Assignment+7

=Journal Reflection - Ticket out the Door=


 * What impact do you expect to see as a result of using this technology in the classroom?

I have already seen some impact with this technology in myclassroom. I bought one towards the endof the school year and brought it into my classroom. My students knew what it was right away andwanted to use it. Some of the studentshad suggestions for games to play or different apps to get. We did some exploring together on the iPadand had some fun playing with the photobooth. We created some very interesting pictures.

I see a lot of potential for using the iPad in the classroom. I have found a number of apps I want to makeuse of in the room either as whole class activities or as rewards for finishingassignments or possible as an incentive for some students to completeactivities/assignments. There are a lotof details and ideas to work out but this class has given me the first steps inusing the iPad as more than a different way to play games. There a many different features and apps thatare educational and will add to instruction. Another potential impact I see with the iPad is using it as atextbook rather. We are currentlylooking at updating our reading series. Someof the books we are looking at are available online. This might mean that students could produce assignmentson the iPad or at least read stories in it instead of the “paper book”. Articles that I have read for this class havetalked about how textbook companies are creating textbooks for the iPad whichcould mean fewer costs down the road (after initial costs of buying iPads for aclassroom or school).
 * How do you plan to continue to use your iPad in your personal life? Professional life?

I plan to continue to use the iPad for many different things –email on the go, reading books, playing games, sharing pictures, keeping intouch through social networks, having fun with my niece and nephews – just toname a few. I was visiting my familylast week and introduced my niece and nephew to Talking Tom and some of hisfriends. They absolutely lovedthem! They have drawn on it before butcouldn’t get enough of being able to talk and interact with the animals. I had trouble getting it back from them.

In the classroom I plan to work on how to incorporate it into myteaching. I don’t want it to simply be anothermachine they play games on (even if they are educational) I want to be able touse it to enhance instruction. I haveseveral apps I am practicing with and working on lesson plans to go along withthem. In addition to apps and the iPadthere is potential for iTunes U to enhance and strengthen instruction and learning. Rick and I have talked about how the iPad andfacetime could be used to do observations or communicate with other classroomsor even schools. This again is somethingthat needs to be explored before actual use.
 * What have you learned from others' sharing that you would like to try or explore more of?

The class has shared a number of apps that I have checked out anddownloaded or made mental note of for further exploration. I liked the idea of using an easel so otherscan see a presentation or pictures or other information. It was noted that it is small and peoplewould need to be close but it would work for small group time or individualinstruction. I have read a number ofarticles that were shared – there is so much information about iPads out therethis is a nice way to locate and share pertinent information. I am sure I will find even more to explore aswe share our apps in class.

Some apps shared in class that I want to check out further: word warp, dropbox, Eclicker, This Day, MeeGenius!, chalkboard, pointer remote for PowerPoint.
 * Describe the presentation you gave today and the application you shared / demonstrated.

I shared Chicktionary a spelling game app. It was free and I find it fun to play myself. You have two ways to play either a speed round spell out as many words as you can in 3 minutes or a 2 minute speed round and then as long as it takes to find all of the words. You can purchase addtional sets of words for 99 cents for each addtional 100 game pack. The purchased games come in different levels -easy, medium, hard, expert. The one downfall, for me, is that some of the words that are able to be made are above 2nd grade level (I have trouble myself at times).