Beecher Road School Teachers To Present at State Computer Conference

iPAD BECOMING
POWERFUL LEARNING TOOL IN ELEMENTARY CLASSROOMS

Beecher
Road School Teachers to Present at State Computer Conference

Woodbridge, CT – Starting in 2011, Beecher Road
School began a pilot program to explore how iPads could be used by elementary
students in the classroom. This collaborative effort among classroom teachers,
specialists, and the Library Tech Team has created a classroom environment where
students use the iPad to make independent decisions regarding their own
learning.

On
October 21, six teachers from Beecher Road School will share the way they have
been using iPads in classrooms in two presentations at the 2013 CECA
(Connecticut Educators Computer Association) conference in Uncasville. It is
the largest educational technology conference in Connecticut, attracting
educators from school districts and private schools around Connecticut and
neighboring states.

Two
classrooms, a sixth grade and a second grade, participated in the iPad program.
The teachers soon learned that using the iPad as an instructional tool is not
about the apps used. Instead, it is about how teachers use the iPad as an
instructional tool and how students use it to learn and express themselves.

A powerful learning tool, the iPad
provides students an array of choices and support that can help them
individualize their own learning while promoting independent decision-making.
The iPad is a versatile tool when students use it to convey their thinking
rather than strictly as a means to practice isolated skills with single-focused
apps.

The
first of the CECA presentations, iPads Across Elementary Grades (Part 1): Beyond the Apps, will
address specific strategies to effectively use iPads as a learning tool in the
classroom.

The second presentation, iPads Across Elementary Grades (Part
2): Behind the Scenes, will
cover the development of the pilot from conception through daily support for an
ongoing program, and end with plans for the future. This will include two
important aspects of the program: the value of teacher initiative for creative
and engaging iPad uses; privacy policies particular to elementary students.

Members
of an integrated team of teachers have worked with School Superintendent Guy
Stella and the rest of the administrative staff to lead the three-year
pilot, iPads Across the Elementary Grades, at Beecher Road
School. Presenting at the CECA conference are: Stephanie Eleck and Michelle
Shepard, classroom teachers, Lori Patrick, Library Media Specialist, James
Crawford and Larry Hurwitz, Technology Teachers, and Rick Wood Technology
Coordinator.

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