Ipads+Kristie

[|Ipads McCullough2012]

2. Students have acquired new technology skills that they had not had previously - please see the 21st century list below. - As tech savvy as my students think they are, they all learned a great deal having the ipads in our classroom for round 3.
 * //__ Digital-Age Literacy __//** - The students actively used their digital citizenship skills by including copyright credit in all of their projects that they completed, as well they expanded their presentation options and used them fully.
 * //__ Inventive Thinking __//** - The students were left to be very inventive. When they knew it was "app download day" they would race to the ipads to see what new app had appeared. At that point, I would give them the time to discover the app, and apply it to what we were learning in the class. When asked to make a presentation on Crown Corporations in Social Studies, the students were given the option to use PowerPoint, for those people who wanted to play it safe; however, 52 out of the 55 students all used "new" apps to build and present and their information.
 * //__ Effective Communication __//** - The students loved the ability to email their completed work to me instead of printing it off. They used Evernote as well as the email option from the Student's Tools app that we used in LA. They also enjoyed working in groups, where one student would be searching and the other would be creating on the other ipad. We were excited to try Twitter in our classroom, so we could create our own #hashtag and back channel during lessons; however, that was not possible with the blocks that exist in our Division.
 * //__ High Productivity & Quality, State-of-the-Art Results __//** - The most rewarding part of this whole journey was the fact that one student said, "wow, I can use my ipad for so much more than games; I think it should be on all school supply lists next year." The products that the students created through screen chomp, corkulous, imovie, explain everything, posterous, etc really impressed both them and me.

3. **Students have learned about digital citizenship** - Digital Citizenship is a daily conversation in our classroom. All the students at STF were taught the DC lessons that were created by the Division Team, through their health classes; however, it didn't stop there, as the objectives that were covered in those lessons were continually discussed and modelled throughout the year. 4. **How has our teaching changed? What practices will you continue?** My teaching has changed as a result of having the Ipads. I use the ipads daily for projects, research, note taking and apps that link to our objectives. I will continue to use the technology that the students bring to the classroom with their personal owned devices, as it is engaging and so convenient. 5. **What are some best practices?** Allowing the students to explore the apps for themselves instead of giving them a lesson. They are curious and love the success of "figuring out" what a new app is all about. Allow game time, it keeps the students focused when we are working on an assignment or project, because they know each class they will have a few minutes to play one of the games on the ipad. Make sure the students are assigned a specific ipad; they took a lot of pride and ownership over the ipads and were always sure to check that they were returned to their proper spots and plugged in. Spend time researching apps that relate to your curriculum and can be a resource for you and the students. The presentation apps are amazing and the students love the final, professional product that they create. Ensure your SmartBoard has the proper cable so you can connect the ipads to the screen for easy projection of presentations.

**7. Listing what I have learned and what were some of the challenges**? I learned I can't live without ipads in my classroom next year. A few of the challenges were: restrictions from websense, not having the ability to view flash video, and the charging cords would often fall out and even when you thought they were connected they weren't, so students had to sometimes hold the cord in while I specifically synced their ipad. **8. What was your personal growth as a learner**? I learned to take more chances and to modify my assessment to include the technology that we had in the classroom. I researched and learned many new apps that linked to my curriculum and could assist in supporting what I was teaching. **9. What are some tips for next time users?** Specifically assign the ipads. Give the students open access to the ipads; you will learn more from them then you could ever imagine. **10. What is your legacy piece? How have you left a digital footprint to let other know about your important work with kids? (Video, digital storytelling, celebrations with parents, inviting senior administration, manual, collaborative place for yourself and your students)** We created a video that demonstrated the kids using the ipads for project presentations, and administrators were invited in when we worked with the technology. **11. Sample lessons - share 2 lessons that you taught using the equipment (short form – objective of the lesson, brief description of the activity, how did you assess it, and reflection on how the students responded)** Introduction of the plot line- the students were given a story from the website: www.classicshortstories.com to read. Upon completion of the reading they went to the Tools for Students app and completed a plot line of the events in the story. The students emailed their completed plot line to me. The students loved the fact that I could bring their plot line up on the SmartBoard to show the class what their analysis was. Crown Corporation Presentation- in Social Studies we had been studying Crown Corporations.. The students were assigned a project to briefly describe a Crown Corporation in Canada, the benefits, the drawbacks, etc. The students used the ipads to research and then created their presentations using one of the many apps that were on the ipads. The students were very engaged in the material, as they found it interesting to apply what they knew and to put it into a new presentation format. LogosQuiz- we were studying consumerism in Social Studies, and were discussing the importance of advertising and branding in our economy. I had the students go to the LogosQuiz app to see how affected by consumerism they each were. It turned out to be one of our best classes all year, as they really saw a connection between what we were learning and the real world and its influences. **12. Websites, tools, or apps that you used with your students** www.classicshortstories.com www.polleverywhere.com dropbox, screenchomp, explaineverything, phoster, puppetpals HD, teacherPal, logosquiz, threering, remind101, coolibah, wikipedia, ted, life, skitch, cloudon(it was blocked, but is a fabulous app), paper, evernote, dictionary.com, tools for students, paperport notes, t-charts, imovie **13. Other unexpected findings from your project:** Just the student excitement and enthusiasm. **14. Final thoughts about your project** **. ** I am so thankful I had the opportunity to pilot the ipads in my classroom. As I said before, it is going to be hard not to have them next year. It was great to provide my students with the opportunity to use and appreciate the technology in an academic way. **15. Would you recommend to use this equipment?** yes, yes, yes
 * 6. How has student achievement improved because of the use of the equipment ** ? When ipads were used for assignments and projects I always got 100% of the work turned into me for marking. They were excited for me to see what they had created. Their achievement, in terms of expanding their academic tools, is amazing. They really see the value of using ipads as an educational device.