What Do You Do With Just One iPad?
It is a brand new school year and, like with the New Year holiday, you are making a few reso- lutions. What about your school issued teacher iPad? Have you been using it as a paperweight? Many teachers have never put this device to good use for numerous reasons, but topping the list is a question - how is one little iPad sup- posed to “transform” a classroom? Te answer to that is simple – it doesn’t. Tis is a common misperception made by teachers and adminis- trators alike. 30 students cannot all get personal interaction time with one iPad as the basis for a single lesson. What it can do, however, is serve as a valuable tool for you. iPads are meant to be highly personalized technology. Each person sets up their pad differently according to their pref- erences and needs by selecting apps to suit their purposes. As a building tech coach, I assist my teaching colleagues with their hardware and am always amazed at the differences in their teacher iPads! To get you started, here are several of my favorite uses for my teacher iPad.
Organization I like to use the cloud as my filing cabinet, so apps like Google Drive, Dropbox and Notability are important for me. Any important informa- tion I download as a pdf file is stored in either Drive or Dropbox. Meeting notes, agendas, minutes and reports are stored and organized in Notability, which is not cloud-based (handy for those meetings with no wifi!). For hard copies, a scanner app like Scanner Pro makes it easy to snap a picture and upload it to my Drive. Tis is also perfect for printed materials I want to quickly project for my entire class to see.
Assessment I use rubrics for all demonstrated skills assess- ments, but the paper could be overwhelming. Te Rubrics app was the perfect solution. I can assign a rubric to an individual student, group or full class and the reports keep my data organized. Using this app has cut approximately 90% of my paper usage and my assessments are always with me when I work at home. Te setup can be time consuming, but the time saved later is well worth the effort.
Denise Lewis
Presentation Many of my lessons are in Keynote. Using the Keynote app allows me to control the presen- tation from anywhere in my room. Tis, along with the iTunes Remote app, frees me from my computer keyboard and puts me where I want to be – with my students. Remote apps can also greatly reduce transition time between activities and put additional materials at your fingertips. When I’m not working in Keynote and using Ac- tivInspire or Notebook, I present using Doceri. Doceri is an app with companion soſtware that allows you to control your computer through your iPad. Te record presentation function is very useful. When I have important, key lessons or reviews, I like to record the session and then upload the video to that grade level on Edmodo or Google Classroom. Students can watch the lesson again or, if they were absent, I can hand them my pad so they can quickly watch the lesson while the rest of the class is doing another activity.
To get started with your own teacher iPad, think of your personal preferences in the above three categories. Search out apps that fit your needs, or see if any of your desktop favorites have com- parable or companion apps. Ask other teachers about their favorite apps and uses as well; most apps and functions used by teachers for other subjects are also useful for the music classroom. Googling your questions can be very useful. Implement your teacher iPad slowly and always make a test run to make sure everything is con- nected and working smoothly. Finally, once you are up and running do not be afraid to dump apps that are not working as well as you thought. Check to see if another app will be a better fit for you. Not every job takes the same screwdriver!
Denise Gulliver-Lewis is in her 26th year of teaching music at White Pigeon Community Schools. Te first 15 years were spent as the MS/HS band director before moving to Central Elementary to teach general music (K-5) and technology (3-5) and serve as the building technology coach. She is a graduate of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University with Bachelor’s degrees in clarinet performance and music education and a Master’s degree in clarinet with minors in jazz and music history. Denise currently serves as webmaster and IT Coordinator on the MMEA board, and on the planning committee of the Michigan Music Conference as head of the technology committee.
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Technology
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