Building a family tree

As an experiment prompted by a recent article I read, I thought about having students collaborate as a group while using individual iPads.  I picked my two smallest classes.  I didn't grade it, or even give much direction...I said they had to build a family tree using all the iPads available.  They worked to divide it up and make them...some were quite the works of art!  

It was pretty cool watching each of my students think critically about the smaller and larger pictures (figurative and metaphorical). 

Recommendations:

-make sure all iPads are on full brightness

-specify portrait or landscape

-make sure you have a surface where all the iPads will fit together!

and 

-If I were to do this again, I would make it a collaborative process in Spanish...and give the kids some speaking guides with useful phrases (Spanish I).  

Components of a 21 st century classroom

The end...

So I feel as if I've just found them and they are going away, but from what short time I've followed them, I've learned a huge amount. I guess I'll be spending time with the archives from now on...thank you for filling a void in a very scary field...

http://teachpaperless.blogspot.com/!

Paper-less, not necessarily paper-free

Beginning this fall, I'll be implementing iPads in daily use. I am feeling like I may need to "define" what our new classroom will be like...I do believe that the kids and I may need to brainstorm together but this is the shape of my thoughts so far:
1. Paperless does not mean paper free-it means, wherever possible, assignments will be submitted in electronic format.
2. It is still going to include whole group instruction and interaction.
3. Students will still be called to interact with each other
4. Some students may prefer to take paper notes. And keep their info in a binder.
5. Students may need more than one iPad with certain assignments since you can only see one window at a time

The Innovative Educator: Ideas for Managing the Cell Phone Classroom

The Innovative Educator: Ideas for Managing the Cell Phone Classroom: As with the use of any technology in the classroom, when using cell phones in the classroom you must have classroom management procedures ...

Not banning cell phones...

My question of the week involves whether I should allow kids to use their own devices in class...I have been wondering if my reticence has more to do with my 20th century upbringing than modern best practices...after all, a text is like when a student is communicating with another student at their table. Most of the time it is over before I've had time to register it, and no harm done...I do continue to have a problem with those people using their phones almost all the time...they are like my chatty kids in the electronic sense.

I found this article which discusses some of these issues:

http://thejournal.com/Articles/2012/05/09/Why-BYOD-Not-Banning-Cell-Phones-Is-the-Answer.aspx

Why flip?  This is a cool article with the rationale for flipping...

My dad passed on this tidbit...as he was waxing philosophical on the wonderous world of youtube...
if you want to use it in the classroom, add "clean version" to whatever you search...Thanks, Dad.

the "flipped" classroom

I've been pondering the format and content of my new ipad-based classrom.  I think I will probably use something like a modified "flipped" classroom.  I came across these articles and thought they were pretty interesting...

Read about the flipped classroom

7 stories from teachers using the flipped model

The MacBook came. I cut the plastic and opened it up, plugged it in and 1 minute later i was checking my app store account. Jamie, who is the one to provide this unexpected tool, said " it's like christmas"...but I've never gotten as cool or as expensive a gift for any holiday or birthday, unless you count the Barbie townhouse with moving elevator I got in 1985. (that was a seriously cool prize to wake up to...).

In any event...what I like about the MacBook air:

*This unit is sexy! Sleek, fast, clean lines.

*It is so logical. Everything has a purpose and is so obviously well thought out!

*It is fast. Wow to the speed.

*I get the impression that it won't go obsolete before I've gotten it out of the box...I know someone who has been using the same Mac equipment ( with some minor updates) for almost 10 years and it is just now to the point of needing new stuff. It is really well made!

*I've been playing with the iBooks author. I am envisioning my curriculum resource notebooks being transformed into an interactive and highly engaging unit, similar to the chapter in a print book. This time, though, each student can get a copy of his/her own in a nanosecond, which s/he can manipulate to their hearts content, no copies for me to make, no time making multiple documents, I will only have to work once. I won't even have to make a qr code of a document, which students can then access, which is one less step I have to make! I've done some reading about the app, and it seems as if the trend is moving away from exact same content for every teacher, to skills' based assessment where the content and application of curriculum materials is something that teachers can take ownership of once again. I'm just a little overwhelmed about making my "units" engaging and flashy and fully interactive. I feel like this is a program that one could use for years and still never really know all of the ins and outs. If anyone ever used the smart notebook, iBooks author is what I always wished for the smart notebook to be. I always thought that the smart notebook was rather clunky and somewhat hard to use.

*the charging cord adheres magnetically to the port. No broken pins, no falling out.

On the flip side, there are a few things that I am not 100% in love with yet...

-I hate the scroll command on the touch pad. I'm having the hardest time getting used to it. It takes 2 fingers with just the right amount of pressure in just the right spot to activate it. I haven't mastered it yet and it's aggravating.

-I miss the touch screen of the iPad when I'm on the MacBook air.

-The power cord and accompanying extender are unwieldy. I need some sort of a case for them, but haven't found anything that I really like...and I'm cheap. I don't want to waste my time and money on a bag that is not perfect. Somewhere out there, there has to be one for me....and my other accessories need a home too. Grr.i have a rolling media bag that I used to use. I might have to go back to that one...

-I haven't found a way to access some of my iPad apps. They are both computers, I don't understand why it will work on one and not the other.

I'm still withholding final judgement on these last few...maybe it'll get easier to work with

THE END OF TEACHING by @agalorda

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