After a few weeks of depression and thinking it was a waste of money I decided to get it out and look at the applications available for education. WOW! I feel like I have discovered a small treasure. There are so many applications that correlate with my instruction in the classroom. I have been using it in my classroom and my students love it. Not only is it helping them to learn but they think it is the coolest thing ever which only helps engage them even more.
How have you found your iPad to be useful in class? I would be afraid my students would drop it and break it so I am assuming you have one of those covers that makes it nearly indestructible. What have you found that you use in teaching? I really want to get one but haven't found enough reasons to convince my husband it is worth the cost.
ReplyDeleteThe bolg looks good. The ipad seems like it will be a tool that changes the classroom. In our district we have one science teacher who got a classroom set of them and another was able to get netbooks. The district is looking to see which is best. It's going to be interesting to see who wins PC or Mac.
ReplyDeleteI use it sort of like a center for students. I am a resource teacher so I use it when I am working with students individually. The applications I like the most are some that help the student practice their sight words and math facts. I am not sure what apps there are for older students but I imagine there are some great ones out there.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of teachers using the Ipad in the classroom, but wonder if the money would be a prohibitive factor in getting a classroom set. As a resource teacher, I think the possiblities would be endless. The resource teachers in my building are looking at the Ipad as well. Keep us posted on how you use it in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you teach. I bought an I-pod touch a couple of years ago thinking the same thing, that I would be able to use it as a teaching tool. I had seen acouple of really cool aps that I could use. But I don't really use it. Kinda dissapointing. I have seen a chemistry periodic table of the elements app for the I-pad that looks pretty cool, but I'm not about to go buy an I-pad just for that.
ReplyDeleteSo much for the old fashioned slates with chalk, it looks like iPads are on their way in. Perhaps in the future students will be able to bring an iPad to school with them. I really enjoyed hearing how you have been able to utilize your iPad in your classroom. I can imagine that there are many different apps that have been created for educational purposes. I also learned throughout this class that some schools have purchased entire class sets of iPads for student use. I can really see how this will shape the future of our schools. It's just making sure iPads are used for appropriate educational purposes. That is probably the biggest barrier to the implementation of iPads in the classroom. Either they will have to place tight controls on iPads at school or they will have to allow great discretion, trust, and responsibility amongst the students. I personally think it would be a great advantage for schools to permit more students to involve their tech tools in class. I believe this could enhance student learning. I don't see it happening any time soon, mostly because students would abuse such a privilege. If only students understood the great blessing our educational system is to them, perhaps we would see greater respect, and I'm sure greater privileges would follow.
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