Recently, I was given the opportunity to go one-to-one in my first grade classroom with iPads. To say that my students and I were excited to do this would be a bit of an understatement. It has long been a dream of mine to go one-to-one and for the students it is, as they say, like kids in a candy shop.
With Great Tools Comes Great Responsibility
When I announced on Twitter that I had picked up my boxes of technology, a comment from Stephen Ransom gave me great pause. He said, “With great tools comes great responsibility. Can’t wait to hear about the learning that goes on.”
Wow. Great responsibility. He is so right. Not everyone has a chance to do this, and I do feel that responsibility. I feel responsible to make sure that these devices make a difference in my classroom. I feel responsible to ensure that they help us to engage in learning that is impossible without them. I feel responsible to ensure that they help us to connect and collaborate with other classes. I feel responsible to ensure that they in fact transform the learning in my classroom in some way.
If they become a babysitting tool, then I have failed. If the apps we use are just technological worksheets, then I have failed. If it’s an “app of the week” scenario, then I have failed. I am not a person who is content with failure, whether my own or on the part of my students.
Starting Our Journey
With that in mind, I was careful which apps I chose to put on the iPads initially. My list included books, spelling apps and math apps, but I made sure that many of the apps also allowed for creation and connection.
I thought a lot about the set up of my classroom and about how to keep the iPads from getting broken, but still allow the students to easily use them whenever and wherever they wanted to.
After a month of using our iPads, these are my initial observations regarding the transformative nature of allowing each student to have their own device.
Engagement
Truthfully, it is not really difficult to engage six-year-old students. If I said that we were going to do a phonics worksheet (we don’t actually do that in my classroom) with enough enthusiasm, the students would all cheer. Their enthusiasm would not necessarily carry over to doing it, but they would be enthusiastic to try it. Having said that, the opportunity to use a technology that is as intuitive to them as playing in the sand has captivated my students.
They eagerly allow themselves to become absorbed with any new app we use, and explore with ease the ones I have not yet introduced formally. Technology, which they already use in various forms in their life outside of the classroom, is a normal and intuitive part of their lifestyle. Like most of the rest of us, when they use technology, they are engaged!
Collaboration
Since sound effects go along with many of our iPad uses, the students spend some of the time using their iPads with their headphones or earbuds on. I was worried that this would mean their sense of collaboration would be lost. Nothing could be further from the truth.
“Can somebody show me how to get out of this?” “Look what I did.” “This is cool. Watch this.” “How did you do that?” “Look here so I can take a picture.” These are all common phrases in my classroom. The students are still definitely learning from and with each other. From the creation to the sharing, from the questions to the solutions, there is more collaboration and authentic problem-solving happening in my classroom than there was before we obtained our devices.
Instant Feedback
I am often frustrated that I do not have the opportunity to engage one-to-one with all of my students as often as I would like to during a school day. Because of this, students sometimes pursue something without understanding it. They don’t get that “just in time” feedback they need, or they waste valuable learning time waiting for me to finish with the other students so that I can connect personally with them.
Using technology can take away that frustration. If the students are using an app to practice skills such as patterning or spelling or addition, they are immediately rewarded for a correct answer and asked to try again for a wrong one. These apps are not where I want my students to spend the majority of their time, but they have a definite place in learning. I want the students to understand some concepts so well that they are confident and automatic in their responses. There are apps that help them achieve that goal.
Showing Their Learning
Showing and sharing your learning is important in my classroom, and something we have done for years. There are a lot of great iPad apps available that allow students, even if they are six and can’t yet read or write, to demonstrate what they know or even to teach others. Screencasting tools that allow even young students to draw as they talk are a natural fit, and while video-taping allowed me to help them show their learning in the past, it always reflected only the final product. Screencasts show the stages in the process as well.
The photo-taking ability of devices like an iPad permit students to share photos of their constructions, their hand-written compositions, what they see in the world around them and — really — anything they want to share. Sharing has always happened in my classroom, but it is easier now than ever before.
Pursuing their Own Interests
One of the most valuable uses of the one-to-one opportunity is the chance for students to be able to pursue and learn about their own interests. This is not to say that students could not pursue this learning before we were one-to-one, but it is so much easier now. Before we had the iPads, the students were limited to exploring books (many of which they could not yet read the words of) or any of the manipulatives we have in our classroom. We did have computers, but I did not encourage my not-yet traditional spellers to do Google searches. Reading a lot of text is out, but video—now that is another story altogether.
Video allows my students to get information in a form that is appropriate to their skill level. Thanks to a Discovery Education account and individual iPads, my beginning and emerging readers can now search for and watch videos online to pursue their own passions on their own devices. They can ‘favorite’ video they like so that they can come back to it. In short, they can now own their own learning at a level never before achievable.
Connections
My classroom regularly connects with other classrooms from across North America and around the world. Recently, I made a Google Doc with links to some videos from our most recent connections and linked it to our classroom webpage to allow the students to find and watch these video connections on their own. These connections were entirely possible before we had our new devices, but watching the video of your choice at the time of your choice was not.
We have not yet used our iPads to connect with others through Skype or Facetime, but I’m looking forward to doing that, and to allowing the students to use those tools on their own without it being a whole class connection.
Truthfully, management of these devices has proven to be more of a hassle than I had anticipated, but it is clear to me that these devices ARE making a difference. When I see the students’ engagement, their learning, their sharing and their pursuit of their passions, I can’t help but be convinced that these devices have the potential to transform my classroom.
“Mrs. Cassidy, can we use the iPads for that?”
Yes, indeed, you certainly can.
Kathy Cassidy
Latest posts by Kathy Cassidy (see all)
- Technology in the Classroom: Embrace the Bumpy Ride! - March 21, 2019
- Passion Based Learning (PBL) in Primary: Making Up the Rules - March 13, 2019
- Passion Based Learning (PBL) in the Primary Grades: Who Asks the Questions? - February 17, 2019
Be sure to watch this recent TV news clip featuring Kathy’s iPad classroom…
Our Classroom on Shaw TV
Kathy, you’re my hero. I will continue to forward your posts to the primary people I teach with. Thanks for creating such a thoughtful, real-world look into your classroom.
Thank YOU for the kind comment, Lisa!
Hi Kathy – I guess I have not checked out your blog in awhile….looks like I have missed a great adventure for you and your kiddos! I enjoyed reading your reflections of your one-to-one experience. In my classroom we have 5 iPads available and we use them in similar ways to your class. I can only imagine how the dynamics would change with each child having access to a device. I too have been amazed at the sense of collaboration when using the iPads. First graders are naturally social, so I guess I should not have been surprised! I look forward to checking back in to learn from you and your students. I continue to adapt the ways that we use iPads in the classroom, and we are always looking for ideas!
Hi Julie,
I think it is not just first graders who are social. It has been my experience that we are all social beings. I learn with and from people all the time. In fact, I can’t think of anything I have learned recently that didn’t involve learning from or with someone.
The iPads do seem to lend themselves to sharing, don’t they? The screen is large enough to share with others, and the device is also portable and light enough to enable this sharing to be almost effortless.
Bring on the collaboration! It is something I want more of in my classroom.
Awesome post. Really,I’ve actually seen kids’ faces when iPads appear and it’s great. I recommend you an app that has really worked for me, it has turned my classes into completely new experiences. It’s called Nearpod, w/ it you can create all sort of presentations and add interactive features for kids to use. And there are come cool featured presentations for little ones. It’s the best app I have found up to now. Try it and see it by yourself!
Thanks for the suggestion, Sean. I’ll check it out.
Hi Kathy,
Thank you so much for taking the time to share a snippet of your journey. I dream of 1:1 iPads in my Year 2 classroom and hopefully it will become a reality.
It is reassuring to know that you have found that the students can be just as collaborative (if not more) when using the devices in this way as this has been a concern of some of my colleagues who think I am just a little crazy for wanting to go down this path.
I will look forward to reading more about your experiences and I hope I might be able to share some of my ideas with you in the future.
Good luck on your adventure!
I hope you are able to achieve your dream as well, Jane! I would love to be able to learn from you.
It’s a good to move with changing technology. With technology now it’s possible to take classroom at your home only. With VIrtual classroom you can learn much with help of other available Online tools.
Hi Kathy, I want to start by saying how happy I was to see someone else genuinely talking about collaboration and engagement of their students. I teach 14-15 yr olds, and I have found doing ICT in my ELT classroom in Turkey that it is totally possible to engage them fully in work at school and in their homes. Thanks to the availability of materials on wifi etc, we have been offering 24/7 support via our PLN, Edmodo. Although not ideal for your age group, but their parents would love it, I know. Kathy, I shared your blog with my principal and coordinator who both were higly impressed by your candor and willingness to own up that change is possible, if we only try. I aim to push ICT in my school, and around Turkey this year. If you’d like to do some online collaboration, please feel free to email me and we could get the message out to even more people. Thanks again
Thanks for your comment, David. I would love to do some online collaboration with you your students.
Hi Kathy,
I just want to say that it is encouraging to see a teacher with a plan. So many times technology is in the classroom and cool to have the iPads for the students, but many teachers do not have a plan as to how to use it and actually implement it into their instructional time. You are successful because you have a well thought out plan and have been able to see the fruition of that plan. Will post this for others to read.
Wishing you continued success,
Donna
Thanks, Donna.
I do have a plan, but I must admit that it is in a constant state of flux. I really want to make these expensive pieces of technology valuable for my students.
Hi Kathy,
I really enjoyed reading about your experiences. Currently, I am a first grade teacher also implementing iPads in the classroom. Unfortunately, I do not have a 1:1 program, but was given 10 devices to use. I am also currently, in a Ph.D program and the area of research is the use of the iPad in the primary education language arts classroom. There is not much data out there on the use of the iPad in the primary education classroom or elementary education. Have you collected data? If so would you be willing to share this with me, I would love to use you as a source in my dissertation. I believe these devices can make a huge impact in the education world and would love to prove it in research since there is not much out there.
Tiffany, I think the work you are doing in research is extremely interesting. I hadn’t thought of collecting data beyond each child’s reading/writing at the end of the year. I’m more about watching each child’s growth, but it is certainly something to think about. I’ll give it some thought…
My concern 5 years ago was that at the school my son attended the introduction of ipads (years 7 & 8) to a low decile primary school based on those parents that could afford it was counter productive and socially unacceptable for those students who missed out. What did this school do? They instituted special classes for those with ipads and those without. At the time I was angry about this not because I could not afford it, but it was presented as as an advantage, an unfair one in my opinion for a state run school. My son was not disadvantaged though because he (mutual decision) decided to remain with traditional teacher format, which if they are good enough, will always be required, and in his case it worked out pretty well.