My students need replacements for classroom Kindle Fire devices that have failed due to everyday wear and tear use by students in every class period every day for going on 3 years now.
My students are a truly diverse group. Our K-8 school is Title 1, serving a majority eligible for free or reduced lunch. We are a special needs hub for our county with a large autistic population and units for emotionally and behaviorally challenged students. Our location next to an Air Force Base brings many military families our way. The surrounding neighborhoods range from deep water access on inland waterways to high density affordable housing.
The math classroom I have built enables every student to digitally interact with me, then receive instant feedback, every time I ask a question.
Using Kindles and MimioMobile software I collect every response from every student.
A large percentage of my students go home to an environment where access to quality family time and educational support is not available. The only time in their day where they will really learn is when they are in my classroom. Just a small portion go home to affluent homes with access to modern information technology, while some are homeless. I am striving to build a quality learning environment for even the children with single parent households, or deployed military parents.
My Project
Over the past several years I have created a truly interactive math classroom where every student is engaged all the time. Each student uses a Kindle Fire running MimioMobile software to respond to every question with keyboard input allowing numeric, or even algebraic formulas as answers. My computer captures every student response so I get immediate feedback on student understanding, then students receive immediate customized feedback from me on their performance.
Homework is eliminated (If I have enough devices) because every question asked in class is answered by each student.
The student response software can also be used in self-paced mode where student answers are available on my screen live. As they work I can see who needs help real time. No more doing homework alone having to wait until we "go over" it in class the next day. Students also use targeted practice apps on the devices which I control with Amazon Whispercast, and in class have online access which permits them to seek additional instruction/practice on sites like Khan Academy when they need it.
What we need is help maintaining the system. Last year I had to replace a small number of Kindle Fires that failed due to normal wear and tear caused by daily use by 5 different students per device each day. As we begin this school year I have a couple of devices with degrading screen backlight problems that will need to be replaced soon, and right now it looks like I do not have enough to cover every student in the larger classes predicted. If I can just get a few new devices each year (only 50 bucks each), I believe I can continue to grow and improve my instructional environment for years to come.
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