My a-ha moment. Switching gears or die.

This week we have used Explain Everything to " explain" the  best or favorite strategy to multiply. Students have come up with very neat creations that showcased their understanding. I am delighted to see how easy they upload the work to "Kidblog" from the iPads. They are doing it like "pros" and in a matter of minutes, all the videos are posted on their blogs. I do not have to do anything apart from revising ll of them, of course.

Over the last few weeks much has been said about the use of iPads in the classroom and I always say, it is about the content, what you do with the technology, not about using tech for the sake of it. And today I have a very good reason that proves it. 

I have seen how a student that hardly ever speaks Spanish in my classroom, explained a math strategy in the foreign language through a video. Maybe she feels less pressure to talk to a device, she was able to take all the time she needed without peer pressure, she was more motivated....you name it. The result is that I have listened to this child expressing herself in Spanish , explaining a math problem. I feel proud of her, very proud of her. She made my day.That was my a-aha moment.

There is something about all the media creations that they are uploading to their blogs that makes the magic happen, and I think I know the reason. They take ownership of their learning. It is their blog, their stories, their explanations. They like it, they feel proud of what they do.... and I just love it.

Looking back at the SAMR model, it is not about having iPad time , a time filler, no . It is about changing gears in the whole methodology. What do you want to do? Do you want to be the center of the class, the owner of the knowledge? Or are you willing to switch gears and put your students on the spot? Do you want to hear them? Stop the monologue , let your fears go and give them something to say. Take risks, let the magic happen.

I love how they correct to each other in the first part of the video.

"The world is mobile and personal and education needs to follow suit." @iPads4schools