Wednesday, January 9, 2013

iPads at MSES


Yesterday, January 7th, marked a transformative day in some of the Manitou Springs Elementary School classrooms as teachers distributed iPads to students in select first through fourth grade classrooms.  One class in each grade level will experience a 1:1 iPad environment for the next five months of school.
Students using iPads - Day 1
The excitement level was similar to that of the first day of school.  Students were completely engaged in activity.  In an attempt to capture the excitement in writing, Mark Langseth, fourth grade teacher, asked his students to send an email describing their thoughts and attitudes toward learning with the iPad.  One student responded as follows, thought the sediment was the same among all students:
"I love the iPads they are so cool. I think this will be a very fun learning experience.  I think I am going to look forward to going to school now.  iPads have a big effect on kids and how they learn.  Thank you for the iPads we will enjoy them."

All teachers are incorporating a series of digital citizenship lessons to teach appropriate use and understanding of the many platforms and interactions students will experience through out the course of the semester.  These lessons will be embedded in classroom activities.
By the end of day 1, kindergarten students had learned how to author story books, first graders had visited the San Diego Zoo, second graders began blogging with students in Great Britain,  third graders had researched science topics, and fourth graders were emailing and studying comparative and superlative forms of adjectives.
The teachers in the 1:1 environment are already questioning the next school year, wondering how on earth they will cope in a non-1:1 iPad setting.  With only one day of 1:1 access under their belt, they see the impact this access will have on student engagement and instruction.

1 comment:

  1. To help the people be aware of the environment and organize a system to answer issues regarding to it.

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