms for our science unit of study. And it worked. Sometimes even the fanciest of technology doesn't hold a candle to the fascinating allure of nature's finest; big, slimy, wriggly worms. Thank goodness.