iPads in the Classroom - A Work in Progress for Students AND Teachers

One thing about piloting iPads in the classroom is that there is a lot of experimentation and frankly, extra work!  Not only do you spend time researching and looking for appropriate apps, there is the time spent introducing the students to the appropriate uses for the apps.  Luckily, teaching is a profession where people are willing to share!  
This week all of our classroom teachers received an iPad for professional and student use.  Many of our teachers are tech savvy - but there are those who aren't quite sure where to start.  For that reason, I want to share with my fellow teachers apps that are easy, free, and helpful in our daily jobs.

iPads come equipped with several apps that I use each day.  These are my favorite and most used:  Calendar - put in all your appointments, meetings, etc.  It will sync with your iPhone or Mac computer and will also pull in email appointments from Outlook Mail accounts.  Notes - a handy tool for jotting down information, those "aha" brainstorming moments, and note-taking during meetings.  It saves everything automatically in the order that it was created.  PowerTeacher - This one you can get free from the App Store.  I love being able to put grades in easily while I am sitting on the couch and don't want to move!  It beats getting up and going to my office upstairs or doing it at school, on those days when I am to busy or to tired to think.  iBooks is another free one from the App Store, but you do have to purchase many of the books you are interested in reading.  Also, it is different reading from the iPad, but I have found that I actually like it more than I thought I would.  I use the Weather Channel a lot - you can program in your home town or your favorite cities.  Since most of my family is out of state, I have my own children's, parents', and siblings' towns saved as favorites.  That way I can feel good about living in the South in January!  If you are willing to spend $9.99, I would definitely recommend getting Pages.  This is a word processing program.  It saves your documents automatically, is easy, and you can use it anywhere at anytime. You can also email the documents as a PDF for printing.  Of course, there are hundreds, if not thousands more of good apps - these are just the ones I personally rely on each day!

Have a great week and be sure to share your great ideas with others!