My English 11 class wrote a literary analysis of A Raisin in the Sun on the iPads. I assigned this paper last year, so I posted some student samples (names removed, of course) on my class website. Models are helpful with students who, for whatever reason, often tell me they “are bad writers.” I don’t know where they get the idea they can’t write, but that’s a different post for another time.

Writing a paper on iPads proved more difficult for this class than my AP class. Several students struggled to master typing on the touch keyboard (though I wonder if I’d asked them to type the paper on their phones if they would’ve been able to do that).

A major limitation of Google Drive is the lack of spell check and limited formatting options. I double-spaced all the papers from my MacBook since that’s not an option in Drive. Sure, I could have had them enable the desktop version via Safari, but it’s cumbersome. Another major limitation of the Google Drive app is that students could not see the comments I made. The primary reason I switched to Google Docs four years ago was the collaboration potential. Without access to those comments (again, unless they switched to Safari), that element was lost…and frankly, it was reflected in many final products.

For students whose only online tool is a phone or the iPad in class, making time to use a desktop for some of the essential revision features was an afterthought. I’m fairly confident that had some of my students thought to log into their Google Drive account from a desktop, many of the spelling and grammar errors would have been fixed and the feedback I gave on drafts incorporated into the final copy.

In short, I was disappointed in the final papers I received from this class. But again, I keep in mind that it’s not an easy culture shift, that I haven’t found every workaround, that students don’t have the iPads every minute of every day so revisions had to happen in class (for most of them).

We start poetry portfolios tomorrow, and this time I’m trying Pages. The Pages app has more formatting options, so perhaps some of the deficiencies from the last paper will disappear. Here’s hoping.

Click here to read how the paper assignment worked in my AP class.

So I decided to have my AP and regular English classes write a paper on the iPad, just to have an idea of how/if it could be done. (Answer: it can. Footnote: it’s not perfect. Yet.)

Though initially I wanted to use Pages, I decided (with Jenny’s help) that Drive was going to be a much better option for our students. Since the iPads are shared between four classes, and since the students can’t take them home, Drive would enable students who needed a little more time to process their thoughts to work on their writing at home or in a computer lab.

My AP students researched various sides of a political issue and wrote me a “position” paper, modeled after online sources like BuzzFeed and Huffington Post…which meant instead of a traditional works cited page, they linked their sources directly into the paper. I LOVED that element of this assignment, but linking on an iPad is clunky and I suspect most of my students did their linking on a desktop.

This was a new assignment in my AP class, so I had no previous models to share with them, but I did something with them that I really don’t do in AP–gave them class time to complete it. I’ve assigned them take-home papers to write, but I’ve never given over class time for any work to be completed.

And that week in class, the students collaborated, read each others’ writing, asked me questions, and as has become our habit, we streamed papers through Apple TV for class revisions. Greg Boettger, our district’s Director of Technology happened to drop by during that last activity and saw first-hand how students responded to their writing (randomly chosen, I might add) on display for the class to revise. (Excellent timing, Mr. Boettger!)

What I have to remember when my students complain about not being familiar with the iPads (which, granted, is happening less and less):

• They are only using them 47 minutes a day–and sometimes not even every day.
• We are fond of our cages, such as traditional keyboards or software or operating systems. 
• Change is not always easy.

These three bullet points are mantras to me when I feel like I’m failing at implementing the iPads in my classroom. I’m probably doing just fine.

Later this week: the report from my regular English class paper.

Of all the classes I’ve used the iPads with, my 3rd hour has been the toughest to find a rhythm. The first couple of tries left me wondering if I should use them at all with this group, because I felt like I was doing way more classroom management than teaching. It was discouraging, in part because I don’t like playing the part of the Technology Dictator at the front of the room.

So we took a break.

Resolved to see what writing a paper looked like on the iPads, we eased back into using them. Friday, most of them used Popplet to brainstorm and organize their literary analysis of A Raisin in the Sun. Yesterday, they did more prewriting and then moved into Google Drive to start typing their papers. And today, I couldn’t believe what I heard after 15 minutes of class.

Nothing. I heard nothing.

Students were sprawled all over the room, some listening to music, typing away. Occasionally I heard “Ugh! I hate typing on the iPad!” or “How do you spell Lindner?” or “When did the play take place again?” And students answered each others’ questions. But for the most part, it was silent. They were never this quiet in the computer lab last semester when we were working on the Research EO.

I asked them to have at least one/one-and-a-half pages by the end of class. Most students had just that. Again, that kind of informal deadline was rarely met during the Research EO.

I could say that they are six months older and they are more mature, or that the literary analysis is easier–all of which is likely true. But I can’t underestimate the familiarity of the classroom, or the ease of asking me questions (much easier to bring me the iPad than me meandering through a maze of computers in a lab). The entire environment felt more relaxed, more collaborative.

I was so happy with and proud of my 3rd hour class today, and after the iPads were put away, I told them so.

As for writing the paper on the iPad, a couple of limitations: no double spacing, and no commenting unless switching to the desktop version in Safari. But so far, so good.

It’s been too long since I blogged here, mostly because I am in the haze of the school musical, a time of  year where absolutely everything in my life but the musical suffers a little bit. I love being part of the school musicals for two main reasons: first, it sharpens my piano skills, and second, it redeems my faith in what students can do.

But one of the things to be on the back burner the past two weeks as rehearsals have ramped up is using the iPads for more than just a replacement for making copies. And don’t get me wrong–I totally love throwing links on my class website instead of handing out paper after paper. But I know I should be pushing myself–and my students–to do more.

So this week while my English 11 class watched A Raisin in the Sun (we read the play in class), I retyped their test over the play into a Google form. I figured I’d try a test on the iPad once, and if it bombed, then I had data to show that tests on the iPad weren’t a good idea.

Once all the tests were submitted, me and Jenny asked the students their thoughts. I was shocked to hear that they loved it. Students who struggle with going back and forth between a paper test and a Scantron especially loved having all the answers right there. No one needed a pencil. No one had to get up during class and sharpen a pencil (which really can be distracting to some students). And of course, I loved that using Flubaroo, the test was graded in a fraction of a second, and results emailed to students just as fast.

About 30 minutes later, just as I was starting some class/peer revisions with my English AP class, Greg Boettger–our Director of Technology–stopped by. He asked the students for some informal feedback on how the iPads were working, and then he just observed as students streamed their writing from their iPads to the Apple TV. What I loved most about this exercise is that it wasn’t necessarily about the technology–it was about how the students responded to each others’ work, commenting on diction, tone, and syntax. The iPad/Apple TV combo just made it much more feasible and effective.

The musical closes Saturday, and life will settle back into a more normal routine, and I’m hoping to take more risks 4th quarter. My AP class will turn in a paper this weekend written mostly on the iPad. Tomorrow, my English 11 class will start writing a paper on the iPad. My Pop Culture classes will research music genres and have a backchannel on the iPad. More to come…