AGENDA FOR LACUE December 2, 2010

1. 21st Century Learning skills in the classroom
2. Pros and Cons of iPads
3. Implementation steps
4. Lessons
5. Students' views
6. Educational Apps
7. Breakout Sessions

Powerpoint used during our session is located under lesson plans and agendas on the right side of blog.

What future lessons are planned.....where do we go from here

We have many ideas and plans for the rest of this school year:

December - Science lesson

January -  Math lesson

February -  Black history lesson

March - Music lesson

April - The Titanic

May - Weather lesson

We learned along the way....

We realized that teaching required some learning on our part also.

 Earphones were a must when watching You Tube videos.

The AV cable only works for certain apps...it is not just plug and go to the projector.  We use a document camera to project the iPad and teach the class.

Thanksgiving Lesson

We took the opportunity for this lesson to focus on the history of Thanksgiving and making the discussion of it fun.

The apps needed for this lesson were:

• You Tube
• Google Earth
• Safari
• Thanksgiving jokes (free)
• Sound Note
• Word Spree Thanksgiving (1.99)
• Story Buddy

The Myrtles.....a virtual fieldtrip

Without a doubt, the student's favorite lesson has been on The Myrtles.  We planned a virtual field trip where they traveled on Google Earth to St. Francisville.  They were so enthralled with the You Tube video on the history behind the house.

The students were told to download the following apps for the lesson:

• Doodle Buddy
• Story Buddy

They were able to download pictures from the Internet, manipulate them in Doodle Buddy, save them to Story Buddy and finally publish to iBooks.

First Lesson....This Day in History!

We were so excited when the first club day arrived.  The first lesson we choose was about history.  We wanted to get the students involved with the iPad and show them the many educational things that could be done with it.  They had played many games on it, but had never used it for school work.

As one of the requirements for the club, the students had to purchase a $20 iTunes card.  They were to download their apps before the day of the class.

These were the apps they had to download for the first class:

• This Day in History (free)
• Sound Note (4.99)
• Google Earth (free)
• Story Kit (free)
• Tangram Pro (1.99)
• Google Mobile (free)

The students had a great time, and actually moaned as the bell rang to end the class.   I knew as this first class ended that iPads would be a success at our school.

Club Set-up

Since iPads were new and we did not want to invest in a class set at this point, we wanted to pilot a club to see how successful the iPads would be with our middle school students.  Our school has a club day once a month where our students can choose from over 40 clubs to join.  I advertised the club and the students would have to bring their own iPad to school to participate in the club.

I was so lucky that Eva Smill, a technology trainer for EBRPSS agreed to teach the class with me.  She was excited as I was about implementing the iPads.

Would we be successful with an iPad club where students had to bring their own iPad?  How many students would actually bring one to school?  We were so lucky that 5 students joined our club.

Once the students joined, I sent home this permission slip before the first club meeting.


PERMISSION SLIP

Inspiration

After attending the National Middle School Association's middle school essential's conference,  I knew that I wanted to implement an iPad class at our school.  Ipads had only been out for a few weeks and I got to see first hand what they could do.  Many attendees had them, and the educators seemed really excited about them.  I was so excited about the prospect of using these at Sherwood Middle.

There were many hurdles to cross before I could accomplish this.  My principal, Phyllis Crawford, was in full support of the implementation of iPads at our school.  As a 2009 US Department of Education Blue Ribbon School of Excellence, our school is proud that technology integration is one of the keys to our success.

Our school bought an iPad with school funds to use at ISTE, where I attended the iPad class and got many great ideas about implementation and APPS.

Our district is a PC district.  Would they support our school implementing iPads?  Yes, they did.

Jesse Noble, Chief Technology Officer for EBRPSS attends our first class.