ipad in the classroom

[mollysmom]

Can anyone suggest some fun educational apps for classroom use? My class is a junior high special education classroom. I will have one iPad but I will be able to connect to a SmartBoard.

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[twerppoet]

The Elements. Visually stunning and informative

Knot Guide HD, for the typically twisted tween.

Presidents

USA Manual

Star Walk

Qwiki, for the soundbite generation. Start with some subject, then let the class vote on the next article.

 

[mollysmom]

Thanks! These sound great. The knot thing had me a bit nervous though...lol....gotta be cautious around those behavior disorder kids.

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[mollysmom]

Thank you...I am going to check it out now!

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[SteveAustin]

I Pad in the class is a really good and effective thing.But that should not be below than high school.The student of a high school is not a mature enough so that is why they should not be allowed.

 

[Quizzer2093]

iPads are great in a classroom. My sister teaches kindergarten, and has several apps that are great for her kids. They do need supervision while using it

 

[garrett1968]

. I teach grade 5 in an international school and it has been of enormous benefit to students who need support and those who need to be challenged. It does, however, need a lot of teacher guidance and monitoring.

 

[mollysmom]

Amen to that. Monitoring what students are doing can be a nightmare. The regular educ teachers found out first hand--locking out, downloading all kinds of stuff, etc. we had an in service yesterday about using iPads in the classroom. I plan on hooking mine up to the SmartBoard. Only big problem there is that the SB screen is not interactive. I will grab my info after Thanksgiving of suggested apps and websites to use in the classroom if anyone is interested.

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[tlbaker]

I Pad in the class is a really good and effective thing.But that should not be below than high school.The student of a high school is not a mature enough so that is why they should not be allowed.

Yup!!! That stuff should really be for adults Too much work trying to monitor and police. Glad I have no children lmao!!!

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[pmuldoon]

Do you have an iPad2? If so, there is a way to use it in the classroom as a teaching tool. You also have to have wireless and be willing to purchase apple tv2 and a converter box (or try to get the district to do it for you). I'm a 4th grade teacher and I am just putting together my own system together. Tested it last night and it worked wonderfully. Let me know if you want more details.

 

[mollysmom]

Yep, I knew that about the converter, but my district is rather anal and wants complete control of everything.
But please share the details anyway. Maybe I can be persuasive...lol
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[pmuldoon]

Sorry to hear about your district's level of control. I guess I am lucky in that they let me do pretty much what I want with technology. However, I pay for it myself. I show them what can be done, but I think that with the use of iPads in the classroom expanding and all of our admins in my district having them too the tide is starting to turn and they will probably be investing in the direction of iPads. We'll see...but my PTA wants to but them for my site teachers so there is that.

So, to address my earlier post: iPad2 connected wirelessly to Apple TV2 that is connected to a converter (HDView, Amazon for about $90) via an HDMI cable then a VGA cable from the converter to a projector. The HDView was recommended by another teacher on another forum and so I tried it. It works extremely well. Please stick with this one since i have read that many of the converters out there (even other HDCP compliant ones) do not scale the iPad image correctly and part of your screen may come up missing.

With this system, I can mirror from my iPad through the projector and will be able to be anywhere in the classroom and teach a math lesson, show a video, use the camera to show them something, or let a student use it on their desk to demonstrate to the class their understanding of a concept.

I hope this helps and let me know if I left out something.

 

[mollysmom]

Thank you so much for all the info. I will go to the tech people on Monday about how they would feel if I bought everything myself. I am not too hopeful though. We can't even download free apps! Crazy huh? It's not like we are children, but we are certainly treated as such. Anyway before I go off on a rant, thank you again. I appreciate it!

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[ThePhotog]

Our Daughter In-Law said there school won't allow anything other than Nintendo DSi's in the school. I think it's hold the kids back.

 

[twerppoet]

The iPad is already being used in quite a few K-12 schools, and doing quite well. It is certainly no more prone to misuse or abuse than any other computer.

I'm not in the education field, but I like to keep an eye on this blog (though his success has led to less frequent posts). I've always been fascinated with learning tools and how they are/can be used.

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