Viking Staff Standout: Mrs. Link

As a first year teacher, coming in to a school that had a 1:1 student to iPad ratio was a bit intimidating. I wasn't sure how I was going to incorporate an iPad in to my daily teaching because although I had an iPad that I used for my personal use, I had never used it for educational purposes. It took me a few months to get comfortable teaching with an iPad but luckily I have wonderful students in my classes who would help teach me how to use certain apps throughout the school year as well as a supportive staff who was willing to help. If I had a question related to Notability, Canvas or Jupiter usually a student could help me out. Now in my 7th grade math classes we use the iPad for nearly everything. I am definitely not an expert when it comes to technology and I have a lot more to learn but I am constantly looking for new apps and ideas to try in order to make the content interesting for my students. Lucky for me, we have a number of teachers on our campus who are very good with technology and discovering new apps and they are quick to share the information with the rest of the staff. I am really looking forward to continuing to learn about new apps and how to use them in my classroom next year.

Another great change for the upcoming year is that our new textbook is available as an e-book and includes a number of electronic resources that will be extremely beneficial to our students both in the classroom and when working independently at home. Not only will the "homework help" feature make it easier for students to complete their homework but it includes a parent guide for parents to provide assistance as well.

The apps or programs I use the most often are Notability, Jupiter Grades, Brainpop and Kahoot. Every file, resource, or homework assignment is given to the students through Jupiter. Jupiter makes it really easy to upload a file or link and students can easily find it in downloads and open it in Notability. PDF files work best when opening in Notability and once open, students can write anywhere on the file with their finger or using a text box and it is easy to upload pictures or figures as well. Students complete all their Cornell notes using Notability and as long as their Notability is backing up to their Google Drive even if they have to turn in their iPad the work is saved.

Kahoot is definitely a favorite in my classroom for both the students and myself. Kahoot allows me to check for understanding and/or review for an assessment and receive immediate feedback as to how well the class as a whole understands the content. Students love it because it is interactive, allows them to compete with one another to answer the questions as quickly as possible but they must be sure the answers are correct if they want to stay on the leaderboard. The next app I would love to incorporate next year is Socrative because it is similar to Kahoot but allows students to work at their own pace while still competing with other students.

Starting as a first year teacher I was extremely nervous to incorporate an iPad in to my teaching but now looking back it's hard to imagine teaching my class without it.

Mrs. Link is a first year teacher at Mar Vista Academy. She quickly adapted to teaching with iPads, and has quickly become an all-star teacher. Her students adore her, and we love seeing her get involved in more areas of MVA. Thanks Mrs. Link for taking the time to write about your experiences with iPads in your classroom!