Shelly Freyer is a teacher, author, speaker, and advocate for children. She teaches at Positive Tomorrows which is a school for homeless children located in Oklahoma. She wants to help students love learning and believes that students should have engaging environments to learn in. One thing she really emphasizes to these students is that their voices matter and they can share them with the world beyond the classroom. She has taught in an iPad 1:1 classroom since 2013.
One of the pages on Fryer's blog is titled Technology 101 SKills for Teachers. On this page, she discusses tools to use with technology and that technology can enhance student creativity. She informs other teachers and gives tips on integrating technology into an elementary classroom. The use of iPads in an elementary classroom has always seemed like a duanting task to me. I feel it would be hard to keep students focused and actually use the technology to learn. However, Fryer gives great advice in this. She points out that teachers first need to have their own "app literacy" so they know and understand what is appropriate for their students. She even lists terms for teachers to learn to help with using iPads in classrooms.
Fryer gives a link to her own classroom website for an example. This is how she encourages students on their digital projects. These can be shared both inside and outside the classroom. She gives real, personal examples of what she uses in her classroom such as QR codes, SeeSaw for sharing links and videos, Safeshare.tv which is a place she puts links to YouTube videos, and Pic Collage Kids. She points out that she is sure to use safety when it comes to the internet.
Another great feature of using iPads in classrooms is being able to do enrichment assessment activities. She gives examples of apps she uses to allow students to demonstrate their understanding such as Book Creator and iMovie.
Overall, Shelly Fryer can truly motivate any teacher to integrate technology into their classroom. Although it may be time consuming to search for apps and find useful things for the students to use, it is incredibly important to help students develop. It will help them with creativity skills and can be an extra way to motivate students. If any teachers are lacking in motivation to use iPads in their classroom, I would instantly refer them to this website! Thank you, Shelly, for your insight!
