One thing I love about learning how to use iPads–or anything that is new to most kids in the room– is that we figure things out together! Sometimes this happens when I teach a new skill, and sometimes it happens when even I don’t know what to do and I simply say, “Let’s figure out how to do….” Either way, someone becomes the expert and then shares that knowledge with a friend. Then we all become experts!
It goes right along with the saying we have in Rm. 202–that we are all teachers and we are all learners–and it makes my teacher-heart happy!
I think my favorite story yet came the other day when I had to step back, get out of teh way and let my firsties do what they know how to do. Here’s what happened: we were learning to use Popplet and Diego wanted to put a picture into one of the popples (the circle parts of the web) he was making, but every time he tried, the screen on his camera came up black. As I walked by and he was trying to figure out what ot do about it, I saw him get into the settings on his iPad and start to tinker. Now, mostly because I’ve been working with 10-11 YOs for so many years and I know the havoc that can be wreaked when kids are in the settings on their devices, I had red flags coming up when I saw this. I asked him what he was doing, he said, “Well I remember one time this happened with another app and it was because the app didn’t have permission to use the camera. I wonder if that’s the problem this time.” Then he proceeded to find the settings for Popplet and indeed, the app did not have the right settings to use the camera!
WOW–talk about transferring knowledge!! I had to apologize for my jumping to conclusions, and congratulate him for knowing what to do. And of course, when 4 more people had that same problem during our work time, he was the expert I sent them to! WAY TO GO, DIEGO!! And the best part of this all? The stories I could tell like this one keep happening every day! We’re learning many things that we will use for many, many years to come. 🙂
20somethingkids and 1kookyteacher 
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Hello 20 something kids and the one kooky teacher.
How interesting it can be dealing with new technology as we learn together. So much has happened since I first used a computer while at university (aka college) in the 1970s. That was back in the digital dawning era before we had screens, disks, CDs, DVDs, hard drives, etc. I was already interested in electronics so being involved with computers was a “natural” move.
It wasn’t until 1981 I was able to use a computer in a classroom. Before that high tech for a teacher meant an overhead projector, movie projector and cassette player (and yes, I still have an overhead projector, 8mm movie projector and cassette player). Without internet and often even a television signal back then in my isloated outback school, the computer was stand alone and we only had about 6 weeks a year as it was shared with 5 other small schools.
There has been so many new tech devices since then which, when used well, can help us not only learn in the classroom but around the world. How else would I have known about your class?
Keep exploring, learning and sharing with others. All the knowledge in the world is of no use unless we can use it to help others.
Ross Mannell
Teacher (retired), N.S.W., Australia