We never forget those ” first” moments that stay with us throughout our lives. If we close our eyes, we can picture the moment as clear as day, remembering every detail as vivid as it was yesterday. Today was one of those first moments at my school, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Meriden. Twenty four eighth graders received their iPads for the”first” time, marking the beginning of a year long iPad pilot program. The excitement as they held their iPad, the anticipation as they waited for their instructions, the joy and laughter as they learned to manipulate Photo Booth with our superintendent Mr. Hoyt; all moments that remind me why it is not only so great to be a teacher, but how important it is for us as educators to take learning cues from our students. They know where they want to go, and they are trusting us to take them there. They are looking to us to create their academic “firsts.” What they don’t know is that are are creating many “first” for us as well. What ” first” moment will you create/be a part of today?
PS – This was my “first” blog.
Good for you, Carolyn. I am a Carolyn, too, and the post a couple below yours was my first post for the CT Blog. You and I sound like we are on the same wavelength about students as learners and teachers as learners as well, who learn from our students. We also have an iPad pilot going on in Bethany Middle School -we’ll roll it out later in October, so I’m anxious to hear how your roll-out goes. Perhaps we can benefit from your initial experiences.
Good luck with your blogging forays. I now have four blogs going, so it’s going to be hard to keep up with them all.
Carolyn, aka carolteach4
Thank you for being my “first” comment! How exciting! I would love to share our iPad pilot information as well as our app page with you on google docs, if you are interested. Just shoot me an email. You can go to
http://meriden.patch.com/articles/mount-carmel-eighth-graders-receive-ipads
to see our happy faces. It was a moment to cherish, and I wish the same for your iPad roll out.
Carolyn
Hi Carolyn-
Thank you for posting. How did you get your funding for the iPad iniative? I would be curious to learn more about it. I’d love to pilot something here in Stafford