Teachers - tell me your thoughts on tablets

[Fannydabbydozey]

Hi all, I'm a governor of a tiny primary school that my kids also go to. The finance committee (me included) have been mulling over tablets for the classrooms. A few other governors are very set against, one in particular sees them as simply fun items which offer nothing educational to the children.

I think it's a major part of tech today and my kids do more schoolwork on theirs than I ever imagined, making presentations and documents far quicker than on a laptop. And the stuff looks amazing! But I'd love to hear views from teachers. Do you use them in your classroom? What do they bring?

Yes we use iPads with our Y6s, Y7s and Y8s. Next year it will be Y9 as well. They are wonderful, wouldn't be without them.

I teach Maths, we use the iPads for storing work (students put a QR code on the book which links to their portfolio), graph plotting, showing methods/answers, accessing our school systems for textbooks and answers, using Edmodo (kind of FB for school, with homeworks and folders and info on). We have loads of interactive programs we use plus students can research topics, take photographs, make videos, use spreadsheets, make word documents, roll dice, use a timer, see their timetable, write emails.

Love it!

Thanks for that. Can you recommend apps for home use? Mine seem happy to do mathletics and squeebles on their own with theirs but I'm struggling to find non American literacy and science ones.

I will do, but please give me a day, I am busy with parents evening tonight!