- Are they just a gimmick? "
- How can I make them an effective learning tool for my students?
- Will the kids understand how to use them, or will they be a distraction?
Those fears have been quickly erased. The iPads have far exceeded my expectations as have the students use and engagement with them. In the short time that we have had them we have conferenced during literature circles with Edmodo, transformed our whole math problem solving with Google docs and iMovie and created Hollywood worthy PSA's to spread important social messages.
My students have instant access to an invaluable resource, created online shared notebooks in Evernote and have editing pictures to bring math to life with Skitch. When reading books in iBooks students can highlight and bookmark key passages, literary devices and define unfamiliar words with a few simple taps of the screen. Imagine reading a story like Iqbal and zooming into it's setting in Lahore, Pakistan with Google Earth.
Descriptive settings with Voice Thread, creating trapezoids with Sketch Pad and practicing concepts on Khan Academy are just a few other amazing ways the iPads bring learning to life.
Let's not make this all about the device itself. My students are amazing with these tools, they create, collaborate, problem solve and are excited and engaged with the learning. They are not only learning themselves but also teaching me new and exciting things.
Thinking not only as teacher but a parent as well, I can honestly say that the iPad is the most useful learning tool for students that I have used in my ten years of teaching. iPads and tablets are the wave of the educational future. They will be sadly missed in February when we have to send them to another school. Good thing the holidays are around the corner maybe my students will be lucky enough to get one from Santa.
