Another update: Saturday, November 10th, 2012

Update! Just this week I went to the EdTech Teacher iPad Summit at Harvard Med School. After two days surrounded by people immensely excited by how iPads (and other handheld devices) can and will change the face of education, I felt it was time to not just update my RET blog but to start another (which ps, I wouldn't have felt so comfortable with if I hadn't spent time this summer on the RET blog)!

 Below is more-or-less the same post I put as my first post in the new blog: http://sgiglioscience.blogspot.com/.

So, my Anatomy class will be getting iPads to use 24 hrs a day starting second semester and in preparation for that I am trying to use the communal iPad cart our school has as often as I can get my hands on it (which isn't all that often since I work with lots of other motivated and creative people also using the cart) and working closely with the other 5 teachers and memebers of the tech department involved in the pilot. We meet weekly, give each other ideas, and generally talk, blog, email, and google-doc our experiences. 

Anyway after two days at the conference two themes in particular hit home: 

1) We need more time to do this well. Particularly time to play with it and get crazy new ideas and to share apps and ideas with each other. It seems a lot of administrators at the conference think teachers are resisting the iPad idea because they are stodgy or uncreative or afraid of losing control. In talking to teachers however, the problem seems to be more of one of time and support. Saying 'we support you with the iPad" is one thing. Devoting paid time to play with apps, develop new ideas, practice is another. 

2) The SAMR model: 

http://jennyluca.wikispaces.com/TPACK+and+SAMR

This basically said that iPads can be introduced into the classroom in many ways. The least helpful way (and most annoying way in my opinion) is just to replace things. In some cases to replace things that already work or we already do well (i.e. take notes on this app instead of on paper - this hasn’t worked well in chemistry so far). Although this can be fun and it can reduce paper, this is not the best way to use the iPad. The real goal is to use iPads to do things we’ve never been able to do or maybe never even thought of before. I spent most of the conference taking notes on ideas I am developing rather than on just what the presenters were saying. Now I just need the time to further explore my ideas, watch videos on line, read blogs, and figure out how to make them happen!!

The best session I attended at the conference was by 4 women from NTA, all of whom are actively, currently teaching in the classroom (which, unfortunately is not who usually runs professional development sessions). These four teachers from Chicago all used the iPad in different ways. They discussed real ideas that are actually manageable and I felt could be transformative as well. Over the course of this year I hope to update this blog with some of the ideas that I 'stole' and worked with to implement in my classroom - as well as the ideas of my own that have springboarded from what I've learned. In the meantime, check out the blog of Jenni Magiera: http://teachinglikeits2999.blogspot.com My fellow teacher Elizabeth showed this blog to me today and we realized it was one of these amazing presenters.  

Ok -well this is a start. Until I actually have another free minute to write - have fun!

Months later..... Nov 6th, election day - 2012

As soon as the school year started life got so busy I forgot to update this blog! So here's an update on how the RET experience this summer has influenced my school year.

First of all I can't stop talking about my summer experience - to other teachers, to students, to my department head, to my friends, to everyone!

I have brought my poster to school and walked a lot of people through the research I did.

More than just talk, I have started long discussions with my classes as to what a career in research looks like. What would their day to day be like. What sort of support would they have (a research team), what challenges they might face (unexpected results, no results), what success might look like (new technologies, presented papers).

With my seniors we have talked a lot about universities that are also research institutions (like BU). One thing I learned from all of the graduate, undergraduate, and post-grad students I worked with this summer, is that is was really important for them to seek out research opportunities and connections on their own. No one will come to them at the end of a class and say 'you should join this research team' - they will have to seek out opportunities.

Aside from just enthusiasm and conversation, my involvement in the technology at the school has magnified. Our school is adopting a 1:1 iPad initiative for all our students starting Sept 2013. In the meantime I have become one of only 6 iPad Pilot teachers at the Prep. This means that I will give my students iPads for them to use 24 hrs a day, I attend weekly meetings where all the iPad teachers and a representative from our tech department discuss our successes, failures, research, and new ideas, and I engage in many online and email discussions of current literature examining iPads as a learning tool. o

Although my students don't have their iPads yet (we are looking at January), a few of the other pilot teachers are up and running. Spending this much time discussing the future of technology as a teaching tool has been exciting, daunting, and given me a huge number of ideas. For one, I have finally ordered my RET classroom supplies. Since all of the students will have iPad soon I have convinced the science department head to order the vernier software for all of the iPads going out to science students. (Gary Smith who many of you know b/c he was an RET a few years back is my department head - which, by the way, means he was REALLY easy to convince/was already planning to do it). I also used the RET funding to purchase two Spectrometers for the vernier system. They will allow students to not just look at emission spectrum with the handheld prism spectrometers, but allow them to use these sensors and have an emission spectrum appear on their devices! The software also allows for a great analysis into the Ryburg equation and Lyman series. I still have work to do to develop a solid lesson (my lesson plan that I wrote this summer needs some tweaking for real life), but I am really excited to use the spectrometers, vernier, and the ipads all together in my chemistry classes!

Here's the only problem - we just learned about Bohr, hydrogen and emission spectrum last week. We didn't have the ipads or new probes yet, so we did it with the older spectrometers. I will say my new knowledge of photonics allowed me to connect this entire experiment to the idea of measuring the unseen with light we can see (or sense) and what I did in the lab this summer imaging viruses. That added an entirely new depth to the conversation. I may not be able to use my new technological tools and toys until next fall, but in the meantime I am doing a better job with the tools I have. (With the exception of a broken nitrogen gas tube.)

Come to think of it - I wish I had taken pictures of the whole activity since a blog with no pictures is pretty boring.

Oh well! So I'm off to a good start. See you next time.
Mrs. G