iPad Case with Duct Tape?

Just passing along Lon Thornburg's post from his nolimitstolearning.blogspot.com about a great use for duct tape.   Sometimes in the field of education we need to 'MacGyver' a tool to use and this is the perfect example of how duct tape filled a need when purchased holders were not working for this student and his wheelchair.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2012

iPad Case with Duct Tape?

Out in the schools the other day, I visited one of my favorite students that has CP and is in a wheelchair. We were able to acquire an iPad for him last year through our regionalUnited Cerebral Palsy Foundation of Oregon and Washington. The wheelchair mount and plate wasn't working well for him and so the team got a roll of black duct tape out and voila! ...a really cool adapted iPad case complete with a foam inner core slanted for his lap and a belt to go around his seat to hold it on.
Pictures are worth a thousand words...so get your roll of duct tape and imagination out and start building!

Sliding the iPad in:

The slanted foam core:

The cover without the iPad inside:

All the best...
Lon

Podcasting Centers

While walking through a school in our region, I walked right past a couple of students working on a project.  The task was for them to create a video using Educreations explaining a certain math concept.  What intrigued me was they were in the hallway using a very creative low cost podcasting center. 

The teacher used an old large carboard box, lined it with styrophome, collapsable for easy transport, and quick to assemble.

It's a great way to provide a location for students to record without distracting others or having distractions interfere with their work.

Do you provide a location for students to use as a recording studio?

iPad for Admin Agenda

Agenda:

• GTKY - Infuse Learning
• Circle the 4 Cs 
• Communication, Creativity, Critical Thinking, Collaboration 

• Basic Settings to Review - Group Time 
• AutoLock, Passcode Lock, Restrictions
• Gestures
• Location Services and Notifications
• Safari Reader  It's OK to be a Lurker 
• Save a Website to home screen
• Find My iPad
• PDF to iBooks P21 Common Core Toolkit
• Reflection vs Splashtop vs Apple TV

• Shiny, Nice, Tools  
• Trends in Education
• Common Core - Where's the Tech in the CCSS
• Table Talking Points
• Flipped Classroom 
• Flipped Classroom Infographic
• ETextBooks
• ck-12
• Digital Citizenship
• Common Sense Media 
• BYOD
• Shareout from Sunridge Middle School 
• Teacher Observation Apps
• Sunset Elementary iWalkObservation
• Umatilla School District  eCove
• Google Forms

• Break

• 5 Minute Reads with Flipboard
• What are you following? 
• Infographic of Education Hashtags (no twitter acct required)

• Productivity Apps
• SIS Apps RollCall
• Google and Google Drive (free)
• Pages, Numbers, Keynote (must purchase)
• iMovie, Pinnacle (must purchase)

• Apps you may see in a classroom or two
• Educreations
• I-nigma
• iTunes U
• teachingchannel.org 

• Give One Get One

Infuse Learning

Many of us are familiar with some type of learning response system, aka clickers.  For example there are the Active Expressions by Promethean, or the CPS system by eInstruction.  There are a couple of online choices as well like Polleverywhere and Socrative.

Infuse Learning caught our attention as a new online system to try out.  The reason we like it is because you have the ability to obtain drawings from participants.  You can also push images to participants.

The teacher must use a computer to facilitate an Infuse Learning session, while participants can be on any device connected to the Internet.  Using iPods and iPads allows for the easy to draw capability.

How engaging is it to have all students work through a math problem, then have them submit their work and share the responses.  Possibly as a quick check have students label the parts of an image, say cell structure, and send in their results.

Infuse Learning also allows you to download and save responded entries from participants.  Each drawing response is a separate page in a pdf file.  Thinking outside the box, you could have a class of elementary students create a quick picture book by submitting their drawing, then the saved responses are collected in one pdf file.

There are many other features with this online tool, as these are a couple of ideas that seem well suited for iDevices.  It's a resource well worth checking out.

Please download a handout here for some quick overview instructions on how to get started.

Writing Activities for iDevice Centers

Agenda and App List for October 24, 2012 
Writing with iDevice Centers Workshop

• GTKY Activity
• LabelBox or LifelikeCards
• What the CCSS Expects of Instructional Technology (Grade Level Breakdown)
• Vocabulary/Spelling
• Apps
• Spelling City
• Quizlet
• Dictionary/Reference 
•  Living Dictionary with a Word Wall
• Aurasma Lite 
• Brainstorming and Organizing
• iBrainstorm 
• Popplet Lite 
• Discussion:  Google Drive vs Pages
• Journaling:
• iDiary Lite
• KidBlog  www.kidblog.org
• Class Blog  classblogs.us/
• Blogspot  
• Recap of the Morning: Linoit Wall 
• Lunch  
• Alternatives to Book Reports and Essays
• Create a Comic
• Zoodle Comics
• Toontastic
• Digital Story Telling - Create your own book
• Scribble Press
• Mooklet
• Story Kit
• Sock Puppets
• Break
• Revising and Editing Activities with iPads 
• recording/listening - iTalk  
• Using video (built in to iPad)
• Creating eBooks
• PDF files and iBooks
• Create an ebook with an app
• iBookwriter Lite - 4 page limit
• Easy Writer Lite - seems like 4 page limit
• CBB ($)
• Closing
• Infuse Learning 

Let Students Explore

Often times society thrusts us into a frenzied pace of getting so much accomplished in such a short time, we forget to allow time for exploration.  I know I find myself feeling that way too often.   Many great ideas come from exploration time, just see what Google has produced.

I start off this way because when we roll out new apps for students, or even iPad's for the first time with a class, it's so important to allow students the time to explore and figure out possibilities. 

One teacher from Cove, OR has recently scheduled in her first 10 minutes of the day as free iPad exploration time. Here is her blog post recapping her start of the day and what she has learned.

Let's Go Exploring!

Last year I decided to take a chance and do something a little bit out of my comfort zone...I relinquished some of my structured teaching time to my students so they could go exploring.  From 8:00-8:10 students are encouraged to explore something in the classroom.  Sometimes it is the materials for a science experiment, sometimes it is objects related to an upcoming lesson and sometimes it is technology.

This morning it was our classroom ipads...

As students arrived this morning I let them know they could explore their ipad.  I only gave one direction, "Explore the apps you have on your ipad and see what you can see?"

When Explore Time was over we gathered for our morning meeting.  I asked students to share something they had learned this morning while exploring their ipad.  This is what they shared:

"I learned how to scroll down and get stamps on Doodle Buddies."
"I learned there were a lot of different apps on my ipad."
"I learned how to scroll in on Google Earth."
"I learned how to take pictures and videos using Photo Booth."
"I learned some new countries."
"I learned how to search for different places on Google Earth."
"I learned how to do stamping on Doodle Buddies."
"I learned how to make a slide show with video and pictures on Photo Booth."

Students were teaching each other and me how to do all of this things.  We were learning and discovering together.  I know we will be able to go further with our learning because I give my students this time.  Don't be afraid...try it!  You won't be disappointed.

Please spend time reading more exciting happenings from Cove second grade at Mrs Williams Second Grade Class Blog.

FaceTime with Washington DC

Four amazing Weston Middle School students spent their morning Facetiming with Carla Wade from Oregon Department of Education and sharing with State Ed Tech Leaders in Washington DC about their experience learning in a true one to one iPad classroom.

At times the connection was sketchy but they made their point. Ryan, Michael, Emmaline, and Ali shared about how the iPad is making their learning more personalized, from updated instant news and facts at their fingertips to taking notes and having all their tools in one place (the iPad). They shared apps like iMovie, Pages, and Classnotes and shared how their teacher is organizing resources about the presidential election in modules using Livebinders. The group shared about the temptation to do other things with the iPad while in class but were quick to note that they would have it taken away if they weren't using it appropriately, which means expectations and management of the iPads are consistent and understood. One student explained that they are given time to explore with an app or new feature as well as taught by their teacher. The exploring time was important to them in learning how to use the iPad last year.

Check out more about their project in this video created last spring to showcase what the teachers and students accomplished in their first year.  


Of course, 15 minutes of Facetiming isn't enough time to share all the great things that are happening at their school but they sure were able to fit a lot in a short amount of time. As one stated, the iPad does everything they could ever imagine a piece of technology could do and then some. They were all surprised at all the different ways the iPad could be used in their classes, from writing to science. Their hopes for the future? They would like to be able to take them home and wish all their textbooks were in ebook format!

Video:  http://wms.athwest.k12.or.us/video