The Day Nexus 7’s Came to Our Classroom.. A Must Share Story

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I am crazy busy… I have literally no time to blog… but here I am. Why? Well if I don’t tell you this great story right now, it just won’t come out as amazing later. My excitement about today just has to be shared.

Let’s start with this idea that primary grade teachers are scared of technology. Nonsense… at least not at Sara Harp Minter Elementary! I have 50 district provisioned Nexus 7 tablets that I am getting out as fast as I possibly can. Why? Well because my teachers are well beyond ready to use them, and they let me know! This week I have added 6 classrooms of students to tablets for use in the classroom, and the remaining four I will get out early next week. As soon as I get them ready I literally walk them to the classroom. We don’t let technology collect dust around there! So let it be known, I see NO fear in my teachers, instead I see excitement and drive!

Then let’s talk about how teacher with tablets immediately put kids into consumption apps. Noop… not at our school.  Hours after getting the tablets today, one of my kindergarten teachers set students off on a  scavenger hunt taking pictures while looking for words they could read. This wasn’t me… not my idea… purely the first thing she put into action with these devices! Down the hall a bit I sat on the floor with another class, and after putting the student’s pictures on their profile the teacher let them work on exploring the apps. What did they do… oh a little creative drawing… some Google Earth… you know…  the kind of things where they express themselves and explore the world! Was she hovering over them like they had rare jewels? No… in fact she was the example of great ease. She showed them that she trusted them, and in turn they worked together and learned together! Amazing example of what digital leaders do.

Last… well of course I saved the best for last. How about that idea that kids just want to play games on devices? Well let me tell you about a moment when a 5 year old asks me to find shapes and bump them to her device, and I am in awe. Kyli asked me to send her a triangle. In Google images I found one and beamed it to her. She then found one and beamed it to me. Then I sent pictures where she had to look and see if she could find the triangles. She then beamed me a different shape (to see if I knew what it was, of course).  This little one gave me the greatest vision of what kinds of collaborative assessment you could do with the Nexus 7’s!  That’s right, she was showing me the very potential that lies in these tools! 

So there you have it… one afternoon… lots of theories debunked… and no room for excuses! Let’s tell those naysayers who think mobile learning is poorly implemented that they need to look a little harder. Take it from my Kindergarten crew… The potential that lies in utilizing these resources for emerging learning opportunities simply is limitless!

#tiredbutelated

jaime

 

One thought on “The Day Nexus 7’s Came to Our Classroom.. A Must Share Story

  1. Joseph barrow

    Hi Jamie,

    Thanks so much for taking the time to share your inspiration from today. What a wonderful success story! “Culture trumps strategy” every time and it is obvious to me you and the teachers at SHMES are well on your way to creating a high performance digital learning culture!
    Best,
    JB

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