The Tech Club meeting went well. The students, or "friends" as they call one another, are used to seeing us, so the same kids came to play with us that came the week before. Kids this age are eager to get their hands on the technology, so it was distracting having an iPad around while we tried to get them excited to color. They did not want to wait long. One or two kids took the time to color as we talked about mythological and fantasy creatures.
The Objectives:
1. They colored. The point was practice developing a fine motor skill. Some students had better pronounced skill than others.
2. Students were definitely engaged as much as we, the teachers, were! The other teachers in the classroom were also curious about what we were doing and thought the Color Alive app was awesome.
3. Students were able to name some mythological creatures, but that was not the information they attended to best. The technology component above all held their attention.
Activities and Tech Integration:
1. We attempted to engage the students in discussion or excited talk about enchanted creatures, but I felt they honestly wanted to rush through all of that to get to play with the iPad as quickly as possible. One boy cried because we made him wait.
2. As I thought might be the case, some students colored independently but others preferred to color together or asked for help to add more color to their pictures.
3. We used the Color Alive app to make their drawings come to life. This worked, mostly. One issue was the speed at which the app could be used. I don't know if the iPad was short on memory or if the app is generally slow, but I would have thought the images would load and interact more rapidly. Getting a 3 year old to wait is taxing, and we risked losing their interest. Also, the images work better within the app when there is more color on them. One student scribbled with purple crayon allover the page which confused the app. The app was not able to scan the image. I did not anticipate that. Also, the app would randomly crash forcing us to start over.
Take-aways:
1. Kids this age want the prize. Immediately. They get impatient and due to the structure of this particular school, the kids have free play during this hour and are allowed to come and go as they please. If we can't hold them, they depart. Make it cool right away.
2. Apps can sometimes appear better than they are. The Crayola Color Alive app IS really cool, but it's limited. The user can add and subtract glitter and a few other color effects, and the image can come alive. That's it.
3. I suspect the iPads didn't have much memory available or they are older iPads that are not equipped to use the app. Sometimes technology isn't up to speed for the intended use, and sometimes it just poops out. Be prepared that this could happen, and either match the hardware to the software or have a backup plan.
Overall the kids and teachers loved it. Even parents who arrived to pick up their child were interested and said they would look into the app when they got home. This was a time intensive activity. Before we knew it, it was 4 o'clock and I was not ready to leave. Success!
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