Our trip north...

Sorry for the neglect, dear readers. I have a few posts piled up in my brain, but no time to get online. So, you may see them come in waves as I get time to write.
First, to catch up from my 1:1 trip to MN. It was ah-mazing. I learned so much that I actually had a headache on our drive back. Our first school was Benilde-St. Margarets in Minneapolis. It was a very welcoming school that implements a 1:1 using laptops. It was a step ahead of where our school is currently, but not what I see for the future of our school. So I won't bore you with the details.
Our afternoon was spent observing DeLaSalle, another Catholic high school that had a similar feel and mission to my school. They implement a 1:1 using iPads. Right away I was excited as their vice principal and president explained their vision to prepare "digitally responsible citizens for the 21st century." I had the opportunity to observe classes in Spanish, Honors Algebra, and Biology. It didn't take long to see that the possibilities to reach students through this technology were limitless.
In Spanish class it was awesome to see students getting immediate feedback from online responses. They had the ability to voice match their Spanish with a native speaker, could access thousands of flashcards at their fingertips and wowed me with their views on how the iPads have improved their organization and study skills. Last year we Skyped Guatemala using the Promethean which we thought was awesome...I can't imagine the fun we could have with iPads. To think that each student could have conversations with native speakers from multiple countries around the world at the same time and never leave my classroom excites me immensely. The culture, the language, the dialects...am I putting myself out of a job?
In Honors Algebra I observed a student-centered environment where students were working together in a flipped classroom. Their teacher posts vodcasts each night of the lecture for them to watch, and the next day they come with their questions and work through their math problems together in class. He said he has already seen an increase in test scores and it provides students the opportunity to get the one-on-one attention they need. While it does create more work for the teacher, it also increases the responsibility of the student, holding them more accountable for their education. For me, it translates to more time hearing the language. If students listen to a vodcast at night, that is 15 more minutes a day they are hearing and thinking Spanish. Awesome.
In Biology, students created a Keynote (power point) of a plants life cycle. Through use of the iPad it seemed as if students were all learning within the confines of their own personal learning style. Visual learners were adding photos, auditory learners were adding voice and video, and kinesthetic learners were constantly manipulating the screen. A lot of people have mentioned how the (i) of iPad stands for individual so it lacks the collaborative quality that schools are desiring. However, I like the idea that it creates a classroom with individual instruction to meet the needs of each unique student.
In addition to all this awesome technology, I probably took more from this observation by just getting to watch other teachers. They were great at what they did, the students were completely engaged, and it reaffirmed my love for our dresscode! All-in-all, a fabulous trip north with some fabulous co-workers. I can't wait to get my hands on this amazing technology...now...off to find some funding.