Ipad initation & app smash

My experience with ipads is minimal; I was assigned one by my new school last week, I lost it in the chaos of the classroom moving shuffle and haven’t found it yet. It was never turned on. Thus I faced this course with excitement- but feeling cursed! I’m still hoping it will turn up soon.

The welcome “selfie” activity we did was a great warm up, I can easily see applying this technology in class. The use of the drop box to collect/share assignments and information was invaluable too.

I found the simulation awareness activity most interesting as it was like experiencing writing from my student’s perspective. As I struggled to form letters and to write proportionally between the lines, I could picture specific students who had similar writing issues within my class. It was like I had stepped into their shoes just for a moment, it was eye opening. I was over-thinking, focused on forming each letter, focused on spacing and on the lines. I couldn’t think about what I was writing and my frustration level was rising. When Barbara said, “Don’t let the pencil be the barrier” it made so much sense. I allow and encourage oral elaboration with a lot of my students- but they still require me there for that. Why not let them audio record to text, or to type on their own. Students are sometimes hesitant to use laptops or computers- but something as sleek and current and an ipad would be much more engaging.

As we were assigned our App Smashing book assignment, I was interested by the term “presumed competency”; the general thought that you should assume that someone wants to learn. Don’t dismiss their potential ability. Have high expectations for all and be prepared to help them achieve using multi-sensory activities that consider the multiple intelligences and non-traditional methods. Far too often teachers dismiss students because they assume the student can’t do it, then we get upset and say they have learned helplessness. I value getting to know my students, letting them know, that I know that they can be successful, then guiding them to succeed. Once they start experiencing success, they want to attend school more. If someone’s told they can’t achieve long enough, they begin to believe it.

Required reading: Breakthrough for Josh

The fact that Josh gained a full years growth in six weeks is amazing. At the same time, I think the results speak to the fact that some of the ability perhaps already existed, but just wasn’t being brought out in the modality that worked best for Josh; once he could express himself and learn in a style that suited him, he began to excel.

Using an ipad with a student who is ADHD makes sense. Those students in my class are the ones moving around, off task, bothering others- I can sincerely see that they want to do well, but just can’t help their inattention sometimes. I’ve used fidgets with them, but sometimes they’re more distracting than useful, and they don’t actually aid student in achieving. The ipad makes sense because it’s “busy” and sensory stimulation, but with a targeted academic goal in mind. 

As the article states, the fact that the ipad lets the student learn in multiple modalities, chunks tasks and allows for repeated trials with immediate feedback are significant positive aspects for students with ADHD who usually excel with fast-paced changing information. The one-on-one the student would get would also be ideal as they’re engaged and focused, which allows the teacher to better circulate the class to support everyone. I think it’s important that the other students have access to such technology when possible as well to normalize it, and because it can be beneficial to other as well.

The reading app where the student read books aloud and then listened to himself reading it was interesting too. It made the student reflect, and analyze their own work- some higher level thinking for sure!

The article admits there’s much more to research, with more data to collect, but it’s a promising start.