Bellevue Public Schools has effectively rolled out iPads to teachers as a result of the powerful training and coaching model that has been developed by the instructional technology team. Bellevue Public Schools has two Apple Foundations Trainers, Ann Feldmann and Jennifer Krzystowczyk, who have been trained by Apple. As a result, they offer Apple Foundations Training with the Apple Curriculum to teachers in the district. This training provides teachers with a learning experience grounded in best practice, pedagogy, and research. Once teachers successfully complete six days of Apple Foundations Training they are eligible to the iPad Academy. The BPS iPad Academy Model is based on training, coaching, and collaboration. It has been proven to be effective, sustainable, and allows teachers the opportunity to create powerful learning environments. You can read more about the iPad Academy Model in a previous post here.
We now have 164 teachers in Bellevue Public Schools that have completed Apple Foundations Training and 37 teachers currently in our iPad Academy. Transformation of teaching and learning is happening at an incredible rate as teachers move to being innovators in the classroom. It is exciting to be instrumental in this change in classroom culture.
Our teachers are delivering curriculum via iTunes U Courses and creating content with iBooks. In addition, they are transforming the way they teach by establishing paperless, learner centered, creative classrooms. Classrooms are student driven, learning is individualized, creativity is valued, formative assessments provide timely feedback, engagement has increased, behavior issues have decreased, and material is differentiated for each student. This shift in classroom culture has been fascinating to witness and is a direct result of the Apple Foundations training and the ongoing professional development and coaching in the iPad Academy Model.
Teachers have met with compelling evidence of success. In fact, others have been fascinated too. We have hosted four site visits this past school year for teachers and administrators from other districts. They spend the entire day in the district. We provide them an overview of our model and then send them off to our iPad Academy classrooms where they interact with the teachers and students. They are impressed with the flexible learning environments, level of engagement, learner centered approach, and self-directed learners.
Learn more about Apple Foundations Training and the iPad Academy from the words of our teachers. Below are direct links to blog posts from 14 of our teachers. Feel free to drop them a comment. You can find a complete listing of iPad Academy Teacher blogs linked to our Tech Tools 4 Teaching Blog at http://technologytools4teaching.blogspot.com . You can also interact with our Bellevue Public Schools iPad Academy on Twitter by following the hashtag #ipadacademy.
Apple Foundations Training
1. Ms. Braasch, 4th Grade - Why iPad?
2. Mrs. Lambert, 8th Grade - AFT Reflections
iPad Academy
1. Mrs. Evon - 3rd Grade (moving to 4th next year)
Guided Reading with iPads
2. Mrs. Hoglund - high school math
3. Mrs. Carlson - high school business
How I Know What My Students Know - Digital Portfolios in the iPad Classroom
4. Mrs. Schneider - middle school English
5. Mr. Sims - 4th Grade
6. Mrs. Brown - 2nd Grade
7. Mrs. Klamm - 2nd Grade
8. Mrs. Manning - 3rd Grade
9. Mrs. Geldes - 4th Grade
10. Mrs. Smeby - 4th Grade
11. Mrs. Rowse - high school English
12. Mrs. Hall - 5th grade
Written by Ann Feldmann
@annfeldmann1
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