（A Day in the Life of an iPad Teacher）
6.30 am: Woken by the dulcet tones of Lana Del Rey and a new ‘Wake up Light‘. Contemplate staying in bed then notice the email icon flashing with a number of new messages – check twitter.
7.00 am: Access news app whilst devouring breakfast. Apologise for spraying coffee during reaction to latest education announcement. Carefully wipe iPad screen and check all is in working order by scrolling twitter timeline.
7.20 am: Plug iPad into car stereo and load ‘Driving’ playlist. Remember not to play air drums as last nights altercation with a kerb was too close for comfort.
8.00 am: Deal with overflowing inbox on iPad whilst waiting for school computer to load. Share amusing photo with colleague that is doing ‘the rounds’ on twitter. Feel thankful todays lesson presentations and resources are accessed on iPad via Dropbox as school network is down.
8.25 am: Contemplate handing in resignation as only free period of the day has become a history cover with year 10. Decide against quitting after discovering appropriate work has been set and history teacher is on a school trip not skiving to write reports.
8.45 am: Take staff briefing notes on iPad and share with form group on Edmodo before walking to classroom. Complete registration on iPad and discuss the u14 football victory last night. Enjoy presentation by school council member made with Keynote and iMovie.
9.10 am: Lesson one with year 7 and they are all excited to share their completed projects. Regret allowing them to use any app they wanted as assessment point looms. Group complete a mind-mapping exercise whilst projects are checked and uploaded to class Dropbox account. Students share mind-map with class via Appletv and each group discuss their findings. Extended writing task is completed with detailed mind-map as a resource.
10.10 am: Lesson two starts with a mild panic as projector isn’t working. Student suggests uploading presentation to Dropbox so everyone can access it on their iPads. Feel thankful for the ‘work around’ and award commendation to student. Secretly wish more attention had been paid during that iPad training session on workflow. Concern over the lesson objectives is relieved by a Socrative quiz to check progress. Report is downloaded and sent to email to dissect later but initial answers appear correct. Development task is completed in ‘Pages‘ and uploaded to Edmodo for assessment.
11.10 am: Break-time and the slow walk around the playground begins. Twitter conversation is instigated with ’virtual friend’ about the alarming changes to exams announced this morning. Thankful to colleague who brings out cup of coffee. Shake head when he mocks being on twitter again.
11.30 am: The dreaded cover period is made easier by the history students engaging in research on their iPads. Remember that the software that blocks inappropriate apps on the wireless network will stop them playing games. Still walk around room to check the research is relevant. Mark assessments on iPad using the annotation tool in Edmodo and send back to students for correction. Nostalgically reflect when assessment was a two week process with a single lesson per week.
12.30 pm: Lesson four begins with a pre-recorded Explain Everything slide. The idea is that students will work together to discover the answer to the problem. Share different slides with improving students via Edmodo and encourage them to listen to the hints and tips. Annotate one groups work with the Airpresenter app and display to the group. Stand back and realise how much energy is in the room and check to see if all students are on task. Ask class to complete Socrative exit ticket to show head of department later.
1.30 pm: Lunch-time and after a quick sandwich join the badminton club. Happy to help the PE department as it allows for some exercise during the day. Feel a little sheepish when a student analyses your jump smash with an app on his iPad. Somehow he has managed to illustrate five different faults but accept his ‘experimenting for A level moderation’ excuse.
2.30 pm: Lesson 5 and the inevitable post-lunch malaise is alleviated by a learning challenge. Using any app (why do it!) students are required to teach the lesson objectives to a ‘virtual alien’. The best two will be shown at the end via Appletv and receive commendations. Headteacher walks in just as one group complete their ‘stop-motion‘ animation. The smile and nod has the feeling of ambiguity but hopefully errs on the positive side. After receiving numerous commendations the students are disappointed to learn homework is an extended writing piece. They are sated by a reminder about the examination process and the need to complete writing tasks.
4.00 pm: With double strength coffee in hand, set about annotating syllabus sheets for sixth form using Goodreader app for iPad. Upload sheets to Dropbox and inform group, via department twitter, that they are available. Mark assessment papers for year 11 and promise to ‘unleash hell’ if tomorrow’s free period is taken away. Check personal twitter.
5.45 pm: Drive home with second half of ‘Driving’ playlist passing the time. Ignore the ‘ping’ of new notifications on the iPad thinking they can wait till tomorrow.
6.30 pm: Stay in car and check twitter.
7.15 pm: Discuss days events over dinner and promise to show how the twitter world has been up in arms about the government announcement. Ignore the eye-rolling and suggest twitter is for everyone – do the washing up as penance.
8.30 pm: Watch favourite programme in the bath using TV Catchup application for iPad. It still feels that the bathroom has been upgraded now it has a ‘television’ in it.
10.00 pm: Reset alarm for a ten minute lie-in tomorrow. Check twitter one last time.
11.15 pm: Fall asleep.
（A Day in the Life of an iPad Student）
7.00 am: Woken by fancy chime and skyscraper illumination on iPad. Switch off and go back to sleep.
7.15 am: Woken by beeping Angry Bird effect and grudgingly get up for school. Head down to breakfast to find Dad has somehow got hold of the iPad and is catching up on ‘that Piers Morgan and Lord Sugar arguing about grammar again’?
7.45 am: Mum waves goodbye as Dad brings iPad charger out ‘just in case the battery runs low’. It is charged overnight but Dad’s laptop is always running out of power. Strangely the iPad hasn’t run out at school yet.
7.55 am: Find seat on bus and use famous ‘inside PE shirt, inside bag’ technique to play Temple Run on iPad. Not allowed to take the iPad out on the bus but no-one has caught me at it.
8.25 am: Arrive at school and remind friends that the ‘iPad lost it’ excuse doesn’t work. Not sure how it does it but it remembers everything that is put into every app. Eat cookie satisfied that geography homework was completed a day early.
8.45 am: Registration and while we are answering our names the ‘iPad teacher‘ comes in to remind us about sharing folders in Dropbox and how to use the Edmodo conversation wall. It’s all very easy but he keeps telling us over and over again!
9.05 am: First lesson and we have to do a quiz straight away. We use the Socrative app and we answer five multiple choice questions and a short answer question with our name on. I could have told the teacher I knew all the answers but she wants to ‘keep the information on her iPad’. We put the iPads away and then have a discussion with prompt questions that are put on our desks. Every now and again we have to suggest the most important points for the board. The information helps as we get our iPads out again and complete an Explain Everything slide to show what we have learnt. I remember pictures better so I include three and record an audio sentence to help me later. They will be shared with the teacher later apparently, probably Dropbox.
10.05 am: Second lesson and the teacher tells us off for getting our iPads out. Put iPad back in bag and remember last time I got caught with it on my desk. The textbooks have our activities in and although it is heavy it is easy to read. One of my classmates is sent outside for trying to look up the meaning of a word on his iPad. It was so obvious I promise to show him the ‘inside PE shirt’ technique. Homework is relatively easy as we just have to complete classwork.
11.05 am: Break-time and whilst eating my lunch, I sneakily show my friend the iMovie trailer I made for French. I know he is jealous of the editing and promise I will show him how to fade the visuals – I won’t.
11.30 am: Third lesson and as usual we use loads of material. While we are completing our artistic impression we use the pictures/help sheet in our shared Dropbox folder to assist with our work. I use the ‘define’ option on the iPad as I don’t understand many of the terms although my teacher does help me. We are encouraged to take a number of photos of our work as we are going to put together a portfolio. There is so much going on I keep taking photos and video my friend explaining the last part of the lesson. The teacher encourages me as I struggled a couple of weeks ago. We are visited by a Senior teacher in the lesson and he asks me about my work. He laughs when I reply ‘I’ve got a lot going on but it will all work out’.
12.30 pm: Fourth lesson and we know not to get the iPads out. I’m always amazed how well the teacher can talk and how interesting his stories are. We take notes that we will revise from. There is a lot of stuff on the whiteboard but it is quite easy to copy from the slides. Hopefully I will do well in the test next week.
1.30 pm: Lunch and the usual wait in line to buy food having eaten everything at break-time. Thankfully, I have remembered to put the iPad in my locker as I observe my friend being told off for having it out at lunchtime. See my French teacher and tell them about my iMovie project – can’t wait till the lesson tomorrow. Join in tennis club for twenty minutes, so glad I had my kit. There is a senior boy doing a skills analysis activity on an iPad. I’m a little bit jealous as he annotates the video and compares his friend to an elite sportsman. Apparently the app is called Tennis Coach Plus HD!
2.30 pm: Last lesson and we know we will be using a lot of apps as it’s the ‘iPad teacher’. Yet again he is introducing something new as we open up Audioboo. I enjoy the notes we make in Notability, with internet photos, and the use of Wordfoto to illustrate key terms. Our homework is set on Edmodo and we will upload it by next week. I like that way of doing it as it is marked by the teacher electronically and I receive it before next lesson. Apparently he dictates his annotations using his iPad and it appears on my work. I don’t really understand how it works it but his feedback is much longer now.
3.30 pm: Hometime and I’m glad to get on the bus. I’m very thankful the iPad case is zipped up as I drop my bag when a bigger boy is causing trouble. The walk from the bus stop to home is a bit easier now as I have less books.
4.45 pm: After snack time I start to complete my homework. The Edmodo assignments are easy to access and there are notes to help us from the teacher. I upload the work, complete with pictures from the internet, and know I will receive my feedback next week. Whilst completing another assignment I ask my friends about a tricky technique on the Edmodo wall. Thankfully they know the answer and I change my Skitch annotation to suit. The final homework is in my exercise book and I know I have to hand it in next week. It normally gets marked before our next set of grades so it will count I think.
6.00 pm: Dinnertime and I am keen to tell my parents about my iMovie trailer. I hint that my French teacher is looking forward to seeing it and I should get an achievement point. At least I think that’s what she said! Try to explain Audioboo to Dad but I don’t think he understands. End up telling him I will be able to listen to my voice to help me revise. He seems happy.
7.15 pm: Overhear my parents having a ‘discussion’ about the fact that something is not a toy and should be used to help ‘our son’. If it’s ‘Angry Birds’ that I showed Dad last week then I wish I hadn’t shown him. In fact, come to think of it, whenever I turn the iPad screen on the ‘Angry Birds’ music starts up.
9.00 pm: Bedtime and just remember to put the iPad on charge. Thought I had lost the charger and then remembered Dad had made me take it to school so it was in my bag. Can’t wait for period two French. The Appletv thing lets me show my iMovie to the whole class.
(Disclaimer – Author is the teacher of period 2)
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