Diary of a Tech Savvy Teacher

Communities Have Rules!

Well, hello there!  Thanks for stopping by! It’s been a while since I’ve blogged, but the beginning of the year leaves me exhausted and with sore feet. Last night, I may have gone to bed at 8:00 p.m. Don’t judge me.

Like many teachers, I start the year off by creating a classroom community that is respectful and responsible. A positive learning environment is SO important! Our first social studies unit just happens to be about communities and citizenship. We talk about why it is important that communities have rules and laws. Enter Digital Citizenship! It was so easy to merge this topic into this unit. We aren't finished learning about digital citizenship yet, but we are off to a great start!   WOOHOOO!

We haven’t officially received our Ipads, but I wanted the kids to  know about the NORMS and EXPECTATIONS! Now, we won’t have to waste any time getting started with our learning experience once we do get our hands on them!

We talked about how we treat our new devices and what it means to be a good digital citizen (more on that to come later!). We also talked about how to handle our Ipads, what the buttons mean, and how to use some of the really neat features. I do have my Ipad in the classroom, so we were able to share it as we were learning. A lot of “ooooohs” and “awwwwwws” happened as I took them on a tour of the Ipad home screen apps.

Here are some anchor charts we created as we learned about the rules and the basics of the Ipad.

The level of engagement was astounding and even though I do not think Ipads are a replacement for  education, I certainly think it will enhance the learning process! I am so lucky to be a part of this experience and I am very eager to see where technology will take us in education!