Already a hit with the education market, Apple’s iPad is poised to completely take it over, according to the analyst firm Needham & Company, which reports that the tablet is outpacing sales of PCs to students and schools.
In an article posted at CNet.com, Charlie Wolf, an analyst at Needham & Company, is quoted as saying that the iPad is now "cannibalizing" PCs in sales to the K-12 market.
CNet, citing a report from Apple Insider goes on to quote Wolf, "Clearly, a significant portion of iPad sales represented an expansion of the market. But in view of the fact that Mac sales held steady at around 520,000 units but overall PC sales declined by 265,000 units from 1.90 million to 1.64 million units, we believe the inescapable conclusion is that the iPad is beginning to cannibalize a material portion of PC sales in this market."
This new data, combined with the persistent rumors of an iPad “Mini” to be priced at or around $200, could mean the end of all traditional computers and laptops as classroom tools in the very near future.
I want to share a new way to go over homework. I use my CPS remote control system and have students punch in their answers to random questions. The class has its homework out~ then students click in their answers~ with the option of revising them as they go along. I quiz them on just a few questions from each page to check understanding--in my opinion you can get a sense if the students "got" the homework without going over every problem. The CPS system then grades the homework~ and I...
I was watching Weekend Today and the topic was~ "Is cursive writing something we should still be teaching in school?When I first starting teaching 6th grade~ back in the days of being self-contained~ I remember planning for 15 minutes of cursive penmanship instruction. The students usually copied a famous quote or a funny tongue twister. Then~ as more and more responsibilities were placed upon the day~ penmanship went on the sidelines. The alphabet~ which was posted~on a bulletin board~ was...
One criticism of education (and there are many :)~ is that schools fail to teach kids about money. If you haven't come across a money system created by fifth-grade teacher~ Rafe Esquith~ you need to read his second book "Teach Like Your Hair is on Fire." There's a lot of good ideas in that book~ but the money system is something I believe should be taught in all classrooms across... the country.
Essentially~ the kids...
I want to share an idea that worked really well for me.
A few weeks ago~ I had the students come to school dressed like a super hero of their own creation. I was dressed like a villian~ black cape~ black mask. I also used a voice scrambler to sound like Darth Vader.
The class then competed against mein a series of challenges that tested math~ vocabulary and science skills. Every time they got an answer right~ they got a point. The same went for me. While the...
I am thinking about trying the following idea:
Set the room up like a maze or gauntlet~ using curtains~ sheets~ etc. My students then have to navigate the maze and pass a series of tests before preceding to the next section. I want to set the tests up so they test students on nationally established standards for gifted students~ like determining their strengths and choosing the learning style that best works for them.
I would have parents help adminster the...
I retired after teaching for 33 years and continue to develop teaching materials(all free) for use in the classroom. I just returned from a trip of a life-time~ a trip to China and~ many pinch me moments-including walking the Great Wall of China. I just posted pictures and captions which you might find of use in your classroom at my website.http://www.gailhennessey.com/index.shtml?chinafolder.html and...
Editor's Note: Today's guest post comes from Dr. Scott Taylor~ an educator from New Jersey.
A Protocol for Developing Meaningful Curricula
The actual process of developing curricula has not been properly defined for educational leaders who aspire to collaboratively engage their teachers in a thoughtful and sincere codification of the programs they are expected to implement in their classrooms. There are plenty of curriculum...
Try a trampoline.
I asked a parent to donate a mini-trampoline to the classroom and began using it to create excitement in my fifth-grade classroom.
Sometimes~ I jump on it for fun~ and when I land~ I have the class yell "boom!"
Other times~ I reward students who get a correct answer by letting them come up and get in some jumps. It is amazing how hard they will work to jump a few times on a trampoline!
Without exception~ visitors...