We are halfway through our year with iPads for 10th Grade English at Calvary Christian Academy. In no particular order, here are my observations:
More students are buying or requesting their own iPads. They bring these in and purchase/download the same apps that we use in class. Students have learned that iPads are oh-so-much-more than consumption devices. Because we use iPads for everything from writing to research to filming to editing, students observe the possibilities.
Settings need to be password protected. This seems like such a no-brainer. My students are generally quite good with the iPads, but sometimes they get themselves into trouble.
Canvas Instructure is hands-down THE BEST learning management system for those using iPads in the classroom. Students can submit any work from almost any app to an assignment in Canvas. I can then use the SpeedGrader app to grade and make comments (including video/audio comments).
Yes, I want the camera. No, I don't want Photo Booth. It's an all or nothing situation now with the Restriction settings.
IPads give students choices. Some assignments I want handwritten (GoodNotes). Others I want typed (Pages). I have options with the iPads and everything stays nicely organized.
Presentations are so much easier now. No lost thumb drives or confusion uploading a file to Dropbox. Students create their presentations using Keynote and then connect their individual iPad to the projector to present. Next on my wishlist: an Apple TV so we can remotely project.
Buzz. Buzz. Buzz. My classroom next to the 7th grade lockers. What do I frequently overhear? "That's the iPad classroom. SO COOL! I can't wait until we get to use iPads for English." Students are eagerly looking forward to their future English studies.
I am a better teacher. There. I said it. The iPads have allow me to be better organized, and I desperately need that. I have seen far less grade inflation this year in my classes.When I look at the 10th grade as a whole, I believe the assessments given on the iPads truly mirror their knowledge. The iPads allow for creative expression alongside academic rigor.
I'm looking forward to sharing more about my experiences this year during my session at PETE&C in February. I hope to see you there!
Literature is so many things, but one very important thing I want my students to capture from their reading is the joy of discovery and inspiration. Literature allows us to explore new worlds, and prepares us to tackle our own world.
In this vein, I designed the 2013 Lit Maker Project for my tenth grade honors students. Perhaps you've heard of Make Magazine or the Maker Faires - these people are passionate about trying new things and pushing the boundaries of their creativity. While preparing the literature selection for this quarter, I saw many correlations between the author (Thor Heyerdahl) and Makers.
Kon-Tiki is the story of a man with an idea. Is it possible that ancient people traversed the Pacific Ocean on rafts? Thor Heyerdahl's research was not taken seriously, so he set out to prove that it could in fact be done with five other men. Had they ever built rafts before? No. Survived at sea for months? Nope. Did that stop them? Definitely not!
Today's gifted students can easily forget the joy of literature. So often they are bogged down with unlocking the "true purpose" of the text. I designed my project to allow my students to take inspiration from literature, paralleling Thor's own intrepid spirit.
To assess student reading, I allowed students to complete the book at their own pace, completing online quizzes at their leisure.
To help my students understand what I am looking for in this project, we watched Dale Dougherty's TED Talk on the importance of being a Maker.
Afterwards, my students played with my son's Makey Makey (video below of my son controlling the computer with oranges using the Makey Makey).
Then, I brought out Legos and invited my students to play. When I ask
my students to be creative, particularly honors students, there is
sometimes fear in their eyes. How will I be graded? What exactly do you
want? I prefer open-ended types of projects because I believe it pushes
students to reach new heights, but I know how scary that can be for
someone who just wants to know what check boxes they need to check to
get their A. Enter the Legos. I don't know what it is about Legos, but
once the box is open, they must be played with. I've yet to meet a
student who doesn't enjoy the tactile building process. I use Legos to
help students get over their fear of creativity - thirty minutes with
Legos, and project ideas start flowing.
The assignment:
You are a Maker. Design your own project where you create some thing... something unusual, something crafty... something different. Use this opportunity to explore your interests. This is your project, and your opportunity to create something special. You will have two months to complete this project, including all Mondays and Wednesdays in-class. You are responsible for creating a proposal and a timeline for completion.
Project Examples:
Sew a dress out of unusual materials
Create a robot that turns the pages of a book
I am using the Make the Future scholarship criteria to assess these projects. This will be a test run for many of you - if you find that you enjoyed this project, you can create a new project in a few years and submit it for the scholarship.
You will each create a 2-3 minute video including the following
- Title or Name of Project
- Inspiration for project
- Description or summary
- Purpose
- Procedures or process in creation
- Skills needed to make project
- Design challenges
- Demonstration or visualization of project
You will be assessed on:
- Project creativity
- Project innovation
- Mastery of skills
- Use of materials/applications
- Project design
- Project presentation
In addition, we will be using some of our writing Thursdays to write blog posts reflecting on the project, research related articles and information applicable to your project, and collaborate and comment on your fellow classmates' projects.
Common Core Literacy Standards: 10.RL.6 Analyze a particular point of view or cultural experience in a work of literature from outside the United States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature. 10.W.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. 10.W.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. 10.SL.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grades 9-10 topics, text, and issues, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. 10.SL.4 Present information, findings, and supporting evidence clearly, concisely, and logically such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, substance, and style are appropriate to purpose, audience, and task. 10.SL.5 Make strategic use of digital media in presentations to enhance understanding of findings, reasoning, and evidence and to add interest.
On December 1st, I'm attending my fourth edcamp conference - EdcampNJ. I don't know what I will be speaking on, but I do know that I will put myself out there and lead at least one session.
I think it's important for us edtechies to take every speaking opportunity we can. Why? The very act of putting together a talk, reflecting on our experiences, polling colleagues for suggestions, and combing the internet for resources pushes our craft forward. I am a better teacher, because I commit myself to speaking engagements.
Not everyone is comfortable speaking in a room full of hundreds - this is why Edcamp is a perfect model to test your speaking wings. Generally, the sessions are small, the audience is generous and forgiving of little gaffes, and the atmosphere is electric. New ideas are born, friendships are cemented, and you might even win a nifty gadget.
I want to encourage EdcampNJ attendees to sign up for a session. The more, the better. I want to hear new ideas - many of us have seen the same sessions over and over. What are you doing that is different? I'd love to her about your projects or your faculty communication model.
Actually, I've just decided on my topic while typing this: When Things Go Wrong
Problem Solving Strategies for Technology Hiccups
What will you be speaking about?
Simple steps for adding a new VPP app to deployed iPads using Apple Configurator:
1. Connect all iPads to a charging station and the computer used for syncing.
2. Push out an nonrestrictive profile that allows access to iTunes and downloading apps.
3. Navigate to iTunes. Purchase and download one copy of the app.
4. Navigate to the VPP Store and login with your school account.
5. Search for the app, and purchase the required number of licenses.
6. Download the spreadsheet containing the license codes.
7. Back to Apple Configurator: in the Supervise section, under the Apps tab, click the + to add another app.
8. Search on your computer for .ipa files to find the downloaded app. Select and click the check box.
9. Click the number next to the app name to add license codes. Click the button to search for the spreadsheet. Search, find the file, and select. This should populate the number of licenses you bought into Apple Configurator.
10. Apply changes to all iPads. This will push out the new app to all iPads, and delete the licenses.
11. Last step: apply your restrictive profile (no iTunes access, etc.).
12. Done!
My two passions are teaching and technology. I've always enjoyed tinkering with computers and pushing boundaries.
Recently I've started exploring options to add a Masters in Information Technology or Information Systems to my M.Ed. I have come up short time and time again for one reason or another. This program is too expensive, that school doesn't offer the right courses, and so on and so forth. After pulling my hair out, I finally decided to do what I knew I should have done all along: design my own path.
The knowledge is out there, free for the taking. Yes, it would be nice to have another formal degree, but it isn't necessary to prove my competency. So what did I do? I navigated back to Coursera, where I've dabbled in a few MOOCs, and signed up for every IT & Computer Science course I could. I'm dabbling in programming, systems analysis, security issues... you name it, I'm curious. I'm jumping back into Codecademy and Code Avengers. I want to learn! I want to expand my potential! I want to know instead of pretending I know.
Does this mean I'm thinking of leaving the teaching profession? Absolutely NOT. I love my job and my students. My heart is in the classroom. But, I would like to leave the door open to explore new opportunities. What would it look like for an English teacher to also be involved in IT? Maybe it's something I can do on the side or during my summers. Maybe it's something I can integrate into the classroom. Who knows! The possibilities are endless, and I'm ready to learn. Wish me luck.
If you've updated to iOS6 on your classroom iPads, there may be a few features of which you are unaware. The option below is particularly handy when you need to control what a student accesses on an iPad.
Here's the situation: You plan to spend the day working with your students using an App, but a student is in ISS and the office has requested work be sent down. How comfortable would you feel sending an iPad to ISS? What are the chances that the student actually does the work and avoids other temptations?
Solution? Guided Access in the Accessibility menu found in the General Settings. This feature allows you to set up your iPad in a vendor-like situation. Students can use an app and all its features, but cannot leave the app. You have a number of options, from blocking out areas of the screen to disabling the home button. Enable "Guided Access" for these features.
The Accessibility menu is near the bottom of the General Settings screen.
Allow "Guided Access"
Set a Passcode.
Once enabled, students cannot leave the app or access features you do not want them to use.
After Guided Access is turned on and a passcode is set, open the app you need to use and triple click to start Guided Access mode. Set any and all restrictions here (for my situation above, simple disabling the home button is enough. You can also draw a box over parts of the screen, and any features within that zone are disabled while Guided Access is on.
To exit Guided Access, all that is required is to triple click the home button and type in the passcode. Simple!
Now the iPad can be handed to the student, and you can be confident that they will only have access to the app where you need them to complete their work.
I shared in a previous post the trials we went through using Apple Configurator to update apps on our 30 deployed iPads. This took place Thursday afternoon and we thought we were in the clear Friday.
Friday morning, I started sorting the iPads into their crates for classroom usage and on a whim I tried to open Pages, one of the apps we updated. I desperately wanted this update, because (finally!) it allows Pages to communicate with Dropbox. I tapped the icon, the screen flashed, and then returned to the home screen. The same thing happened with GoodNotes, another app we had updated. I quickly went through the 30 iPads, and found only 12 had this issue.
By all appearances (and a quick google search) the only way to solve the issue was to push out another profile from Apple Configurator with those apps unchecked, then push it out again with the apps added, forcing the apps to reinstall. My problem: lost student data. Yes, we have backups, but I didn't want to deal with the hassle and not everything was completely backed up.
I knew there had to be another way to get these apps functioning without having to reinstall. I guessed at a solution - and it worked!!! Here's what I did:
- On each individual iPad (not using Apple Configurator) I went into our passcoded restrictions and allowed iTunes and the App Store. Then, I updated other apps manually (not Pages - remember, that was fully updated) that needed to be updated. Once I started this process, Pages magically worked again. Strange and weird. After the updates were finished, I set the restrictions again and we were good to go.
Lesson? Problem solving skills and a good amount of luck are needed for successful deployment.
