Bummer

I just found out that I may not have my classroom set of ipads next year in my classroom full-time.  It turns out the last Tech Director did not keep track of equipment the way he should have and much of the inventory went missing.  Right now, there is no money in the budget for replacements and my iPads might have to be put in the general use supply which will be checked out.

That being the case, I have to explore two different options for next year.  I need to weigh the pros and cons of each option to see which is most viable.

The first is doing BYOB where I have students put three or four apps on their devices so we can still use some of the technology in class.  The problem with this option is not every student has a device and many of the devices are android based so I'll have to see if the apps I want are available on both. I know I"ll want a calculator, a note taking app, a mind mapping app and perhaps a graphing app such as Desmos.  I will have to make plans over the summer to see which I want to use.

The second is to arrange to check out ipads to use once or twice a week.  I don't like this option as much because there is no guarantee that the iPads will have the apps I want.  So for this option, I will have composition books available to write all the notes, etc in.

There is one other factor thrown into this mess is that I work at a very small high school with no more than 100 students.  Many of the students blow off the year and flunk various math classes.  We've reached a point where we cannot separate students the way we used to so they are going to be moved on.  This means, I'm going to have to do more differentiation in the hopes that I can help students who are missing certain skills get caught up so they do not fall farther behind.

It is going to be interesting to teach without iPads in my room.  I have gotten used to them and I really enjoy having them there for when things suddenly change and I have to readjust what I"m doing.  Sudden changes include fire drills, floods, power outages that cause the plumbing to go down.

I am still hoping I get to keep the iPads but only time will tell.  In the meantime, I will create plans that could easily incorporate the mobile devices while including more visual math and hands on to make learning better.