A Guest Post: by Erin Klein
As a middle school teacher and mother of two young children, I am always excited by the innovation technology offers our leader’s of tomorrow. Still in my twenties (for a few more months at least!), I’m often perceived by my colleagues as being a tech savvy teacher; however, I consider myself as a teacher rooted in sound pedagogy – if technology is a tool that enhances a particular concept, great… if it simply adds ‘bells and whistles,’ I wouldn’t endorse the merit of integration via web 2.0 tools, multimedia, an and iPad use. Recently, I’ve embraced the idea of adopting iPad technology not only to assist students with special needs or to add an interactive element to a lesson, but to actually be the main medium used between the teacher and the student. The following two minute film segment, created by two of my seventh grade students, summarizes my rationale for iPad inclusion versus the use of textbooks.
My kids would love for you to ‘click here’ to add a ‘view’ to their video.
Inkling ‘brings the world’s best interactive learning content to iPad.’ Inkling is, in my opinion, a superior company who just signed the following textbook companies: McGraw-Hill, Pearson, and WW Norton (plus many more). Their ‘Content Architects’ help to develop the best possible relationship a student to ‘text’ could have through rich pedagogy and unparalleled interactive media: 3D image and diagram rendering, embedded multimedia, and social collaboration capabilities. The following film further explains the revolutionary capabilities Inkling is exploring:
A Brief History:
Growing up, I always wanted to be ‘current’ when I got older. I looked up to my own parents who seemed to remain relevant when technology began to infuse itself into our world. As a mother and teacher, I still want to remain relevant in the children’s life I influence and effect. Looking back five years, I can recall having a flip phone and a television with a large ‘back side.’ My district didn’t have any SMARTBoards and very few had document cameras – most used overhead projectors with transparencies. Now, my classroom has: a SMARTBoard, document camera, 4 ipods, 10 iPads, a flip camera, and many other digital devices (wireless mice, etc). My instructional methodology has changed, my practice has been streamlined, and I’m covering more content while my students are actively engaged and collaborating not only with each other but internationally as well. Please view my post on my vision of tomorrow; I think you’ll be inspired. Additionally, if you’d like to peak into our Social Studies Skype session with South Africa, click here)- thanks, Mrs. Brandeberry!
Join My Network:
I’d love to have you as a part of my Personal Learning Network, PLN. Please follow me on Twitter and subscribe to my RSS feeds at my site, Kleinspiration. Also, you can ‘like us’ on Facebook.
A Technology Give-Away:
Lastly, this weekend, I’ll be hosting a give-away to my ‘blog followers’ for not 1, not 2, but 3 subscriptions to TechSmith’s Camtasia, a screen casting and video editing software – a $299.00 value each! Click here to read more about how to integrate this software into your classroom, and please ‘follow’ my blog by adding your photo on the right side scroll to be eligible for the give-away. Winners will be asked to create a short post on how they plan to integrate or experiment with the software. Thanks!
Cheers,
Erin Klein
author of Kleinspiration: a technology resource sharing blog
http:www.kleinspiration.com
@mimadisonklein
‘Like’ on Facebook
erinklein12@gmail.com
