Classroom iPads: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

If you're an educator in Michigan you may have heard of the MACUL conference.  It's held every year, alternating their location from Grand Rapids (my hometown) to Detroit.  I try to go every time it's held locally and it's by far one of my favorite conferences to attend.  You will leave there with a plethora of information and ideas that will motivate you to try new things that involve tech into your classroom.  It's also an added bonus because they're held every year in March, which is just about that time when teachers are feeling The Slump.  I promise, it's the jolt of inspiration you need to get you through to the end of the year!

MACUL offers yearly grants for teachers to purchase items/programs that will allow them to enhance their teaching with tech.  The grant was for $1500 and I knew I had wanted to purchase some iPads for my classroom.  I submitted application and won, to my delight.  My plan for the iPads were to create digital student portfolios for each of my students to document their progress on their IEP goals/objectives.  In the past, I had been using worksheets or whiteboards when working with students.  I knew I had wanted to do something different this year.

So I did.

I have my own personal iPad and love the GoodNotes app.  It's an app that lets you create digital notebooks and import pictures or PDFs that you can "write" on.  You can erase writing, resize it, move it to another location, and so much more.  Each student has two notebooks:  a Progress Monitoring notebook and a Fun notebook.  The PM notebook holds their biweekly PM.  The Fun notebook was to doodle in or to do word searches, etc. for when we had a fun Do Now (bellringer).

The Good:

• Um, iPads.  Having apps at your fingertips that encourage interaction and personalization.  Isn't that what we want to offer, as educators? They are small and portable.
• GoodNotes:  this is the main app my students use in Resource.  There's a little learning curve, but it's super user-friendly!
• AirDrop:  This has been a godsend.  I need to send a website link to class? AirDrop.  I want to send a PDF to one or all students? AirDrop.  We're playing Gimkit and they need to get to the code page? AirDrop.  What would've taken a few minutes before using Google Classroom (posting, then having students accessing), takes only mere seconds now.  
• QR codes:  similar to AirDrop, if I want them all to go to a website at any point during class, I can post the QR code to a slide and they just scan it using the camera.  Easy peasy. 
• Apple Pencils:  I made the decision to purchase these early in the year because I have one myself and know how precise they are.  This makes writing, annotating, and drawing so easy. Worth the investment! 
• Certain apps allow you to see everyone's work at the same time.  Take Jamboard, for instance.  Each student has a "board" and I can see very easily from my own iPad.   Same with Apple Classroom.  I can see a student's screen with a few clicks of a button. 
• Students could take interactive notes with my budgeting lessons.  I would give them all a digital copy (PDF) and they would take notes, draw pics, and configure different things on their notes with their Apple Pencils.  

The Bad:

• Let's be real, they ain't cheap.  The sole reason I have them now is because I won a grant.  There's no way my school would've gotten me these otherwise.
• Apple Pencil accessories have been lost a few times.  I had purchased rubber tips and cap holders to prevent things from getting damaged or lost.  I've had to replace them a few times. 
• I only have 5 iPads to share amongst all my hours.  There's been a few times where things have been locked because another student and it was a pain to figure out how to get them into their own.
• All students were sharing the same 5 iPads, which were registered under one account.  So students had to sign in often to get to their stuff, which was a little tedious for them.  

The Ugly:

• Once some teachers caught wind that I had iPads in my room, there was a desire to use one once in a while whenever we weren't using them.  Which wouldn't be too much of a problem...but they would sometimes keep it way longer than I thought.  I'm very much a control freak and needed to know where each iPad was and who was getting into them.  There were times that I caught some general education students taking a selfie on one.  I may have to think of how to address this better next year. Say no with a smile when they ask? Shout "niet!" and point the door? Not sure yet...
• It took a LOT of trial and error to figure out how exactly I was going to use these in my Resource Room.  I'm not just talking about apps used.  I mean EVERYTHING.  

As you can see, the pros definitely outweigh the cons! Here is a snapshot of my Google Keep checklist if I ever get new iPads in the future.  I will be doing a separate blog post on Google Keep because it is absolutely one of the best Google tools I cannot live without and neither should you. I promise it will change your life for the better!  

*ahem*  But I digress.  Tips:

Additionally, you will have to let your IT department know, so they can configure the network settings and all that jazz.  Of course, you will want to spend a good amount of time going over procedures and how each app works before completely diving in.  Part of this includes letting them play for a bit with it! Trust me, this will help lessen the desire to tinker around later on when you're in the middle of a lesson.  Just let them get it out of their system at first for a few minutes.  It helps. 

What apps do you use with your high schoolers? I'd love to hear any tips/suggestions that you have to make things run more smoothly!