As I work towards accomplishing my goal of my GAME plan, which was to incorporate the iPads into my FACS lessons, I have started working with the CITT (Curriculum Integration Technology Teacher) for my department in my school division. The CITT attends training and conferences and collaborates with technology professionals to learn about new and innovative ways to incorporate technology into lesson plans. The CITT has provided me with many ideas and apps that coordinate with the curriculum I teach in class. For example, she introduced me to an app called Hello Baby by Pampers. It provides a visual timeline with real images of the stages of fetal development. There are also sound bites that the students can listen to. I use app with my Parenting and Child Development unit. The students love it because they get to see actual images of a baby as it grows. Another app that I use is called Financial Football. The students get to pick their football teams and play a game and throughout the game, they are asked financial related questions. This app works well with my unit on Money Management. I usually pick one class to test the app with before I let everyone use it. Many of the free apps have bugs and don't always work as they're supposed to. I am in the process of working with the CITT to purchase apps that I'm using in class a lot so we can have full access to all of the features. For example, one app is a house design app. The students can create their dream home and with the full version, they can same their work and work on it during several class periods. In Chapter 5 of the textbook, the authors state that "teachers should utilize instructional strategies that allow individual students greatest access to active learning - not just passive information" (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2009). I think the iPads allow students to be very active when learning. I also enjoy using them because they allow the students to interact with each other and help each other with assignments.
In regards to my goal to improve my participation in professional development activities, I applied and was accepted to be a presenter at the NCPN (National Career Pathways Network) conference in October. I will be presented the process that my school used to integrate iPads into the FACS curriculum. We will discuss the setup process, the integration process, the evaluation process and how we will use the information to place the iPads into other schools in our district. I am very excited to pass along the information to other professionals that want to use technology in their classrooms.
Myra Mata
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc. custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
Myra-
ReplyDeleteI like how you tied the two goals together. You want to increase iPad use in your classroom and you are going to share how you are doing it at the conference where you will present.
How does it work with iPads? When you purchase an app does it work only on that particular iPad or is there a special way it works for schools when there are multiple iPads?
It sounds like you have incorporated the two apps you mentioned in this post already. Have you found any new ones? What is your timeline for implementing any new apps you find?
Do you allow your students to give you an opinion of the app after you have used it? If you questioned them at the end of using the app, that would be a way of monitoring student learning and evaluating your instruction like Cennamo, Ross, and Ertmer (2009) state. We need to make sure the technology is truly helping the student reach their goal and not just using technology for fun.
It sounds like you are on the right track for your game plan. Minus using the CITT, how do you go about finding apps that could be effective (especially paid apps) without wasting time or money on something that is ineffective?
Renee Scott
References:
Cennamo, K., Ross, J. & Ertmer, P. (2009). Technology integration for meaningful classroom use: A standards-based approach. (Laureate Education, Inc., Custom ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.
When I add an app, I pull it to a laptop in the iPad cart and then I sync all of the iPads at one time. We don't store the apple ID and password on the iPads so the students aren't apple to download anything to them, music or apps. I usually check the app store once a week to look at the list of new free apps and try them myself first and then add them to the iPads if it is something I can use. When I let the students use the new apps, they find bugs and flaws very quickly so I know if they will be a reliable source with a lesson or not. If not, then I just delete the app from the iPads. I have only purchased one app so far and that is because I used the free version first and I wanted the students to have the ability to save their work in the app.
ReplyDeleteMyra Mata