A quick update on how the iPads are being used in the classroom is below. It is amazing how quickly everyone has adapted to the iPads. Students seem very respectful of their responsibility and following rules on caring for them. We have done one survey of parents and students which I hope to post soon and met with a small group of parents one evening.
Social Studies (Semester 2)
We are very excited to be having 7th grade students use the online textbook this year with student subsciptions The textbook is the same as we have used in the past. You can read more about it here:
http://www.teachtci.com/programs/middle-school/geography-alive-textbook/regions-and-people/
The textbook aligns with the NH Common Core Standards as well. http://www.teachtci.com/programs/middle-school/geography-alive-textbook/regions-and-people/standards-correlations.html
Student subscriptions are iPad friendly. Students can read the text for their class, reveal main ideas, add notes, and listen to the text read aloud just as they would on a regular PC browser.
Students can do Reading Challenges, and complete their Digital Interactive Notebook Activities online as well. The Digital Interactive Notebook drawing features are now fully functional with iOS 6.
Music
In 7th grade music class, they use the
note taking application to write and organize their listening logs every
Wednesday (this past quarter class was the first class EVER in which all
students in the class were able to turn in ALL of their listening logs at the
end of the quarter). They also use the
iPads for the weeklong garageband project.
This
quarter I am going to experiment with the "jam session" option on
garageband and make the garageband unit a bit longer.
Art
MS art has used iPads with the seventh graders a few times. Using Studio kids have explored use of line as an expression, they have used it as a white board to write bell work answers on, and they have used them for research for their cultural masks and then presented the research and images using the reflections app.
Math
Math students have used the iPad in the following ways:
•
TenMarks: With the iPad, students have easy access to this tutorial math program.
Teachers are able to assign individual problem sets to students and to follow
students individually on their progress
•
Dropbox and uPad apps. Teachers upload pdfs of math worksheets to Dropbox. Students then
download the pdfs and are able to import them into the uPad app where they can
then make personal notes and marks on thembefore turning them back in to the
teacher electronically.
•
iBook: Mrs. Law and Ms. Touhey created an ibook using ibook author for the
first part of the math program. The students are able to access the book, make
notes and personal entries all while Mrs. Law can make changes and students
receive the updated version instantly.
•
Other Apps: Students have used a variety of apps that allow students to enhance
their math skills and increase their levels of understanding. These apps
include Math!!!, Math7, ooops (order of operations), tangrams, stopwatch and
calculators.
Science
Students in Science are using Edmodo,
Dropbox, uPad app to access keynote lessons used in class. Students copy
keynote presentations right into the uPad app and then add notes as
needed. In addition, students are using
the camera and video abilities of the iPad to record observations on labs and
import these into their notes as well. Truly students have moved beyond just
taking notes in hand as they use the multi-media feature of the iPad into their
learning. Having the features of
the iPad gives the students so much more
ability to access the science currriculum in their individual learning
manner. Mr. Vienneau has noticed that
students are able to follow lessons more quickly and that having access to the
lessons and their personal notes has increased their understanding. Next week,
students will be using their iPads to design keynote presentations to describe
how the digestive, respiratory, excretory, and circulatory systems interact in
the breaking down of a hamburger/vegieburger, the delivery of nutrients and
removal of wastes from the the body.
English
Mrs. Diener uses Edmodo as the online classroom
where she posts assignments and students turn in assignments (via Google apps).
She can make notes and margins and share comments with students in the Edmodo
classroom. A true advantage is being able to have access to student work and
see their growth in writing and understanding
