Effective Tech Tools in a 1:1 iPad Environment
30 Day Blogging Challenge — Day 13
Tech tools are generally classified in one of two ways. On one hand you’ve got the fun, flashy, and interesting tools with a narrow scope. This tools provide great learning experiences for a lesson or a unit, but don’t have a lot of staying power. On the other hand you’ve got the real game changers. These are the tools that push you along the path towards your long term goals. They change the way your classroom operates and they enhance student learning throughout the entire school year. Their impact is almost beyond measure.
For this blog post, I’m focused on tools that promote the type of leaning and citizenship we are trying to teach our students. At the same time, I want to embrace tools that bring us closer to their level and their style of technology use. With that rationale in mind, I’ve come up with this list of tools that are most effective in our 1:1 iPad environment.
iMessage
As a team of teachers we are constantly looking for ways to connect with our kids on their level. We want to teach them that we can use normal tools available in every day life to collaborate on school work. The more we can bring their outside lives and habits into the classroom the better. Since this is the first year they’ve had their own Apple ID’s on their iPads, we faced a decision once they started using iMessage to talk to each other. Do we try to fight this and restrict it’s use, or do we use it to connect with them on another level, and teach them to how to use this tool appropriately. So far it’s been a significant success.
iTunes U
In our NxGL (Next Generation Learning) Environment students have the freedom to choose what project they are working on, for any of their core subjects, at any point in their day. In this system, we need a way to provide resources and reference materials for them, so that they can be more self sufficient and generate specific questions for us. It has really helped us cut down on questions that I would consider a waste of time like “What was that website you showed us”, “When is this due”, “Where can I find more information”, etc. The students know that if they’ve got a question, they need to check iTunes U first before they approach a teacher. We want our time with students to be focused on deeper questions and discussions about their learning. iTunes U contributes in other ways as well, from helping students plan their week around due dates, to giving them a concrete way to keep track of everything we’ve accomplished so far this school year. This paragraph only scratches the surface.
iMovie
The coolest thing about iMovie is that it is a 100% student driven tool. Unlike iTunes U, which is useful for teacher and students, but is a passive interaction for students, iMovie is a tool of student creation. How they use it is pretty self explanatory. It’s one of those tools that is easy to jump in and use but takes a lot of time to master. Some students use it to make quick videos and don’t care much for the myriad of tools. Others get lost in it for days at a time and produce some really incredible videos. Last year we had students create a video bank of our social contract and classroom procedures. We then created a wall of QR codes that we could reference whenever students needed to be reminded, a potentially powerful tool for a restorative justice classroom. This year we’ve got a group of girls filming a horror movie for their genius hour project that they will be presenting this Tuesday. I’m extremely excited to see the finished product.
Kid Blog
I have read so many blogs and articles about why kids should blog and how powerful it is for them. After introducing kidblog to our classroom, I’m beginning to think those articles may have even understated the value. I won’t rehash all of that here, it is a well documented process and there are people out there with far more experience than I. As someone who loves giving students tools, giving them some direction, and watching them organically run with things, blogging has been very powerful. Not only as a tool for writing and reflection, but also as a tool for students to collaborate and build community. Make sure if you want students to blog, that you allow and encourage them to comment. That is where some of the real power is.
Class Dojo
Class Dojo continues to be an extremely divisive tool. Nobody can agree on how valuable it is, or whether or not it has any value at all. We’ve got kids who love it and kids who hate it. Parents who love it and parents who hate it. Some days I love it, and other days I hate it. Last year we used it for the reasons that people don’t like it. It was strictly a classroom management tool that we used to award students who were the most compliant, and punish those who wouldn’t (or couldn’t) assimilate.
This year we are trying to take a different approach. Class Dojo can be an exceedingly powerful tool for data analysis, reflection, and growth. If we set up an environment in which students can develop skills like scholarship, collaboration, perseverance, kindness, etc, and we teach them how to use those skills, then we can use a tool like Class Dojo to support that learning. As a team we are trying to get better at offering meaningful feedback, helping students to analyze that feedback, and modeling how to reflect and grow using that data. Some aspects that make Class Dojo a great tool for this type of learning are the timestamps on the feedback, the circular graph displaying the feedback, and the ability to assign different point values to different behaviors.
A bonus to all of this has been the Class Dojo messaging service which has helped us develop even deeper connections with our parents. One other thing I’d like to note is that Class Dojo may look elementary, but the way you use it can scale up through high school (currently using it in middle school). It’s not about how it looks, it’s about how you use it.
So many of these tools deserve their own blog posts to really communicate their effectiveness and value. Maybe that’s something I’ll consider if I ever manage to complete this blog challenge.
Honorable Mentions: Pic Collage, Google search, Twitter, Classkick
Untapped Potential: PhotoMath — This is going to be really fun. I’m sad to think about the inevitable scenario when a school or a district bans it rather than embracing it’s amazing potential.
