This is our first blog – heralding the beginning of a blog series that will help to document the journey of the BYO trial class this year..
Hopefully we will add to this weekly so we create an ongoing narrative about the happenings in this classroom. I will be sending out a permission form shortly to our parents in this classroom so that we can include some photos and some of the children’s work on these pages.
Jason and Chantelle have spent a lot of time this fortnight putting basic work flow processes in to place. They are using Good Reader and PDF Master as two apps which work seamlessly together to provide a pathway for students to access documents and files. Not all the students arrived on the first day with the apps that were needed and so this provided some additional challenges early on. There were also a few hassles with ensuring all the iPads could access the network and that mail was set up properly. When I saw Mr Schultz on Tuesday of this week, he was looking a lot less tired than he had been on the first Thursday!
Some observations that Jason and Chantelle have mentioned to me this week:
- Many of the students seem to be responding well to the way that independent pathways are opening up to them. In a traditional classroom it is often more difficult to allow student to move at their own pace. Jason has found that when the materials for a whole section of work are readily available, many of the students are immediately alert to the idea of moving through these at their own pace.
- When more children warm to this idea and when more apps are introduced that allow students to express and communicate their ideas, the notion of them creating something at the end of a unit of work that demonstrates their creativity and their understandings becomes a reality.
- Children who are often the quiet workers in a class are seeming to blossom in this environment and to thrive on the possibilities.
Some comments that have been passed on to me by parents:
- Parents have mentioned that their child is excited about coming to school and also keen to do work at home on their iPad.
- Parents have mentioned that they are impressed about the level of enthusiasm they are witnessing in their children.
- A parent mentioned one homework activity which was to use a browser to research the roles of three different kinds of scientists. They were to record their findings using any app of their choice. Some children chose to record an audio of their findings, other typed them into the notes app. This activity had a dual purpose – firstly, that the students were completing some research and the secondly was that they were being encouraged to explore what was available to them and to record the information. This is encouraging risk-taking and confidence.
The creation of a learning portfolio has begun with students using Creative Book Builder to start putting this together. At the base of this post, I’ve added a video tutorial for this app if parents are interested in being able to help students. It may also be something for parents to watch with their student if the student needs a bit of help with the app itself.
Some feedback from parents have been received about the fact they would like to know more about what the homework specifically entails. Hopefully the upcoming Parent Night will provide information about this. Other feedback relates to the interest parents have in knowing what exactly the children are doing on the iPads.
More coming on this post later in the week. We are also keen to get some parents on board with providing feedback and even some blog posts if you are interested.
This week’s reading for those interested:
Technology as a catalyst for change
This week’s YouTube Clip:
Nicola