Group items tagged

"The picture above makes me smile… I see a group of Kindergarteners thinking, wondering, discussing, testing things out, collaborating, being proud of their independence as they are working with iPads. It was the first time, we "let go" with the iPads. Previously, we had iPad Centers, working with 3-4 students at a time or we took two buddies out of the class to record each other in a separate room. This time, we decided students were ready (I was not so sure, if I was ready) to give each 5/6 year old their own iPad in hand. My eyes were constantly darting across the room, trying to foresee any potential disasters or accidents about to happen in regards to the physical well being of the devices (I am happy to report that there was not one incident!)"

"This summer, I facilitated quite a few workshops about iPads in the classroom. I wanted to make sure that the sessions went BEYOND using apps to play games, replace worksheets and kill & drill activities, but that the focus was transformative and pedagogical use. I am especially thrilled with the slides from the following slide deck… I took my own advice from Presentation Makeover and took all the images used myself…no stock images…the model guiding us through the presentation is my 8 year old niece, Sophia, who was so patient with me as I asked her to model with the iPad. Many times she became engrossed in playing on the iPad that she even forgot that I was taking photos of her."

"I wanted to take a closer look at the iPad Evaluation I previously blogged about in Evaluating Apps with Transformative Use in Mind. The section of Content and Components deserved a closer look and explanation. You can download the PDF file of the iPad App Evaluation for the Classroom with the following sections of evaluation included: Considerations Content & Components Logistics Fluency Substitution vs Transformation Model (based on SAMR model of Ruben Puentedura and Alan November's work) Evidence of Learning (based on conversation with Stephen Wilmarth) After looking at iPad apps through the lens of Gardner's Multiple Intelligences, November's Digital Learning Farm, 21st century Upgrades, let's take a closer look at the content and components of these apps."

"Langwitches readers know that I LOVE my iPad! What I like most about it, that it constantly changes. It is never the same iPad than the day before… a new app was added… an old app was updated… something I could not do yesterday is suddenly possible today… my iPad is constantly growing and evolving."

"I was thrilled last school year when our First Graders created their own Read Along Audiobook for the iPad. My regret was that while it was created TO BE READ on the iPad, it was not CREATED on the iPad. I used a wordprocessor, then converted it with an online converter to then be able to import the ePub file to my iPad. Not a "fluent" solution."

"I have been reading my fair share of blogs, wikis and other documentation as schools around the world are deploying iPads in their classroom. It is finally our turn at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School to welcome 20 brand new shiny iPad2s (no cart, just individual iPads)"

"Recently I had created a "Read-Along" book for our first graders to accompany their Magic Tree House podcast and am continuing to have fun creating e-books for my iPad from Word Documents, pdfs and thematic blog posts from Langwitches. Next year, we will have an iPad cart to use with our students and I am looking forward to brainstorming more ideas and opportunities to allow students to create and organize their own e-books on the iPad."

"Recently, I tried to explain to a teacher from another school how we are trying to use iPads BEYOND apps. We have over 100 apps on our school iPads and introduce our students according to age level to a variety of them, but the focus of the use of the devices NEEDS to remain primarily as a tool for: exposing students to skills, characteristic of a "modern learner" critical thinking personal learning transformative learning workflow fluency anytime/anywhere/anyhow creating"

"In a unit on Transportation, our Kindergarteners read a large picture book "On the Move!" by Donna Latham Students got so interested into learning about different ways people around the globe got around. They were even ready to take a trip to Venice, Italy to ride in a Vaporetto. Since our 5 & 6 year olds have gotten pretty good at using PicCollage on the iPads, their teacher Arlene Yegelwel, wanted to personalize another collaborative classroom eBook. She took the time to find over 20 public domain images of transportation methods they had discussed in class on Wikimedia Commons and sent them in one email to each iPad."

"For me, iPad workflow has to do with fluency. It is: the fluid movement between apps the unconscious decision what app to use in order to accomplish any given task. The workflow is almost like Grammar in a language. Grammar helps you put components of a language in the proper order, grammar rules help you use the right tense, remix word to create new meaning, the correct vocabulary words attached in combination with pronouns and conjugation help you communicate exactly what you had intended."

"Pic Collage (free), is one of my favorite apps to use on my iPad. It creates great looking Scrapbook pages of multiple images in no time."

"I must say that I enjoy reading other bloggers' "favorite iPad apps lists". I usually check some of their apps out and end up with some gems, I would have otherwise not found. Below you will find a screenshot of one of my screens which houses the icons/apps/links that I most frequently use."

"Through a tip from Twitter, I requested a beta invite from a promising new iPad app called ShowMeApp. It promised to screen capture AND upload the video recording AND then provide me with an embed code. That ability was the one that caught my attention. "

"As promised here is the follow up video to the trailer from my previous post Bringing a 1:1 iPad Program to China. I am back in the US now and am trying to sort through and make connections to my experiences from the past 2 weeks."

"The iPads are finally set up and ready to go into the classrooms! It happened to be our first graders who were the first ones to get their hands on them!"

"I am honored to be able to cross-post Stephen Wilmarth's blog post below on Langwitches. If you are interested to read more about Steve's International Experimental program at the Number One Middle School in Wuhan, China take a look at: Take a Peek into China's First 1:1 iPad Class Learning…Young Chinese Perspective Bringing a 1:1 iPad Program to China"

"I recently found a video of 1st graders using the iPad to visualize a poem that their teacher read to them. After students drew what they imagined, they got into pairs and explained their drawings to a partner. The teacher also circulated to listen and to ask deeper questions of understanding."

"I brainstormed a few more workflow possibilities with a basic app toolkit. The Basic App Toolkit contains app that I consider helpful/useful for creating workflows for teachers and students in the learnflow of LEARN-> CREATE-> SHARE."

"The app development market is exploding. More and more companies are creating "educational apps". In some cases, they are simply digital versions of a book or a web based tool. Some seem to have "no educational value" to it at all, but are still sold under the label of "education". "

"Our second grade teacher, Ms.S., was ready to "upgrade" a traditionally taught unit on reptiles. We met to discuss how she could incorporate the 5 C's of 21st century skills as well as support new emerging literacies. The basic idea was to upgrade a typical report, using books from the library to research and fill out a "research" template on a piece of paper."