Two Years with IPads and Counting

Wow, what a whirlwind it's been lately.

Just to recap a few things, here is what my last year has been like:

1. Fall 2014- Learn about realignment (junior highs are becoming middle schools, 6-8, and my 9th grade job is in jeopardy)
• No details about how the alignment will work only that non tenured teachers can't do anything until late may after 3 rounds of interviews for tenured staff. We will have to wait for outside postings to the district.
• Students recieve IPads, deployment is horrible, no filtering on the school wifi so engagement in content is minimal due to gaming and social media.
• Staff not allowed to confiscate Ipads because students "need" them in every class.

To touch on these few points, I was stressed. I was teaching a new curriculum to 8th grade students while trying to implement all these new technology mandates by our district. I really wanted students to see purpose in the Ipads rather than just an expensive toy the school gave them.

This was super hard. I was the bad guy for taking the Ipads away even though the kids "needed" them. Other teachers would call and demand that I return it to the student and I simply refused. There was so little being inforced that I wanted students to know that I was serious when I said they can't be messing around on them in my class. After about two weeks of pissed off staff and students, kids finally understood that I was serious and the big issues stopped. I'm glad that I was able to take control eventually, but I think that the school should have done more to empower and support teachers.

Now that I had kids' behaviors on the Ipad under control, I needed to find away to integrate it into my curriculum. At first, there was really very little that could be done. Not every student had the app Noteability, and the school's software distribution model was awful. I was annoyed, kids were annoyed, it was not good.

    2. Winter 2014-Still uncertain about job security, planning wedding for the  
        spring, getting more comfortable with schoology and finding a routine for
        students and Ipads.

• Things were starting to click now for me and the students. All kids had the noteability app and we were learning how to use it together. It was pretty awesome, and I see the potential it has as a notebook replacement. 
• We started having weekly quizzes in schoology and I learned how to properly scaffold questions, got better at using different question types and organizing my materials.
• Biggest issue with Ipads now is the camera and social media. There was a lot of drama and was left unresolved (not touching that one again, just glad it's over)

    3. Spring 2015- Interview for a new job, get married and finally am
        comfortable with the LMS and Ipads.

• Personal life got super busy but I made it work.
• I finally feel like I know how to integrate the Ipad and schoology into my classroom in a way that makes sense. I like it, my kids like it, everyone is happy now. 

• Even with this new sense of accomplishment, I am still angry at the building administration and the district. I can't fathom how poorly planned and implemented this whole thing has been. This has been a VERY expensive undertaking and it should have been done with more care and caution. My classroom is an exception, not a norm and the Ipads are wasted in 80% of the students' other classes.

• Interviewed for a new position still in the same district and got it! I'll be dropping down from 9th grade to 6th grade (yikes!! scary age difference but I'm excited about it)

    Summer 2015: Hangout, spend time with family and start stressing about
                              school in early July.

    Fall 2015: Ipad deployment has gone much better this year. Students have
                      access to apps better as well!

• Really noticing the difference in maturity and attention span. Very difficult time planning and staying within my (expected) expectations. 
• Biggest issue with Ipads is just forgetting them at home and charging them. Video gaming is starting to become a big distraction as well.
• Having tons of fun in lab settings with students and challenging them to apply skills. Critical thinking and application is going to be a focus for me and the kids this year!

    Winter 2015: Ipads and schoology are great! My classroom is 100% paperless,
                          which is a good starting point for students and myself in terms
                          of technology integration.

• I've realized that the Ipad is a replacement tool for me this year and not so much an augmentation. I want to teach the skill of appropriate technology usage so that they will be more successful as they move through our school. 
• Students use the Ipad as their notebook/textbook for my class. My goal is that they get use to it as a a tool so that when they get into 7th and 8th grade where a lot of material is independent, they won't get too distracted.
• Biggest issues are still charging the Ipad and bringing it to school. When they break, the turn around time for a new one is about 4 weeks but that maybe happens to 1/30 students.
• School blocked social media but still has game domains allowed. I don't know why but apparently filtering needs to be done at the district level and not by building. (They really don't make this easy. . . )

Spring 2015: I'm trying to have kids be more independent on the Ipad and
                      schoology.

• I'm going to try some self paced learning using completion folders. No idea how well this will work.

Well, that's a wrap for now! I just wanted to get everything out in a timeline format for my own writing purposes. Now when I talk about some different topics later, you'll know my thinking and context behind it. We are going to be switching our grading system this summer (I'm kind of glad about that) but it won't be super convenient. 

I've been getting about 1-3 side jobs a month with Ne.IT which has been fun as well! If you haven't seen the page, check it out!