iPads in the Classroom
An overview for new teachers
Why should I integrate technology?
For either of these reasons or one of your own, an iPad in the hands of a student means he/she has the potential to determine his/her own learning. The amount of information available to a student with an iPad is enormous, and so too is the number of experts with which he/she can connect to gain expertise.
Below are some ideas of how you can integrate iPads in to your literacy and mathematics curriculums:
ACROSS THE CURRICULUM
Collaboration
The iPad coupled with Apple TV can provide a classroom with its own network. Students can create, share, revise, collaborate, and discuss their work without having to print and distribute. The sharing becomes instantaneous and can be shared with a few or the entire class. An iPad also provides students an opportunity to collaborate on a shared project or assignment. This can be done using many different tools, such as Prezi, Google Drive, as well as a whole host of other web 2.0 tools.
Differentiate
With the help of many effective apps., teachers can design differentiated programming for a variety of learners. In some apps., the teacher can alter the type of content each student practices. For instance, some apps. cover many areas of the curriculum, and they features of them can be turned on or off, depending on the skills or strategies the student is practicing. Or, the teacher can simply change the number or difficulty of the program to assist those students with accommodated programming. And finally, the iPad allows both teachers and students access to assistive technology such as a microphone, webcam, headphones, as well as a digital camera. All of these tools are excellent examples of assistive tools students can utilize to support their learning.
Student-Driven
An iPad connects students to the wider world through its Wi-Fi capabilities. The amount of content available at the students' fingertips is truly amazing. Each student has access to experts in virtually any field in which they are interested. The teacher can spend less time searching for content and information at a child's comprehension level because there are many sites which offer accessible texts. In this way, teachers can spend more time designing assessment which focuses on life-long skills as well as learning skills to prepare the students for the 21st century workplaces.
Literacy
iVideo
Students can use this app. to present a variety of written tasks. For instance, a persuasive essay could be adapted for a public service announcement and recorded to be aired on the local news channel. The same can be done for a commercial or even a live debate. Other forms of writing can be adapted for video, too. A procedural article can be enacted to make a "How-to" video for a younger audience. A recount or retell can be recorded and presented to peers for feedback, then presented for a second audience for enjoyment. Students could also write and perform a narrative story, which could then be presented to another class who is also studying the same story to discuss perspective. These are just a few examples of how the app. can be utilized in a classroom. There are many, many more ways. It can be as simple or complex as you require. And, as a bonus, students are learning how to edit and revise video content like a professional.
iCamera
With this app., students can develop both reading and writing skills. Students can take pictures around their of things that are important to them and create a visual story, detailing the features of their school. Another way students could utilize this app. is by recounting a familiar event through pictures. Or, by having students create scenes from a favourite story and photographing them to retell it, visually. In these examples, the students have to think not just about the words and content of the tasks, but also the peripherals, such as props, setting, costumes. These are rich skills which also have practical applications in the world outside of school. Students can also create a photo journal of a recent field trip, depicting the important aspects and creating a photo montage to be shared with the next year's class to create some excitement. For younger students, they can photograph their favourite things in their school or classroom and write labels or simple sentences to be shared with their family at home. Again, as a bonus, students are learning media skills, like cropping, blending, foreground, background, as well as other skills that are important outside the school walls, too.
Dragon Dictate
This app. can dictate any text scanned, uploaded, or downloaded on to the iPad. Once loaded on to the iPad, Dragon Dictate reads aloud the text with in the document, allowing students who have difficulty reading access to rich content without the frustration of not comprehending. The app. allows students with poor working memory an opportunity to engage in texts that would normally be beyond them. Having this capability in your classroom frees up the teacher, so he/she can spend much needed time with others. It also creates independence for those who usually require assistance when reading grade-level text. In an elementary classroom, the app. can be utilized as a listening centre as well.
Mathematics
The following are some possible apps., which can be utilized in many elementary classrooms.
Math Drills
Students can practice operational skills as well as solving numerical problems using virtual manipulatives, such as wooden blocks, a number line, and tiles. Students gain and accumulate points, which can earn them awards and medals. Teachers can track the students' success rate and speed, while completing a set number of questions. Teachers can also follow the students' history of success, visually through the use of graphs, and highlight certain types of questions with which students typically struggle. Then, teachers can design a quiz, focusing on these areas of struggle or develop lessons to support them.
Motion Math Zoom
In this app., students can practice a variety of number skills by stretching and shrinking number lines. Students can play with both negative and positive numbers by completing number lines in a host of topics. Students will place mixed up numbers correctly on a number line, ranging from thousandths to thousands. The fun, interactive videos and backgrounds, tailored to the size of the numbers on the number line (e.g., amoebas on a number line representing numbers in the thousandths). Teachers can use this app. to reinforce a variety of math skills, such as place value, mental math, estimation, and quantity
Mathmateer
This app. turns math in to a virtual game. Students practice operational skills, simple algebra, as well as shape and patterning recognition. As students complete each of the 51 different missions, they collect individual parts of a rocket, which is blasted off once they complete all the missions. Students can also practice in challenge mode in which students collect coins to purchase rocket parts, then they build a rocket, making the task a little bit harder. Teachers can use this app. as practice in a math centre for those students who have mastered or are close to mastering a particular skill. It could also help motivate some students, especially boys, to complete the math skills required of them.
Special Education
Here are some effective apps. for special education students:
See.Touch.Learn
A Picture Card Learning System replaces all your physical flash cards. Designed by professionals specifically for those with autism and other special needs.
Rainbow Sentences
Rainbow Sentences is designed to help students improve their ability to construct grammatically correct sentences by using color coded visual cues. The who, what, where, and why parts of sentences are color coded to help students recognize and understand how combinations of these parts create basic sentence structure.
Speech Journal
Speech Journal is designed to allow parents and speech pathologists the ability to create customized versions of any targeted speech-language activity.