Moving along

We are moving along-slow and steady. We opened our class blog last week and the students had an opportunity to post to our classroom blog using their iPod Touches. I like how the comments come to me before they are posted. You can even print out the comments. This will be great when we start requiring students to make posts for a grade. All of the comments come up and you can quickly read them and score them.

We tested out their gmail addresses and most of them were working. We had to "register" them on a computer before they were able to use the gmail on the iTouch. After that, they all seem to work well. I have also been able to import the students gmail address into a contact list so I can send items to them without having to type in each of the addresses. This will definitely be a time saver.

We have already had one student drop hers and cracked the front screen. We are in the process of getting it repaired. We have one that will not charge properly. We may have to contact Apple if we can't get this resolved.

Friday, a student left his binder behind in another classroom and went back to get it and it was gone. Of course the iPod Touch was in it, along with his personal iPod and work.

I still don't like the sync-cart. We are having difficulty with the touches that had additional apps loaded on them by the students. It slows down the syncing process and we had some that the name of the iPod touch changed. Any ideas why that would happen? We had a couple that had to be restored and quite a few that needed the latest updated version installed - another slowdown.

Problems with the wireless connections this week have not helped. I still hold onto the vision that we have for our classroom. It just seems to be taking longer than I thought it would take.

Catching my breath

Today I finally feel like we are making progress. We spent the day at a training and it gave us a chance to talk as a team. It is so helpful to be able to get away from the classroom once in a while to carry on a discussion without interruptions. Also, today I was able to download the student gmail accounts to outlook and now the next step will be to get them downloaded into googledocs so I don't have to input/invite each one of our students individually. I began working on the student blog site and we had a chance to look at a number of apps. It also allowed us to spend some time working on the mini pcs. I was concerned about the capabilities of the little tykes, but after Karen worked with me on googledocs, I feel much better. Thanks, Karen. You were a great help today.

I also enjoyed getting together with other teams this afternoon and hearing how other teachers are handling classroom management of the iPod touches and the innovative ways that they are being used. It was also helpful to hear about problems that others have encountered and some of the ways around them.

I can't wait to get back to school to get one of the thumbtacks and try using iTalk. I purchased a flipvideo camera, so I am excited about getting started with this new piece of equipment as well.

Baby Steps

Things are getting underway...slowly, but surely. The students are really getting into using the iPod Touches. We are still in the process of collecting the numerous signed policy papers, so the students are only using them in the classroom. We have also been waiting for the cases, so we hope they will arrive soon. "Are we using the iTouches today?" is a question that is echoed repeatedly through the day, every day. Students are focused on the simple tasks that require them to use the mobile devices. It is really cool when a student comes up to tell us something they just learned about when they were working on one of the apps.

The ASUS mini-pcs are also a hit. Students have had opportunities to use them to research physical and chemical changes as well as working on math websites and games. We are still learning about using Google docs, so not much new to report there. I noticed today the printer set up for our minis actually prints to another room. I will need to get that updated.

One thing that has disappointed me with the iPods are some of the "educational" apps. We have found that it is important to download the app first and try it out for ourselves. There are not as many available for middle school students as I had hoped. Also, some that I found this summer are no longer available. We are finally getting the hang of downloading and syncing apps.

We are also in the process of creating a student usage log and parent survey to send home next week.

Kathleen

Finally...

Sorry I haven't had a chance to post, or for that matter, read, but like most of you, I've been busy. Really busy. I will be better from now on - I promise.

This has definitely been a roller coaster ride. I have at times felt completely overwhelmed and ready to throw in the towel, but today we finally got the iPod touches into the kids' hands and it was worth it.

We have had to overcome a number of issues, like having to register and update each of the devices individually. Having 68 of the devices, definitely slows you down. Working with the sync cart has had its issues as well, but I think we are finally making headway. We actually got some apps loaded yesterday with only a couple of problems.

We received the Gmail accounts for our students last week, so I am in the process of organizing that information for the parents.

I don't know who designed the sync cart, but they should have their head examined. Ours still does not open or close easily and when we are syncing, we have to open and close it several times. So much for maintaining a manicure.

I am also frustrated that we can't really use the Macbook at home. I still have not been able to get on-line at home with the Mac. I want to be able to use it to create some podcasts, but I can't do it at home and there is just too much activity and noise at school. Anyone have any ideas on how I can get around the Adm. name and password request???

Don't think I don't appreciate the opportunity we have been given, but I also thought that it would be easier to get these up and running and into the kids hands. At times I feel like we take one step forward and two steps back.

On a positive note...I don't think I have ever seen kids so anxious to create vocabulary flashcards for Math and Science. There are some really cool apps out there. The problem is, we start looking at apps and before you know it, two hours have flown by.

Now, if we could just figure out how to do without sleep, we might actually get caught up!

We will be in touch!