Module 1 Assignment 7 "Using the iPad in the Classroom"

First of all, I truly wish iPad technology was available when I was in high school and college!  The three videos were very informative for a beginner iPad user such as myself.

As a first grade teacher, I am always wanting to be able to apply what is available in educational technology to 6 and 7 year olds.  Some of the apps he describes are wonderful for older students and adults, but it's up to me to find ways to use them with my younger students.  Below are some ideas I thought I could adapt for little ones:

• Dragon Dictation:  This app would be great for helping little words understand concept of word.  They could say a sentence and see it in print.  I would not have them say the punctuation but see if they could figure out where periods would go.  It would be a great tool for my struggling writers.  
• Read aloud books:  Next year, our K-2 classes are beginning the "Daily Five" which is center-based literacy instruction.  One of the centers is "listening" to books.  Some of us still have the old cassette tapes with books, but I would hope to be able to use the iPads for read-alouds.  This would be much easier to use than a cassette player!
• Drawing apps:  I think using a drawing app during a read-aloud story would help keep students on-task and attentive.  For instance, I could stop at a point in a story and have the students draw to predict what would happen next.  Also, I could have the students draw what was their favorite part of the story.
• Music apps:  I'm not a music teacher, but I would love to talk with our music teacher about using the iPads during our music class.  There appears to be some great music apps that would foster more appreciation for the arts!

Dragon Dication screen
Used primarily for business, I believe it could be useful for struggling writers.