Elementary School iPad Rollout

Fourth grade students at Woodbridge
creating their first movie.

Elementary students were brimming with excitement this week as the iPad carts were assembled and loaded into their classrooms.

Teachers have been patiently waiting and preparing for this digital disruption in their learning environment for over a year now.  To say that everyone is ready and excited is a total understatement. Already after a week of use teachers and students are off and running using the iPads in a variety of ways.

Before putting the device in the hands of students, teachers communicated a message of expectations for use and care for the iPad.  They got a little help from some courages and destined to be famous fifth grade students from Quincy.  Check out the great job they did putting together proper caring and sharing techniques for using the iPad. Other topics covered included:  Responsible and safe internet searching, proper communication protocol with teachers and peers, and teaching students about their digital footprint.

One great aspect of the iPad is the camera. Students love to take pictures and pose for them too. In Mrs. Timmer's elementary class students were learning how to classify objects, specifically contrasting human and natural characteristics of landforms.  Students were given the task of heading outdoors and capturing objects that were a part of the landscape and classifying them as human or natural.  Heading outside with the iPads gave students the feeling of exploring their surroundings like an archeologist. After capturing human and natural landforms students discussed the differences and created a pic collage of both types.

Teachers Delivering Content through iTunesU

It's a new year and for some of our teachers @Zeelandschools they are choosing to use iTunesU to host their classroom content.  Zeeland Public Schools launched their public iTunesU site this past September offering a few classes, not just to their students, but to the entire world as well. This is one of the fascinating aspects of Apples iTunesU space- anyone around the world with access to iTunes can access content from any institution using iTunesU to host it's content. In fact it is interesting to note that over half of our institutions content is being downloaded from outside the United States.

There are many great features about keeping content in iTunesU.  Teachers enjoy the vast amount of file space they are allotted for videos, links, and digital textbooks. Building a course is as simple as uploading your content, linking external sites, and dragging objects to create a correct order of appearance. Content, such as apps and digital textbooks in the iBook store are all linked together making student workflow easy and seamless. One great feature to note is the ability for students to take notes while watching videos.  These notes are automatically bookmarked to the video timeline for easy referencing later.

Perhaps the most important issue that using iTunesU address is the one of limited internet access outside the school building. A 1:1 program can go a long ways towards leveling the playing field, however, once students step outside the school wi-fi access the field can again become unfair and the device limited.  Similar to apps like Dropbox and Google Drive, iTunesU allows students to download content for offline viewing.

While the platform is easy to use for both teacher and student it does have a few limitations. As of now, iTunesU is just a one way channel- delivering content to the student.  Besides the ability to email an instructor there are no interactive discussion boards, quizzing features, or widgets.  However, it is owned by Apple and you can bet there is a team of highly trained innovative educators who are working to make it better.

As a teacher it excites me to think I could be helping someone in far off country learn math or science. In addition, it encourages me to connect my students to similar(and different) classes with the same content (or different) and different instructors...why wouldn't I want to expose them to different teaching styles? This could be a great way for struggling students to get the support they need. Likewise, this can be a great way for advanced students to move ahead and be challenged.

1:1 iPads year 2.0

Today marks the beginning of Zeeland Public Schools second year with iPads in the classroom.  To say that we learned a lot last year about the role technology plays in learning is a total understatement.  To say that we will do everything right this year is probably even more so an idealistic overstatement.  However, as learners we are constantly making efforts to improve the infrastructure of our digital school environment so here a few things that we took away from last year and are trying to improve on this year.

1. Create a culture of responsible and respectful digital citizens.

Last year students participated in a 2 hour ipad set up that included email accounts, Apple ID accounts, and going through the settings. There was no talk of Internet safety, cyber-bullying, and what is known as Net-iquette. 

This year we are skipping over most of the set up stuff and trying to focus on the later of the above statements. We view this similarly to getting your drivers license.  Instead of just handing over the keys and telling kids to figure it out for themselves (causing damage to themselves and others along the way) we are starting the discussion (it must be ongoing) about what it means to "drive" responsibly and respectfully.  Below are two videos that we are using to start off this year.

The first video is a local lawyer talking about the dangers and consequences of sexting.



The second video is a small introduction to the topics of neteqqute, internet safety, social media, and setting healthy boundaries around using technology.



There are lots of great digital citizenship resources found here http://goo.gl/qfQIR

2. Professional Development of staff must be ongoing and well supported.

I don't know if anyone is ever "ready" to integrate technology into the classroom as there literally are thousands of choices to be made in this respect. Even for those veteren teachers who are content experts, when it comes to changing your instructional strategies around technology everyone feels a little bit like a first year teacher.  So professional development and ongoing support is an absolute must.
As for last year, we will just say there wasn't enough (not sure there ever is).

This year we are restructuring support so that each building has a tech coach that is there and able to handle to quick and easy questions. These coaches are full time teachers and are using the technology themselves.  In addition, there is one district wide tech coach fully devoted to working alongside and serving the teachers as they work to transform their instructional strategies.  Building tech coaches will point their staff to this person for more in-depth and ongoing projects. Together the team of tech coaches will keep their fingers on the pulse of classroom technologies in the district, provide teachers with video tutorials on how to created digital learning spaces & activities, and provide the district with guidance for sustaining technology use in the classroom.

3. Student Devices

I know there are lots of varying opinions on what the student device should look like or be allowed to do.  Last year we pretty much just put the iPads out there in the hands of students with very few if any restrictions. This was not a horrible thing in and of itself, after all this post is partly about reflecting on what we learned from doing what we did. However, there were many uncontrollable issues that came out of this. And, being teachers we don't like when things are "out of control".

This year in hopes of comforting our staff a bit and responsibly training our younger learners, we are placing a few restrictions on the device and offering performance based incentives to remove restrictions.  All students in grades 6-9 will receive iPads with a set list of apps on them and not have the ability to download apps of their choice from the app store. This decision was reached in part due to the age restrictions around creating an Apple ID, but also due to the fact that the majority of discipline issues around gaming on the iPad involved freshman students.  There has been no final decision made about when, or if, the app store will be unlocked on freshman iPads but an idea being thrown around is that students will prove being responsible and respectful with the use of their device and eventually it will eventually be turned on for them. I guess we will see how it goes.

Africam

I love the way technology can get my students engaged and excited about learning. Sometimes I'm even able to trick them so that they don't even know they are learning. This is exactly what happened last week! I came across a website that provides FREE live footage of an African waterhole. I began showing it for 5 or 10 minutes throughout the day. The waterhole is very active first thing in our morning (there is a 7 hour time difference) and so I always have it on as they come in on the morning. It's really neat, but of course I found myself wondering how I could catch their excitment and connect it to the curriculum. We began researching the animals and trying to find the names of some of the unfamiliar animals. This week, the kids are choosing an African animal to write about. We are also studying seasons and weather so we began looking into the weather and seasons in Africa. In addition, it has created some interest in maps and using map skills. Many of the kids are even watching the waterhole at home and bringing in information about the animals. I love the way technology can get my class excited and help us travel to other places. Check out the waterhole at africam.com. I am watching the Tembe waterhole. I hope your students enjoy it as much as mine are!

Devices From Home and Innovation?

A year ago during our planning phases of 1:1 we had predicted students would eventually come to school with shinny new devices they had received from under the Christmas Tree.  Therefore, I shouldn't have been surprised when I returned to school after break to smiling faces telling me "guess what Mr. Braymer, I got an ipod touch for Christmas!"  I just hadn't thought it would happen so soon.  I currently have nine desktop computers in my classroom, so as far as the normal fourth grade room goes I have more than most.  But, with 25 students using them it can be difficult to manage.  With several students bringing their ipod touches, and nooks to school it noticeably frees up computers for other students.  Thanks parents!

This lead me to another thought.  We have been learning about the lumber era and how technology advancements lead to deforestation, and ultimately the end of unsustainable logging practices as they were known.  In short, technology lead to a complete overhaul in the way the lumber business was operated.  Why? because it didn't make sense to continue doing the job the way it was currently being done.

So, here we stand on the threshold of a massive change in the way educational practices have always been performed.  For so long the teacher has been the giver of information; the lead person with all the knowledge.  Now, it is obvious that technology has changed that matrix.  Zeeland has begun this journey as a leading player by putting such powerful devices in the hands of students.  These portable devices are forcing the education world into an overhaul of they way educators deliver content.  With these machines in the hands of our students, only time will tell how quickly we can innovate our practices to look more like the future that our students will be living in.  One thing is for sure; the information is at every one's finger tips all the time. 

1st Semester Reflections

Here at the high school, it is hard to believe that our first semester of students and teachers with iPads is about to come to an end.  This semester has proven to be one of the most challenging, yet rewarding ones I have encountered in my teaching career.  With each year that has gone bye, I have considered myself to be a little bit better teacher than the year prior. I have been teaching in Zeeland for nearly twenty years and in that time, I have built up many resources to draw upon in instructing students.  Knowing that we would have iPads this year forced me (and many other teachers too I suspect) to re-examine how I go about doing some parts of my job.  It has been quite refreshing to go through filing cabinets, binders, folders, etc. of resources and decide what still is relevant and what is no longer useful material.  Thanks to bond issue money, I now have greater ease and ability to scan articles from magazines, newspapers, and supplemental text materials and create .PDF files that I can not only save, but share with students and other teachers has been positively impacted my teaching.  Students, with their iPads, are able to access this information daily and use it to help learn, collaborate, and reinforce concepts essential to becoming a capable 21st global citizens.  Certainly, the work is not done and another semester will soon begin.  Like Mike and Frank on American Pickers, I have more treasures to uncover and give new life to so that others may benefit.  Yes, if you didn't already know, I do teach social studies and like most social studies teacher, I am a pack rat.

iPad Workshops for Parents - Teachers - Administrators

The Ottawa Area Intermediate School District (13565 Port Sheldon Street, Holland, MI 49424) is hosting iPad workshops.

Workshops by OAISD Staff:
iPads for Parents

February 21, 2012 - 4:30 PM - 8:00 PM

Cost: @15.00 a workshop (dinner included)

iPads for Educators

February 2, 2012 - 4:30 PM - 8:00 PM

OR

March 1, 2012 - 4:30 PM - 8:00 PM

Workshops by Scott Meech

Guest presenter Scott Meech is the  Director of Technology in Downers  Grove, Illinois, District #58.  Scott is a champion for the transformative nature  of technology, changing teaching and learning from a teacher-centered paradigm into a constructivist student centered approach.  He loves helping teachers learn to use iPad applications to improve student learning.  He’s an advocate for helping administrators  become more productive with iPad tools.  Scott was co-creator and a regularly contributor to http://iear.org, an educational site for evaluating and promoting the use of iPad and iOS devices to improve teaching and learning.  Audiences across the country enjoy Scott’s upbeat personality and practical approach to technology integration

iPads for All Learners

Monday, March 19, 2012 - 8:00 AM - 3:30 PM

$50.00 - Lunch provided. Eligible for .6 SB-CEUs

iPads for Administrators

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - 8:-00 AM - 11:30 AM

$25.00 - Eligible for .3 SB-CEUs

Integrating the iPad in Special Education Environments

Tuesday, March 20, 2012 - 12:00 PM - 3:30 PM

@25.00 - Eligible for .3 SC-CEUs

Teachers Create

What happens when you give teachers a day and a half to create with no boundaries?

LOTS OF THINGS HAPPEN AND THE THINGS THEY CREATE ARE AMAZING!

I had the privilege of assisting and learning from many Creekside teachers two weeks ago during our professional development days. We were given four different areas of teaching to create something in using a different part of technology. This form of professional development was very different than what our teachers are used to receiving. Usually we are told exactly what to do and how to do it, but this time, we were given only areas to look at and possible ideas. It was up to the individual teacher to create material for instruction, student projects, specific lessons, study tools, etc. Here are just a few things that were created.

*A set of geometry flash cards using www.quizlet.com for a sixth grade geometry unit. (This teacher had never heard of quizlet prior to these days. Ms. Kruse, you rock!)

*A prezi was created using www.prezi.com to introduce sixth grade social studies students to developed and developing countries. (This teacher had never created a prezi before. Ms. Maat, way to go!)

*Teachers created classroom accounts using www.edmodo.com to collaborate with students. One 7th grade social studies teacher saved an article as a pdf file and then uploaded it for students that had been absent for the lesson. (This teacher had never saved a document as a pdf and then uploaded to edmodo. Mrs. Dana, terrific work!)

*Teachers created imovies and keynote presentations using their iPads so they have had the experience before assigning these items to students once middle school students receive their ipads. (Teachers had never tried to create items with these iPad apps before. Exploratory staff, way to be ahead of the game!)

*A 7th grade math teacher signed up for an account on www.thatquiz.org so she can assess her students' assessments quickly and gather results immediately on a variety of different math topics. This will change her teaching as she will have immediate feedback as to what her students know and don't know after a lesson or before they start a new topic. (This teacher had never created an account so she could see students' results instantly. Ms. Carpenter, I'm very proud of you!)

When teachers are given time and the opportunity to create, amazing things happen. It doesn't matter that they have never heard of the tool before, it matters that they have time to explore, develop their ideas and create.

Whatexcites me the most is that this same thing will and does happen with students. Given time and the opportunity to create, students can and will do amazing things!

Students using Showme to show the world.

My friend Kip introduced me to the Showme App this summer and right away I feel in love with the ability to capture screen annotations and voice narrations as the user is demonstrating something on their iPad.
Now in class I can demonstrate solving and graphing an inequality using Showme, and instead of not being able to hear or see that explanation again, the captured vodcast can easily be linked or embedded in a classroom website for later viewing and reviewing.
As my familiarity with the app grew I thought "wouldn't it be great for students to use this to help their classmates with difficult problems and demonstrate to me what they truly know." We distributed the free app to students and literally watched and listened as they showed me and their classmates what they knew.
However, an interesting thing happened the other day. Being curious about how I could use the showme website to support student learning I started clicking through some topics. After selecting Learn by Topic > Geometry I was blown away by what I saw. Here it is:


You see up until now students have solved problems for basically two people: themselves and their teacher. But now students are solving problems for an audience of millions. When I projected the website for them the other day and showed them how their works was showing up in just two clicks of the mouse their mouths dropped. They were blown away by the fact that their work was published and freely available for anyone to view and use. I wish I could have take a picture of their faces you could see the sense of ownership and pride in their work take on new meaning.

Feedback from Parent-Teacher Conferences

Recently parents and teachers congregated in the Zeeland East gymnasium and cafeteria for the time honored tradition of conferences.  Like most teachers, it is a time great excitement and a little bit of apprehension.  The vast majority of conferences go very well and are positive and productive exchanges about the learning that is taking place under the teacher's direction. 

Why would should this year be any different?  At the high school level, each student has used the Ipad as a new tool for learning.  In some classes, this has greatly transformed the way information is delivered and how learning is assessed.  But a time honored question was certain to be raised by some parents in conference with teachers; is new necessarily better for learning?

I had several parents ask questions about the Ipad and how it has been used in class.  This is a question that is fair to ask and one that I was prepared to answer.  Parents were directed to class web pages that I have set up for students to access materials that we use in class on a daily basis.  While I have been doing this for several years, parents now took a more keen interest in seeing how materials could be accessed and then manipulated by their student on the Ipad.  Many parents were amazed at how easily students could download files, open them in different applications, and produce work that could be submitted electronically. 

Beyond this use of the Ipad in my class, each Civics students in my class has created a blog using Blogger or Wordpress.  Student Blogs are being utilized for students to share opinions on a variety of topics ranging from the death of Mommar Qaddafi to their stance on gun laws.  Both parents and students welled up with pride when I pulled these up in conferences.  A lasting comment from conferences that stuck with me was when a parent turned to their child after reading their blog and said: "I didn't know you thought about these types of things.  That is so cool."  The parent then proceeded to write down the blog URL so that they could read it regularly.  What a neat way for parents, students, and teachers to connect with the Ipad and share thoughts on topics that may not have come out in a traditional class discussion.


On a side note: this practice has been a wonderful time and money saver for me personally.  I have saved countless hours not running off as many papers for students.

Real Reflections from the Principal turned Teacher

Principal of Zeeland East H.S., Marc VanSoest, traded in his principal hat for one hour a day to get a taste of teaching in a 1:1 iPad U.S. History class. Here are his words to his staff following the experience:

"Last week, I had the opportunity to get back into the classroom in Matt's 3rd Hour US History class. Going into it, I figured I knew what I was doing....I had taught US History for the better part of 8 years previously...and it's not like anything really changes in history. I was dead wrong. I cannot get over the way that little glass and metal device (iPad) changed almost all of my thinking. As I sat to plan the week, I figured I could do a Keynote, watch a movie clip or two on YouTube (it's Social Studies...I had to show a few movie clips...), maybe we'd do a little survey using eClicker, and I'd have them do some .pdf note taking stuff as we went along.

That was all well and good in theory. Then my old Powerpoints didn't translate into Keynote, YouTube blocked a clip, and eClicker didn't work cause the kids and I were on different networks. I even found an app I wanted the 30 students to download. I'm sure that was useful for the 26 of them that were actually able to download it. Frustrating....

Then I remembered something. I was only doing this for one hour, for one week. 5 hours of my life. In other words, one of your teaching days. I wasn't even toiling with this...this thing...for the 25 hours a week you all are doing it.

It's not that I didn't understand that the iPad was changing us. I knew that. What I didn't understand was the profound level of frustration that accompanies its use in the classroom. But having said that...when things work, it's an amazing thing to watch students create, explore, and drive the learning process in new ways."

Moving Beyond Our Desk AND The Classroom

Integrating the iPad into our classrooms here at Zeeland East High School has not only challenged me and my colleagues to rethink just about everything, but it has also prompted our students to move beyond the old way of doing things.

Rather than standing tethered to our desktop computers to take attendance or to click through a presentation, the iPad has allowed us to move about the room while accomplishing the same tasks. With the Splashtop Whiteboard app on our iPad, and the Splashtop Streamer installed on our desktop system, we can actually take attendance while out amidst our students. Likewise, old PowerPoint presentations can now be run using this application without needing to click keys or wrangle a mouse on our desk. Even better, this same app allows for annotating, drawing, and highlighting right over the content we’re projecting onto the screen in the front of our classroom. The result? More engaging presentations AND the freedom to roam about the room – an essential freedom, especially when working with a group in need of extra classroom management. And it’s this same freedom to work remotely that I was surprised to discover some of my students engaging in just recently.

Nearing the end of our culminating project in one of my 10th Grade English classes, some groups were still scrambling to get their work off of the ground, others were putting the finishing touches on their collaborative efforts, and a few were stymied by some of their teammates being absent. However, there was one particular group that surprised me with their creative solution they found for the absence of one member on their team: the Skype app. I had just finished meeting with one of the teams to check their progress, so I proceeded to check my email, only to find that the absent student had emailed me to see what he was missing in class today. Before I replied to his request, I walked around the doorway to check on his group, only to find their team leader sitting with her iPad propped up next to her with that same student’s face filling her screen. As I approached her, the absent student shouted, “Hey, Mr. Jacob! Did you get my email?” I was stunned. When I asked his teammates what they were doing, they told me that they were Skyping him so they could continue working on their project without having to wait for him to return with the information they needed. What an awesome moment that was! There that student was, sitting up in his sickbed, collaborating with his team so they wouldn’t fall behind on their work. It was quite a moment for me.

No excuses for not having their work ready on time. No excuses that they didn’t know how to reach their teammate. These sophomores did some critical thinking, planned ahead, and made things happen in a way that we couldn’t have imagined happening prior to the arrival of the iPads. This was truly a moment of discovering that, through a little bit of technology, and a little bit of creative problem solving, students can empower themselves to be better collaborative learners. And we as teachers can see how leaving our desk behind is almost as good as students discovering how to leave the classroom behind to reach out to their peers.

Social Studies on the SmartBoard

Using the SmartBoard in interesting/new ways has been a bit of a challenge for me this year. I am good at using the projector (daily) to display student responses/writing, worksheets for modeling skills, and read aloud books, but am working to integrate the SmartBoard software/programs into daily math, science, and social studies. I have been recently working on a Zeeland history unit in social studies and tried the following lesson on 'determining the past or long ago'...

2nd Grade Social Studies - History: We read the book, The Ox Cart Man, together using the projector the first day. The second day, we took a closer look at some of the pictures and words. We thought, like historians, about the information that we could gather from the pictures and words about the past. We talked about comparing the pictures and words with how things are today. Using ImageMate, students were able to come up to the SmartBoard and circle things in the pictures or words on the page that were clues into the past. On the third day, students completed a morning message (SmartBoard Notebook file) with a different illustration (using ImageMate) from the book. They were asked to circle and write about the evidence they found that proved this book took place in the past, just like a historian would do.

My students were more engaged in this book this year because they could come up to the front and "show" other kids their thinking. They could "teach" the others about the evidence they found about the past and what it told them.

I think this is another small step in the direction I am trying to go with my 'daily technology integration'. This did not take along time to plan because I was already doing this lesson in the past, but it did take some rethinking on my part. It was well worth the time and it was more memorable for my students understandings about 'the past'.

(Thanks to K H-A for helping me with this post.)

The Technology Ride

It's truly amazing what is produced when teachers and students get excited. I would like to share a story from Creekside. Mr. Ashby recently made a big change. He moved from 1st grade to 6th grade and he has "taken the bull by the horns". He quickly jumped onto the roller coaster ride we call Technology Twists and Turns here at ZPS. He hopped on the roller coaster right away. His first twist of the year was having his 6th grade social studies students do a scavenger hunt on Google maps. You can view the assignment here. He was quick to share how excited the students were, especially when they found their own house! (It sure is fun seeing teachers excited!)

Scavenger Hunt

His next turn on the coaster took him to recording commercials. Mr. Ashby has provided us with a short description of the assignment. Assignment: Create a commercial to advertise for a destination either to visit or to move to. It has to include research for population, weather and local attractions, but that information has to be used in the advertising (this is not a report about that place). The students created a power point presentation, then saved the slides as .jpg files. They wrote a script and recorded it using Audacity. The voice files and pictures were imported into moviemaker and saved; they had to line up the pictures with their script. We did not have time to put music in, but we'll do music for the next project!

Student Project

Hats off to Mr. Ashby and his 6th graders at Creekside. Keep on riding through the twists and turns of technology!

Student Conceptions Driving Instruction

One of the many great ways to transform our learning environment through iPad integration is in the way of gathering real time student artifacts and using it to direct face to face classroom discussions. Real time response systems, clickers, or classroom response systems have been around for awhile now and used to be tied to a remote control type device.

Since then this instantaneous response system has evolved to web-based response systems and iPad compatible apps. Using these sites and apps gives every student a voice in responding to questions and provides teachers real time feedback based directly on student understanding. Imagine how this can transform our face to face time with students?

Consider a few uses: students complete a lecture or video then navigate to a Google form and answer five questions based off the content. The teacher can pull up the spreadsheet of responses and see immediately what conceptions students are forming and can scaffold instruction accordingly.

Or perhaps students are directed to the teachers Poll Everywhere site at the beginning of class for a 5 question warm up based off of the previous day's content. In real time responses are aggregate on the screen giving the teacher data and understanding of what their students are understanding, from here teachers can regroup their class to spend more time with those who need it and allow those who don't need reinforcing the opportunity to work ahead independently.

There are many great ways to collect student artifacts and use them to drive your instructional time Survey Monkey, Question Press, Poll Daddy, and thatquiz are all web-site based tools that offer some sort of free or educational plan. As well there are iPad/iPod apps that provide similar experiences and student data. Try using one of the above sites or find a great app and see what it tells you about your students understanding. Or, even better, show the class results to your students (in a safe way) to allow them to see what they are and are not understanding. Let their conceptions drive your instruction and their learning.

Starting Today to Change Tomorrow

At the end of each day this first month of school, I found myself thinking how will I help these kids become readers and writers by June? How will they learn to ask questions and find answers to their questions as researchers? How will they learn how to add and subtract this year? These are the questions that I tend to have at the beginning of every school year, but this year I found myself also asking how can I use technology to get them there?

First I panicked! Then I decided to start small. After reading a poem about clams, we used google images to look at pictures of clams. Using the smart board and google, I showed them how to type in clam and click images. Ta-dah! They were amazed! Now every time we read or discuss something unfamiliar they want to research it on google images. It got even more exciting the day we read about a panda at a panda reserve in China. I showed them how to use YouTube to watch videos of the pandas at the reserve. They couldn't believe it! Google images and YouTube have helped us to take trips to places we read about or to look up pictures of things we read about. It has been a tool that allows students learning English to see pictures of items we're talking about. The kids can see how I type in a search in google and click images even if they can't do it independently yet. And without even planning a lesson on research, they have learned how to ask questions and find answers to their questions.

What have I learned this year about teaching first grade students how to use technology? Exposure is the best place to start.

Technology Changing the Way We Learn

Throughout the last couple of years I have been trying to stretch myself as an educator. I recognize that the only way we will continue to meet the needs of our students is to continue to grow as a learners ourselves. One area that I have dedicated to learning more about is using technology to enhance learning. To say the least, this was out of my comfort zone. I decided to jump in with both feet and be ready to face each mistake I made head on.

I quickly realized that there are many fifth graders who knew more than I did when it came to programs that were available. At first this was discouraging, then exciting. We were able to collaborate on a different level where the teacher became the student. Talking about empowering the student! They ate it up and we both learned a lot. I have figured out that it doesn't matter where we are as a learner, as long we are open to new learning experiences. This lesson proved very important to me as Zeeland moves forward with our 1:1 initiative.

At the elementary level we have not received our Ipad's yet. I actually feel this is a blessing. As I have been working with staff in my building, I have been amazed at the technology they are integrating in their classrooms on a daily basis. I can see each teacher inching into their personal "stretching zone". Great things are happening and amazing things are yet to come. I like that we are waiting for the Ipad because teachers are truly changing how they teach, looking at technology as a whole, not just depending on the Ipad. Don't get me wrong, I am extremely excited for our school to get such an amazing device. I just love to see our building changing how we teach on a greater level than just a device.

As we all know, there are thousands of companies working to out do Apple and replace the Ipad. Devices will come and go. By changing how we think, not just what we use, we better prepare ourselves and our students for the future.

1st Month in Surprises

Students and staff have undergone changes in education like never seen before in Zeeland,  Thanks to the generous support of many citizens in the community, our schools have the ability to become an educational model for the entire nation.  It has been a tremendous challenge for many teachers to rethink their traditional delivery method.  But one that my colleagues and I have embraced. 

How do I know this to be true?  I certainly can't physically stop in and see teachers doing their jobs all day.  But I can tell from conversations that now take place before school, at lunch time, during plan hours, and after school between staff members.  There is a renewed sense of collaboration between teachers to share lesson ideas, problem solve technical questions, and explore new possibilities.  Even listening to and watching students create projects, take notes, and give instant feedback through in-class polls is exciting to see from an educators stand point. 

Zeeland's IPad initiative has great promise to raise the bar educationally in many ways.  But there have been hidden bonuses that I never really thought about when the bond issue passed.  Students are much more patient than I can ever remember.  As with any technology, there are instances when glitches occur and things don't quite work the way you hoped.  My students have been wonderful with learning patience and understanding that some things are beyond our control and we just adjust the best we can.  I have also witnessed many acts of student kindness towards their classmates.  Students are very willing to help each other with technical issues like getting reconnected to the WiFi and how to best use Apps like PDF Notes for Free.  Seeing students willingly help out their classmates that might be less tech savvy and could fall behind in class demonstrates some of the finest qualities of human kindness and selflessness. 

It is hard to put a price on developing these qualities and they certainly don't get measured on standardized assessments.  But they are priceless in my view and make each day just a little but better.

Remember When

I remember when I was first given an e-mail address for school. That was in 1994, my second year of teaching. I was the “computer teacher” at that time and was able to take advantage of all the “new” technology toys for our district including a Web Cam, Zip Drive, Palm Pilot, and the amazing Laser Printer. Today, every student is assigned an e-mail address, a majority of kids have their own cell phone, the Internet is the very first place kids go for answers, and kids find new friends through FaceBook. Times have certainly changed.

The children we teach will be living with new world norms that were not in place when I was a child. Tony Wagner, in his book The Global Achievement Gap writes, “our world has changed in three significant ways, and methods of teaching and learning must adapt to these changes” (Wagner 2008). Wagner explains that students need to develop new skills to survive in our global economy. This includes the ability to think critically, work in teams, adapt, communicate, analyze information, and to be curious and imaginative. Wagner also writes that “using new information to solve new problems matters more than recalling old information” (Wagner 2008). Students need to be able to apply what they have learned to new situations, rather than recite knowledge from memory. The third significant adaption that Wagner explains is that children are motivated in new ways as compared to previous generations. “Young people today are curious multi-taskers who hunger for immediate gratification and connectedness” (Wagner 2008).


With our 1-1 iPad initiative we have jumped into the Instructional Technology ocean head first. What I have clearly seen in just the few short weeks is that our initiative is much more about Instruction than it is about Technology. Each student will have a highly effective device that can serve as a tool for many applications, but the real learning that will take place will happen due to the changes that happen in instruction. As noted above, the three adaptations that educators need to implement to meet the needs of today’s student all involve new instructional methods. These new methods will surely utilize the iPad as well as other technological devices, but meeting the needs of today’s youth will be more about methodology than gadgets.

The wave of change is happening in Zeeland. Risk taking is now a rampant activity. The excitement is directly related to our teacher’s risk with new instructional methods that are utilizing technology. Some teachers are “flipping” their classes, where the lecture and note taking happen at home and the classroom becomes a collaborative learning workshop. Inquiry based learning is taking shape, where it’s more important to ask the correct question than to know the correct answer. Project Based Learning is being utilized by several teachers, where many learning objectives are accomplished through a student developed project. iPads are seen throughout all of these instructional methods as a tool for both the teacher and the student, but the learning is directly tied to the new methods of instruction. As you can see, it is truly an exciting time in Zeeland Schools.

Wagner, R. (2008). The Global Achievement Gap. Basic Books, New York, NY.

Quincy Teachers Use the iPad to Deliver Concise Usable Info to Parents

Quincy Elementary teachers are using their new iPads to help parents reinforce math concepts at home.  Pete Goers had this to say about using the new device.  "We aren't going for production value as much as concise usable information.  When we began to think about how to use the technology, showing math strategies to parents and kids in a "rewindable" format was a natural choice.  Now that we've gotten started, we're coming up with new ideas every day.  They won't all work, and we've got a lot of learning to do, but it's exciting to have so many options for engaging students and communicating with parents.  The ipad makes it too easy not to do."