1st Grade Tech Boot Camp

Badges Created for our Students

Seamless tech integration is the name of the game in education right now. I want my students to consider their device a tool just as they do their pencils and colors. However, that is easier said than done. 

"Teaching Tech" must come before seamless integration and finding time to do this is not easy.

My team and I decided to tackle this problem with a tech boot camp. 

The goal was to hit them quick with simple skills to get us moving through the school year. 

We divided the schedule into two weeks.
Week 1: Digital Citizenship skills in our homerooms. - We covered topics like internet safety and proper blog/twitter commenting.
Check out our video:

Comments from LBright on Vimeo.

Week 2: App Focused: We had a list of 5 apps/skills that we wanted the students to be fluent in so we decided to divide and conquer. To teach these skills efficiently and to the best of our ability, we decided to become an expert at one app and rotate the students around to each teacher.

Here is a sample of the schedule for my room and skills/apps focused on:

Day 1: Homeroom skills: Screenshot and Email

Day 2: iMovie (free on newer devices)
Topics Taught - add videos, photos, drawings from Drawing Pad, add theme music and sound effects

Day 3: QR Codes (free)
Topics Taught: scanning a code, problem solving within the app, finding different media in QR codes. 

Day 4: PicCollage (free)
Topics Taught: choosing a backgrounds, adding a photograph, adding text, appropriate search of the web, send via email

Day 5: Drawing Pad ($2.99)
Topics Taught: using the tool drawer, adding a background, adding text, labeling a photograph, send via email

Each teacher taught her skill/app 4 times as the different classes rotated. This allowed us to dig deeper into certain apps and become more comfortable with each classroom. We could also work on perfecting and improving the lesson with each class. 

 This rotation schedule allows for teachers who are comfortable with tech to grab the tricker or more intricate apps and focus on those. It also allows teachers newer to the tech world to truly grasp the ins and outs of some of our most popular apps. As we were planning, we were conscious of apps that we loved, apps that we haven't played with and great starter apps. 

Tech boot camp was a huge success. The students loved it and now we can say that every 1st grader in our building has the same experience and knowledge of our 1st quarter core skill/apps. 

We have plans to try a new boot camp each quarter with a possible student driven camp in the 2nd half of the year. 

I am very fortunate to be working with an amazing team. 

Jennifer @room224mcdole, Pam @pgianakakos and Randi @1stwithmissc

Stay tuned for more...