iPads in the classroom - what were we thinking?
I LOVE my iPad. For social media (Tumblr, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Flipboard etc), for games (Words with Friends, Draw Something), for email and photos, for a quick fact-check on the run… It’s a wonderful tool for staying connected.
But when our school bought one class set, to be kept in the library, for the use of students who would borrow them for a lesson at a time, I baulked. How could I make use of these powerful tools in a meaningful way?
My personal feeling , based on long experience of a) my own easily distractable state, b) the even more easily distractable and less motivated state of year 9s in general and c) the many and varied ways iPads can be used to simply while the time away, was that we would have to tread carefully here. This could be a disaster.
I came up with a couple of simple rules for myself when planning a lesson where these would be placed in students’ eager hands.
The lesson MUST be structured carefully around a very clear goal, which is understood by both student and teacher.
There must be a REALLY IMPORTANT reason for utilising the iPad for the task. If it doesn’t feel imperative, they WILL stray.
There must be something for the students to write down. The iPad works best as a tool, not the focus of the lesson.
I have found that, when I follow these basic rules, the lessons work well, the students are engaged and they stay focussed. The iPads have, in some circumstances, become my tool of choice for teaching certain topics – particularly when complex visual representations are required for difficult concepts.
I’ll follow this with detailed posts about things that worked – and some that didn’t. I hope it helps.