Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Prepping for Our First BYOD Day of 2014



In preparation for Digital Learning Day on February 5, we are going to have some BYOD warm up days to get ourselves ready!  Tomorrow is our first official BYOD Day!  What is a BYOD Day?  BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Device, and the day will include opportunities for your child to integrate technology into hi/her learning.  If your child has a device that can connect to wifi, he/she may bring it in for the day.  Devices like Kindle Fires, Netbooks, iPads, iPods, Chromebooks, Google Nexus Tablet, other tablets, smart phones, etc. are all welcome! We will have some devices available for students to use if they do not have access to a device...not to worry!

Some of the main concerns from parents typically revolve around trust and responsibility.  We have discussed this as a class and created an anchor chart.  In addition, we went over the Acceptable Use Policy created by Walled Lake Schools.


Then students wrote letters to parents to persuade them to let them bring in their device.  Below is one of the letters written by a student.  (I apologize...the scanner left off a part of the letter, but I think you can get the idea.) Parents...these were supposed to come home today, but we ended up Facetiming with LC's grandmother and a few students from a rural Mexican school right at the end of the day!

This will be our third year having BYOD Days in Team Bond.  We will use our devices throughout the day on Tuesdays and Thursdays from now on.  Often parents want to know what type of apps would be helpful to have on devices.  Here are some of the required/suggested apps:

Required Apps
Edmodo: This will be our BYOD platform.  All assignments will be posted and turned in through Edmodo.
A Drawing App: Any app will do, as long as it can draw and the drawing can be shared. 
A Notetaking App: Apps like Evernote, Notability, Good Notes, etc. are good.  Again, any app that best fits your student will be fine! 
Spelling City: This will allow them to practice their words each week. 
Camera: If you have not set up your camera to be able to share out, at least find a way to allow Edmodo to access the photos.  

Suggested Apps:
Minecraft: We will be integrating Minecraft into our next unit for Science, as it is on Earth Materials. 
Movie Editing App: We will create videos, and it would be neat to add editing at times. 
Math Fact Practice Apps: Students will be able to practice basic facts after they complete their assignment. 
Kindle or other eReader: Students will have the choice to use eBooks when they do Read to Self. 
Write About This: This is a writing app that students use already.  They really enjoy it and do well with it. 


As time goes on, I may send out other app suggestions, but for right now, this should be great! 

Cheers to Technology!  Cheers to Digital Learning!  Cheers to BYOD Days! 









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