Next Gen Digital Classroom update

Mrs. Young & I were thrilled to attend the Next Gen Digital Classroom Conference for RRISD last week.  We learned a lot to help use our iPads with students.  Thanks for a great day, Technology Department!  I'm most excited to use iMotion and ClassKick with students, and am interested in checking out Book Creator (and applying for a PTA grant to get the money to buy it for our students!)

Students Search Online Catalog with iPads

We are thrilled to be a NextGen library with 32 iPads.  Gone are the days of logging onto a desktop, jotting down a call number with pencil & paper, and trotting off to the shelves. Students can now take an iPad with them along the shelves to search on the go.  Library Leaders are currently filming Book Talks for their favorites to inspire others to choose them as well- more on that in an upcoming post!

Next Gen Digital Library

Mrs. Young and I are so grateful for the opportunity to provide digital experiences to our students as they learn with iPads this year in the library.  So far we've already used iPads with book clubs to explore the South Pole via a live feed, to learn about verb tenses & homophones with an assessment app called Nearpod, and have used the digital touch screen to make a giant chart about context clues.  We are saving time by using the online catalog on the iPads, instead of having to jot down call numbers and go back and forth between a desktop and the stacks. Two students are serving as interns to help manage the iPad collection, taking care that the devices are charged and security stowed overnight. We are starting our giant project with Library Leaders and other groups on campus to film "Reading Rainbow"-style book talks that promote our collection and get the word out about new, exciting books on our shelves. The excitement is palpable, the ability to instantly engage & assess is so convenient, and kids are getting access to technology that is new to many of them, preparing them to be the "techies" of the future!