About me and this blog
Welcome to the teachingwithipad.org! I am excited to share with you how I use my iPad in the classroom!
It is safe to say that iPads are becoming more and more popular today. Everyone knows at least a few people who own one, if not a few Apple devices at home. Teachers are getting iPads, for both personal and educational uses. This blog is meant to aide teachers, professors, and other educators in maximizing the use of iPads in teaching.
Another reason why I have decided to start this blog is that, since I have taught with the iPad for over a complete school year, I don’t think I could ever go without it. I have brought it with me (I am a traveling teacher) to every single one of my classes. Doing some quick math: I teach 44 different classes per week x approximately 45 weeks at this point = 1980 classes with my iPad beside me. Not to say that I am always using it. My students have gotten so used to me having it that it isn’t necessarily exciting, except when I bring out a new app to teach with. This piece of technology has become an integral part of my teaching.
I try to blog about 2-3 times per week. Often my blog entries are published around midnight Pacific Standard Time. Follow me on Twitter, as I usually will tweet out my latest posts, or subscribe to this blog if you have common interests as me.
A little bit about me:
- I am currently in my twelfth(!) year of teaching
- I teach in French as a second language to almost 350 students in Grades 1 through Grade 5
- I do not have a classroom; I teach fourteen classes in eight different classrooms throughout the week
- I have a laptop, iPad2, and hdmi projector on my mobile cart that I bring to each classroom
- I am constantly reading tech blogs through apps such as Zite, Flipboard and more recently, Prismatic
- I enjoy teaching guitar and piano as a hobby
I will be starting with the basic iPad apps. I have heard from other teachers that they just “don’t know where to start” with using their iPads in class. Some apps might seem obvious to the veteran Apple consumer, but with more and more new consumers, it doesn’t hurt to start from “scratch”.
Please let me know in the comments if you have any questions or suggestions!
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Thanks
Steve
13 Comments on “About me and this blog”
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Steve Lai
Father. Teacher. Blogger. iPad and iPhone aficionado. Musician.
French teacher by day. I love to blog and read tech blogs. I write an iPad blog as it relates to education. I teach young kids the French language and love my job. I play the guitar and piano. I have a beautiful wife and daughter and maltese-poodle mix. I love to play roller hockey and walks at English Bay in Vancouver. I enjoy traveling and can't wait to bring my daughter to Paris. Canucks are my team, along with the Seahawks.
Hi. Thank you for sharing so much on your blog! I just bought an iPad and I’m discovering more and more uses day by day. I’m a teacher too
I am really interested in your marking template! That’s where I’m in most need right now. Pages and Numbers may not be my best choice right now, but I’m curious. I really REALLY LOVE notes plus. The stylus and all I do as in virtual paper is amazing. Let me know if you need my feedback on that one. Thanks.
Sorry for the delayed reply! Thanks so much for the kind words and for reading! Let me know if you have any suggestions!
Steve
I love the site. Do you have any app or iPad use suggestions for LD students? I have tried some mindmapping apps for helping to organize writing. Watch out for blackmarket iPad cases no matter how cheap.
Hi:
My kindergarten son loves reading n Raz-Kids (http://www.raz-kids.com/main/Login). Raz-Kids has a function that can record kid’s reading. Since iPad does not support Flash, this function does not even show up in iPad. is there anyway my son can record audio in Raz-Kids using iPad? Using Puffin, we can hear the reading well but not recording. Would Photon Flash Web Browser help?
Thanks in advance.
I’m not familiar with Raz-Kids unfortunately. Is it a paid service? I tried to go on the site, but required a login. Let me know. There are definitely great voice recording apps out there. What does Raz-Kids provide? The literature?
Steve
Steve, what is the app that let you create quizzes for your students? There is a teacher’s version and a student’s version? I forgot the name and I’m sure I have seen it on your blog. Thanks,
MArtin
Hmm. I don’t recall blogging about that. I currently reviewing Test Producer though. It’s a bit pricey at $9.99 but it is working quite well.
Sorry…
I found it: http://www.socrative.com/
Have you heard of Socrative? If so, is it a good app to have?
Thanks
Marty
Yes I have tried it. It would be great in a classroom if everyone had a device. It is good because it doesn’t matter which device you have, a laptop, iPod, even Android!
Just found your blog this morning and love it! I haven’t blogged about using my iPad in months, but had to put up a post today pointing here
Will try to get back here later to answer Daniel’s question about RAZ-Kids as we use it here – no time right now . . .
Thanks for the comment! I look forward to future collaborations.
Steve
I want to use my iPad in my teaching but ICT support in our school have said they as it is my personal device I would be breaking my license agreement to use apps with a class. Are they right? I’ve found this in the ts&cs teachingwithipad.org
APP STORE PRODUCT USAGE RULES
(i) If you are an individual acting in your personal capacity, you may download and sync an App Store Product for personal, noncommercial use on any iOS Device you own or control.
(ii) If you are a commercial enterprise or educational institution, you may download and sync an App Store Product for use by either (a) a single individual on one or more iOS Devices used by that individual that you own or control or (b) multiple individuals, on a single shared iOS Device you own or control. For example, a single employee may use an App Store Product on both the employee’s iPhone and iPad, or multiple students may serially use an App Store Product on a single iPad located at a resource centre or library. For the sake of clarity, each iOS Device used serially by multiple users requires a separate licence.
Am I allowed to use my personal iPad with my class or do we need to use the Volume Licensing?
In my experience, I do not see a problem with using a personal iPad to teach. There is no way to do volume licensing with a single iPad, let alone a single apple ID. It would be a different story if you had a class set of iPads. Volume licensing would be necessary in this case.