Christine and I are working on a website that is a collection of ideas and resources for using iPads specifically to teach literacy at the upper elementary grades.  We both work in schools with access to iPads and we wanted to explore how to use them in meaningful ways in our classrooms.  We chose to specifically focus on literacy because reading and writing is the foundation of all the subjects that we teach.  In my particular classroom, it also happens to be the area of greatest weakness for my students.

We have begun working on 6 pages for our website: the home page, using iPads to respond to literature, using iPads with Literature Circles, using iPads to access literature, increasing reading fluency, and teacher management tools.  We are each working on 3 specific pages, with lots of collaboration of ideas.

Our website will assume a fair amount of technological know-how on the part of other educators who access it.  We will explain some specific uses or strategies for each category and provide the links to various resources and apps.  We will not however, cover troubleshooting or download instructions. I think it is fair to assume that anyone doing a google search for how to use iPads effectively in the classroom already has the necessary technical background knowledge.

There is so much information available online and it is our hope that by gathering amazing ideas and resources together in one place, teachers will be able to easily begin implementing sound literacy practices in their classrooms.

We are trying to be mindful of using the iPads in meaningful ways with a specific purpose.  The internet is already flooded with pages of “The Top 10 Apps for Education”.  We also  don’t want the iPads to be used as just another way to word process or access the internet.  Rather, we would like to see students using the iPads to create and share their work with others around the globe.

The site is something that we can continually add to as we come across new ideas and try different things out in our own classrooms.  It is currently very much “under construction”!