One iPad. 28 Students. Here's How to Make it Work

I was fortunate enough to work as a school library media specialist at a school where there were 60 iPads that teachers could checkout individually or in sets of 6 or even in a classroom set of 30.  While more and more schools are acquiring iPads for classroom use there are still many more schools who simply don't have the funds to purchase these magical devices.  So what is a teacher to do if there is only one iPad in the classroom? Is it worth it?

I know, some of you are saying, one iPad would be nice! Right now we have zero... Hang in there. Consider other sources such as PTA and educational grants. Some teachers even use their own personal iPads in the classroom (gasp!). Once you have an iPad in hand, evaluate the apps carefully. Explore educational apps on the iPad (many are free) and take time to play with them.  Consider how user friendly the app is and its educational value for your curriculum and your particular students. Here are a few tips to get you started:

VGA adapter

1. Whole group activities: Connect the iPad to your digital overhead projector or ActivBoard with a VGA adapter. These cost about $30. This converts your tiny screen into a large screen. Now everyone can easily see the iPad screen.

• Use navigation applications such as Google Earth and other maps apps to locate places as they apply to your curriculum. Estimate miles from your school to a specific destination and check it with the app using the "Get directions" feature. These apps are also great for building background knowledge for the setting of a story or understanding where specific historical events took place. 
•  Don't have a whiteboard? There is an app for that! Apps such as Whiteboard and Show Me can serve as a white board that the teacher or students can write on just as you would a traditional dry erase board. Try several different ones out (most are free) before you decide which one to use in the classroom. They all have a unique feel and you will likely find one that you like more than others. Several of these apps have a recording feature that will record your writing or drawing and your voice and play it back for you. 
• Skype! Use the Skype app (also free) or Face Time (free from iPad to iPad or iPhone) to connect with another class in another state or part of the world or host your own virtual author visit by Skyping an author. You can read more about using Skype in the Classroom and see a video of how I've used it with 2nd graders.

2. Small group / Centers:  Set up the iPad as a center activity or Learning Station. Communicate high expectations for appropriate use and care of the iPad and take away the privilege if it is abused. You will likely find that your students enjoy using the iPad enough to meet or exceed your expectations.

• Read an e-book together as a class to demonstrate first, then set it up for use as a small group activity or even as an incentive for individuals to reward good behavior. Many e-books are free and run off of various free apps including the Kindle app (my favorite). The highlight and margin notes features work great for taking and sharing notes as you read. Sometimes the most reluctant readers will be the first to volunteer to read an e-book simply because they are attracted to the technology. There are even wonderful e-books for beginning readers. Check out the app I Like Books, which has 37 nonfiction colorful easy readers your kindergartners and first graders will love.
• Set up the iPad as a small group activity for researching the solar system using NASA's excellent educational apps as a starting place. 
• Use the camera and video camera on the iPad to document events in your classroom. Set up a classroom blog (there are apps for that!) and assign students to be responsible for updating the blog each week. Be sure to share the blog link with parents and even other classrooms so they can see all the great learning going on in your classroom. 
• Set up the iPad as a center activity for literature response, creative writing, or to share information learned from a research project. Use creative apps that allow students to create a story while recording their own voice. Students will be actively engaged in the writing task just by having a new purpose and new tools with which to write. Suggested apps: Puppet Pals HD, Sock Puppets, Show Me, and Toontastic.
  

3. Classroom Management: Incorporate the iPad into your classroom management tool box for smoother transitions and increased student interest.

• Use a timer app to display a countdown clock on the big screen. Most timer apps are free and you can choose from several fun sounds instead of a buzzer. When students can see exactly how much time they have left for a task, they are more likely to better manage their own time. 
• Use the iPad as an incentive for good behavior by rewarding students with time to use the iPad as individuals or in pairs. Select specific educational apps for students to explore and create a folder for them on the iPad so students will be certain of their perimeters for exploration time.
• Explore apps made especially for classroom management to assist with record keeping, grading, anecdotal notes and class calendar. Use clock and calendar apps to set reminders about when small groups leave the classroom for pull-outs such as speech or tutoring or for grade level events such as assemblies. 

Chances are your students know a bit more about iPads than their teachers. Include them in the discussion. Ask them to share educational apps that they find and use at home. Ask them how we could use the iPad to support learning in the classroom. You might be surprised at their resourcefulness! 

Dictation App Makes Learning Fun

Recently the English as a Second or Other Language (ESOL) teacher and I collaborated on a lesson that incorporated the use of iPads to help her students practice their English skills in a new way.

For individual practice, we used Dragon Dictation , an app that makes use of voice recognition to help you see your text after speaking it. Students were able to speak a phrase or sentence then watch as the app wrote the words on the iPad screen.

 At first we weren't sure how quickly the 1st and 2nd grade students would take to this activity but five minutes into it, we were pleasantly surprised. We heard lots of giggles when the app interpreted words differently than expected at times. Students quickly figured out that in order for the app to get it right they had to speak as clearly as possible and slow down, a task that would require intentional and careful pronunciation of words.

Overall we found the simple design of the app to be user friendly. While the voice recognition does have it's limitations, after seeing the extra attention and energy it brought to the ESOL lesson, I began to think of other uses for a dictation app in the classroom:

• Students who are still learning to write and spell could use a dictation app like Dragon Dictation to dictate short stories. It would help them get their ideas down before getting bogged down in the mechanics of writing.
• Students with special needs that find writing challenging could dictate stories or sentences using the app
• Students could take turns dictating a sentence one at a time to build a story together.
• Students could practice letter writing by dictating a letter then emailing it to their teacher or parent (the app has the option to send dictated text as text message or email).
• Students could practice reading fluency and reading with expression with the dictation app then go back into the text on the screen to edit for punctuation marks as needed.

School iPad Checkout Forms

We began this school year with 45 new iPads for use in the classroom and by the end of the year we had almost 60. Being one of the first schools in our district to have school iPads, we quickly found ourselves in need of creating our own policies and forms for iPad checkout. Below are some of the forms that worked for us.

• Maintenance: We found it helpful to keep the following chart on a clipboard attached to each iPad cart to help keep up with maintenance issues or noticed damage to the iPads. This way teachers could write down issues as they noticed them and we could be sure they were attended to as soon as possible. 

• Teacher checkout agreement: At our school, we posted the iPad reservation schedule for teachers to access online. This allowed teachers flexibility to reserve six iPads for a small group activity or an entire cart / class set of iPads as needed. As teachers came to the media center to check out the iPads they reserved, we used the following form to help us have a visual of where the iPads were for the day.  

• Overnight iPad checkout agreement: Our teachers often request to checkout a school iPad over night or over the weekend so that they may become more familiar with the apps they want to use with a particular lesson. We use the agreement below for this: 

Using Skype in the Classroom

iPads to Replace Textbooks?

     "There's an app for that," my first grader says in response to his older brother's question about the constellations. Fact is, there are apps for just about everything, and if there isn't, well, just wait a couple of days. With the development of more educational apps, state legislatures and educators are paying attention. The New York Times reports that schools are embracing the iPad. There is no doubt that the iPad can be as valuable, if not more valuable, in the educational context as it is for home or business use. It's user friendliness and touch screen applications make it an ideal tool for hands-on learning for even the youngest students. While iPads aren't cheep, considering the cost of numerous printed textbooks that frequently need to be replaced due to wear and tear or outdated information, the iPad's capability to be used as an e-reader or digital textbook is appealing and might even be cost effective in the long run. It seems fitting that school districts should consider the value of iPads in the classroom, however we must ask the right questions before getting too far along in the process.

     What is the plan for introducing the iPads into the schools? How will teachers be supported through training and technical support as well as appropriate selection of apps for the iPads? Is there a commitment to continue that technical support beyond the first couple of years of implementation? (After all, technology is great... when it works and when you know how to use it most effectively.) How will they ensure that the iPads are being used effectively? Will students be allowed to take iPads home and if not, how will they access their e-textbooks from home? Also, how can the iPad be used to improve communication and collaboration among teachers and students as well as for school level and school district initiatives and core standards? The potential for iPads in schools should be embraced and spark innovation as well as careful consideration of a strategic plan for implementation, support and training. The good news is, there's probably an app for that!