After exploring the iPad this weekend I thought I had come up with a lot of ideas for how to use it in my classroom, but after listening to everyone in class I now have a lot more ideas. This is a reason why I have been really enjoying this class. I come up with ideas for how to use a specific technology on my own, but after listening to my classmates share their ideas I am continually revising my ideas. It is nice that we can all gain or build on ideas from each other for our own classrooms. The iPad discussion in particular was a great way to gain new ideas because I hadn't even thought of some of the ideas that others came up with. For example, using the iPad as a personal white board is an excellent idea. During my student I used the personal white boards all of the time. The students actually really enjoyed using them because it was more fun than pencil and paper. The negative aspect of the boards was passing them out to the class, gathering erasers or tissues, and finding markers that worked because it took time out of the lesson. In my fifth grade class it would take at least five minutes to gather all of these materials. If every student had access to an iPad though this problem would be eliminated. The iPad whiteboard acts the same as a personal white board, but it can actually do more and this would motivate the students. One problem that I could see happening though is the students wanting to play with it instead of focusing on the work that needs to be done. For example, I would use the white boards during mental math lessons and I would notice students doodling on the boards instead of writing down the correct answers. This may become an even bigger problem with the iPad because they are so stimulating.
Another application in the iPad that I really enjoyed was Doodle Buddy. I found it very fun and I am college student so I can't imagine how much fun it would be for a kindergarten student. One idea I had for it was to use it in kindergarten classroom. During my student teaching we would have students construct sentences and then have them draw a picture above their sentence all of the time. Using Doodle Buddy would be a more interactive way to do this same type of activity. They could use the text to type the sentences and then they could draw it above. They would love it!
I also thought that the Teacher Pal application would be very useful for a teacher. For example, it would be a easier to take attendance because you could walk around with it and it would show the same view of your classroom so that you could quickly figure out who was missing. When I was in student teaching I would have to look up at the students several times from the computer to figure out who was gone. Overall, I think that the iPad could be beneficial in a classroom if a teacher uses his or her creative to make it innovative for the students. I know that I would enjoy one if I had one!
I agree with all of your ideas. I too feel like I always learn more when I come to class. I believe I am a person that learns from each other, and I feel this class does a great job of providing that. I also liked the white board idea, I played on it quite a bit this weekend and never thought of using it in that way.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why, but I only briefly looked at the whiteboard app on the iPad this weekend. I am glad we talked about it in class because I learned a lot more about and think it would be a great tool to use in the classroom. This application reminded me of a time when I was student teaching in kindergarten. A lot of my kindergarteners were struggling with writing numbers. For instance, some of the students wanted to write 2-1 for 12 and vice versa. I decided to create a little game in which each table would be in a group and one student from each table would come up to the board at a time. I would tell them a number and the student would have to write the number. If we had had iPads with this application in the classroom, all of the students could have participated by writing each number on their whiteboards.
ReplyDeleteI wish this class wasn't only two weeks long because I am learning so much and I feel that there is so much more we can learn about iPads and technology as well.
I thought that the iPads were really fun. I think that it would be a fun thing to just pass out to students and have them look at the apps and find one to share with the class. I think that just having them play with them would be really fun and beneficial to all of the kids. I also think that teachers could use them for a lot of assessment and anecdotal records. The iPads would also be nice just for the motivation aspect. When we did the word wall words in kindergarten, they got so bored just writing the word and writing different words that had been on the word wall in the past. How much more motivating would it be to have them write it out on the whiteboard feature of the iPad?!
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