Why BYOD Worked!

Why BYOD Worked!

So, my school year is about to wrap up, and I can say clearly, my pilot worked! The numerous hours every weekend of making lesson plans and instructional movies for my combo 4th & 5th grade, 1:1 iPad, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device *iPad) classroom worked! By worked, I mean, it was a huge success; better than I could have imagined! And I did imagine. I've been imagining for quite some time now.

For me it started when the iPad was first sold in stores. I wanted one! I wanted one so badly that I used all my classroom funds to purchase one. I started to replicate my lessons for math, by propping the iPad up on a chair, and filming myself teaching lessons. Then I'd replay the lessons, and interact with the live students and tape, and I became my own aide. I was able to be in two places at the same time: in front of the room giving instruction, and checking student work walking through the room.  To coin a phrase, I cloned myself. Awesome!

I took many graduate level courses beyond my Masters, attended several CUE conferences (Computer Using Educators), even speaking at one, and it was through this training I became aware of the endless possibilities for utilizing iPads in the classroom. One professor commented on my final paper, that he learned so much from me, that he would be changing his syllabus the following semester to include the information I had provided.

The progression in the classroom went from me having one teacher iPad the first year, to having 6 iPads to share with two other teachers the following year.  We did some awesome center activities, including making math topics iMovies! At the time I taught 4th grade math only, all day, and students rotated from class to class, with teachers specializing in their subject. I was the math/tech teacher. My principal, at the time, gave me a lot of leeway and freedom to experiment with apps, and assignments. 

As the principal was retiring, she asked me to be the combo 4th and 5th grade teacher the following year. The carrot of having all iPads was tossed around, but instantly I was in dread of the coming school year, going from my beloved math-all-day job, to teaching 2 grade levels, all subjects, simultaneously. A huge mountain of challenges was ahead of me.

That summer I received an email from my new principal, asking me to pilot a BYOD 1:1 iPad classroom. Now this was great news! It would be the first at the elementary level in the district, or anywhere in the area! I answered a giant "Yes!"

It was like I had been waiting to be asked. I was so ready to run BYOD! I spent every waking hour of the summer preparing.  In August, I watched Edmodocon online, which was a mind-blowing, earth-shattering experience. Endless possibilities! I made a film about Edmodocon, that the Edmodo company people loved.  They sent me Edmodo swag in the mail as a result!

My district asked me to be on a committee for CCSS (Common Core State Standards) training over the summer, and I made films of the training sessions. Everyplace I went, everything I saw and thought about, I made into a film.

My introduction to parents of students in my combo class, was made into a film that I sent them using a link to an iMovie saved on YouTube. My new principal was so pro tech and sold the program to our parents as well. With web blocks in place, and permission slips signed, we got underway in September 2013 with the first BYOD 1:1 iPad elementary classroom around.

We had a list of apps for parents to install on iPads. We had a cart for storage and locking up devices at recesses. We had a wonderful tech aide who knew the ins and outs of maintenance of the devices. I had the support I needed.  I had the desire to make the plan work. I had a passion for this new innovative and transformative tool, and with the change in education toward CCSS and 21st century learning practices, I knew this fit!

It took little convincing, and little time, for students to see the importance of the iPads in the classroom, and the impact their roles would have. Students watched instructional math movies made by me, by going to their Edmodo class page, clicking on the PlanBook.com lesson plans, and then on the link to educreations movies. Students wrote any written assignment in the Notability app, annotating and doing voice-overs on their work. Written work in Notability was then forwarded via email to the teacher, or turned in on the Showbie app.  I could evaluate work turned in on Showbie by writing and sending a voice message about the assignments. 

Students created iMovies and educreations movies of concepts learned in any subject area.  Nearpod was an app that our whole class used to study Science and Social Studies, and consequently visit places like the tundra ecosystem in Nepal, and the rain forests in Brazil. 

Students blogged about Science experiments by using the KidBlog app. Students read books in the Subtext app, even checking out ebook library books through that app.

Students introduced me to the Minecraft app, which was utilized for student creations of academic worlds. Students made virtual CA Missions, Spanish forts, planetariums, solar systems, power plants, mines, electric circuits, food chains, periodic tables with the Minecraft app. Absolutely creative and innovative interpretations of concepts learned, using the Minecraft app!

The benefits of BYOD, were increased student engagement in tasks, the opportunity to be creative and even to initiate ideas, the training to become good digital citizens, and the advantage of becoming better organized.  Preparing students for a future in the digital world and workforce, was (and is) responsible and correct. With the change in education toward 21st Century learning and CCSS, using iPads in the classroom enhanced and transformed learning in our classroom.

So, what made BYOD work? It was a combination of things. It was a group of parents who took a chance on me. Without their support I could not have succeeded. They spent big money to send iPads to school, that they bought for their children. (The students who didn't bring iPads from home, used school iPads .)

It was administrators who supported and contributed to my design, and gave me the freedom to try! It was a school district that set up proper blocks on wifi to make internet searches safe.

It was a group of students so motivated, creative, quick, like sponges soaking up information at lightning pace. 

It was my finding a path I hadn't known I'd find, and having the nerve to forge forward without fear, into territory not yet traveled.