iPad Integration Tips For Today's Classrooms
5 min read
With all the buzz about iPad integration, I figured I should share some tips that I have found on the web that appeared particularly salient.
Suggestion 1
For all of the people who are concerned about breakage and cost:
But iPads are so liable to be broken it will be said as to render it expensive to parents to keep their children supplied with them. There would be weight in this objection were it not that this liability to injury can be for the most part prevented. 1st, by care on the part of the teacher to withhold the iPads whenever the pupils are not sufficiently careful of them. 2, by having protective cases supplied by the school. Such preparation may seem a little costly at first but if it were left to my choice to furnish a school with books or iPads as a means of employment I should not hesitate on account of the expense to furnish the latter.
Suggestion 2
On how frequently learners should have screen time relative to other activities:
It is true we should not allow the pupils to have iPads in their hands the whole time. Though it should be our aim to give them constant employment yet their employment should be varied. Even the iPad, if it were at their command continually, would become tiresome. To sit still, at times - entirely still - if not continued too long, is one form of doing something; and I consider it as much a part of the teacher's duty to form his pupils to the habit of sitting still, as to teach them spelling and reading.
Suggestion 3
For schools thinking about a 1:1 program; this also has implications for schools considering any form of BYOD:
I ought also to say here, that the preceding remarks, as well as those which follow, are made upon the presumption that every pupil of every age has his own separate iPad; for I conceive this to be a highly important point, in the construction of every school house. Some, I know, undertake to say that one iPad will serve for two pupils and so it may when we cannot do better. But one pupil, and one only, to each iPad, however young she may be, is certainly preferable.
Except that these quotes are actually about integrating slates and desks. For Suggestion 1 and Suggestion 2, I replaced the word "slate" with "iPad". In Suggestion 1, I also made a line edit to the section describing the protective cases for slates.
In Suggestion 3, I did a straight substitution of "iPad" for "desk" and changed the gender of the student.
It's good to see that with every new technology, our struggles remain remarkably similar.
I included the original, unedited passages below. The quotes are pulled from Slate and Blackboard Exercises, and it was initially published in 1843. I found it via Michelle Bourgeois on the Twitter.
Original Passage 1
Slates are as necessary as black boards, and even more so. But they are so liable to be broken it will be said as to render it expensive to parents to keep their children supplied with them. There would be weight in this objection were it not that this liability to injury can be for the most part prevented. 1st, by care on the part of the teacher to withhold the slates whenever the pupils are not sufficiently careful of them. 2, by having the frames made sufficiently strong. A simple band of cord tin or wire round each corner will greatly diminish the liability to injury from falling but sheet iron fastened tightly around the corners of a good oak frame is much better Such preparation may seem a little costly at first but if it were left to my choice to furnish a school with books or slates as a means of employment I should not hesitate on account of the expense to furnish the latter.
Original Passage 2
It is true we should not allow the pupils to have slates in their hands the whole time. Though it should be our aim to give them constant employment yet their employment should be varied. Even the slate, if it were at their command continually, would become tiresome. To sit still, at times - entirely still - if not continued too long, is one form of doing something; and I consider it as much a part of the teacher's duty to form his pupils to the habit of sitting still, as to teach them spelling and reading.
Original Passage 3
I ought also to say here, that the preceding remarks, as well as those which follow, are made upon the presumption that every pupil of every age has his own separate desk; for I conceive this to be a highly important point, in the construction of every school house. Some, I know, undertake to say that one desk will serve for two pupils and so it may when we cannot do better. But one pupil, and one only, to each desk, however young he may be, is certainly preferable.
