Armed and iDangerous

The Pioneers are now armed with the power of iPads.  Who would have believed that an economically challenged rural district like ours could have found a way to tip the scales and provide each middle and high school student - 1600 in all - with an iPad to take home and computer/iPad access for all 700 students K-4 students all day. We found a way …

The real excitement began five months ago when we deployed about 100 of the devices to our teachers and began to systematically offer progressive professional development we termed iPD.  Most teachers begin running on reserve fuel as the end of the school year approaches … our teachers started running on adrenaline.  

Their excitement and fear was demonstrated in many ways, but none so apparent than their willingness to attend iPD sessions.  Change is tough.  We offered purely volunteer training sessions once a week - all summer long - and were amazed by the attendance.  We deliberately set them early, so our teachers could work for a few hours and still enjoy the summer weather.  iPD became contagious and our numbers continued to grow throughout the summer months.

If we thought the the teachers were excited, nothing could have prepared us for the students.  Our August was packed with 14 different iPad deployment sessions.  Every student was required to attend a session with a parent/guardian.  They began listening to our dynamic superintendent - Dr. Kevin Miller - describe the vision behind the one-to-one initiative. Principals then discussed expectations and students were divided into small groups for a 30 minute set up and basic tutorial.  They left excited about school and proud to be a student at Croswell-Lexington.  

We watched as students began to post on facebook things like “I lost my girlfriend to an iPad” and “Ok i said these iPads were a dumb idea before i actually got to learn with them. A year of intro to chem and a year of chem i didn’t understand anything. A night with one of the chem apps and i understand it. Best Idea Ever!”  It was by design that we deployed the devices early.  We wanted our teachers to have them ASAP to plan with them and we wanted the students to have a few weeks before school started to get their “sillies out”.

Now, a week into school and we have had the expected bumpy start.  As the Principal, I have never been prouder of my students and teachers.  When the digital textbooks were delayed … they shook it off and kept going.  When the internet service provider went down day one … they shook it off and kept going.  When our system hiccupped day two … they shook it off and kept going.  When Self Service determined it couldn’t handle all our kids at once … they shook it off and kept going.  It certainly wasn’t a smooth beginning, but we all knew patience was going to be the key.

Now in the midst of resetting google accounts and trying to get the reflection software to work consistently, if you look closely you will see some incredible things going on at Croswell-Lexington Schools. You will see flipped science classrooms where students are watching lectures at home and working under direction of the teacher the next day.  You will see digital textbooks having replaced all of their old and heavy predecessors.  You will see “edmodo” conversations where normally shy quiet students are able to have an equal voice.  You will see an exponential rise in formative assessment and this is driving instruction.  You will see PDF notes being sent seamlessly back and forth between teacher and student. You will see all students having continuous access to their google apps and the world wide web.   You will see 2300 students armed with iPads and excited about learning.