My school is one of the most diverse schools in San Francisco Unified School District. Located west of Twin Peaks, nestled next to a beautiful public park and a small residential area, Aptos is home to a little over 1000 middle school students from all over the city.
My 7th grade Language Arts class represents the diversity of the school.
My students come from different backgrounds--academically, racially, linguistically, social-economically, etc. Many of my students are English learners, students who have suffered trauma or have some type of learning difference. Although some of my students are high achieving, for the most part, my students are well below their grade level in reading and writing. Despite that, they are a loud, outgoing, fun-loving, curious group of 12-13 year olds who make every teaching day extremely challenging and rewarding.
My Project
Writing can be a physical and emotional challenge for many of my students. Many have expressed that their hands hurt after a while or they simply don't like the act of writing. Others, I have seen, lose papers easily. Despite my personal teaching belief that writing is done best the old way, with pen and paper, I also see the need for students to have some supports so they are learning and turning in work.
The 2 iPads will be kept in my classroom and used exclusively for my class.
They will only be used for writing. One feature that particularly helps is the speech to text option. This alleviates the fear of spelling incorrectly and writing slowly. Once that fear is let go, students are almost always willing to just put something down. This is a huge improvement compared to a blank sheet for the rest of class.
The printer is for my classroom as well. The school printer is a hallway away and most times my students need printed information or work on the spot. Having a printer away from the classroom has made it challenging for students to get work when they ask for it.
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