The Wonderful World of iPads

Hey Everybody! Welcome to the club. The Wonderful World of iPad users. I want to take a minute & ask you to remember the good old days of elementary school.

I loved the weekends and the time it allowed me to play & roam throughout the neighborhood, without a care in the world except what were the Adams' going to do next to get us in trouble. Seriously, we lived next door to the Adams Family & they had 6 kids that wrecked havoc on the neighborhood & they tried to drag the 3 of  us along to trouble whenever they could.

The best time of the weekend was Sunday Night when the Wonderful World of Disney would come on TV. The magic would happen. It didn't matter if it was comedy, adventure, cartoon or real life.  I was entranced. Some of my favorite episodes were the animal adventures and the "educational" things that would air. Then if you stepped into the school week, it was a really special day if we were able to see a 35mm movie or a filmstrip. Oh and if you were lucky enough to get to work the projector! The best days were Disney Nature films for science! & the Social Studies films. I loved talking of settling the American Frontier. I have so much knowledge from watching those films. Those movies opened up parts of the world to me that I would have never known. To this day, I hear the Disney theme song & a collage of memories floods my mind.

You are probably asking, "What do Disney & Apple i Pads have to do with each other?" In case you didn't know both companies are in charge of the world! LOL, not quite but coming close. Both companies have reputations as innovators, for excellence, for quality, & for pushing boundries.

This is where I see us at the moment. We are heading into areas of technology where others have not had the chance to explore. We need to embrace these attributes as we try to innovate our instruction & push the boundries of what we as educators are doing every day.  We need to change what we are doing, so that we can create those Wonderful World of  Disney moments & memories for those we are trying to reach.

Last Monday I spent a large part of the afternoon planning ways to incorporate picture books & technology into Social Studies instruction.  There was also a focus on using Biographies.This could be a great starting point in using your iPad in your daily instruction. Also, I was given this great digital Bloom's chart to help with planning. This chart can help us move our technology use to deeper levels. (You might want to create a web clip or bookmark to this chart for your personal use. I can show you how if you don't know.)

Tuesday

I was thinking it might be a fun, helpful thing to get together every Tuesday with our i-pads for a couple of weeks & go over some tips & tricks. Come to the library at 3:20 & we can go over anything you might need, share some apps & ideas, encourage each other in ways to incorporate your iPad into instruction. Just show up if you want to. This is an informal get together & will last for just a few minutes or until your questions are answered.

Pam Calvert

Author, Pam Calvert will be here on Thursday November 17. Right now I am doing a presale of her books. If you have a student that wants to purchase one of her books  Please send me the form & the money. I will turn it all into the office once I have it recorded. I will give you more details later. I have some of her books to share with students in the next couple of weeks. I JUST REALIZED THAT I FORGOT TO INCLUDE STUDENT & TEACHERS NAME ON THE FORM WOULD YOU OR YOU STUDENT KINDLY ADD THAT INFO TO THE PINK ORDER FORM!

Don't Forget

I am open to helping you with teaching a lesson or doing some work with technology just let me know what you would like to do. It does not have to be a complicated lesson. I can come in and assist you in whatever way you need.