Leaving the Paper Behind

Posted 3 months ago
by humblinghappiness

22 Notes

I’m sick of paper. Sick of photocopying. I have 150+ students and that’s a lot of paper, especially when I change my plans so often that so much of it goes to waste.

As part of the development of our new World Language curriculum, our department was given 5 iPads/teacher to pilot their use. With only 5 iPads for a class of 20, I’ve been struggling with how to actually use them. How do I split 5 iPads between 20 kids and avoid fighting?

I recently attended a session at the NICE (Northern Illinois Computing Educators) Conference about a 1:1 iPad classroom, presented by Nadine Norris and Angelique Masellis, and decided to see if some of her ideas could work with my limited supply of iPads. Angelique talked about taking pictures of worksheets and putting them into Explain Everything. How easy is that?! Once in the app, students can write over the worksheet and present to the class.

I walked the students through the process of retrieving the document through Dropbox and through the first few questions on the worksheet and they were off and running! This was such a great way to have them work in groups, save paper, use technology and do an informal assessment all at the same time! Students not only had fun with the technology, but worked on essential skills such as turn taking, listening, group work and more!

The best part of all of this, is that the iPad was merely a means to an end. The lesson was not about the app I chose or the device itself, but rather about the content that was loaded to the device. Technology can’t be the lesson, but it can be a tool that enhances our students’ learning and excitement about a topic.

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A great submission! What useful professional development have you all attended? How have you incorporated the ideas you heard about into your teaching? How are others using the Ipad in the classroom (especially with a limited supply)?