It's common for teachers to form small groups within the classroom that create a level playing field. As teachers, we don't like to place too many reluctant learners or too many over achievers in one group because we are fearful of what may or may not happen. My suggestion to teachers who are about to embark on a BYOD initiative within their classroom or school, is to consider grouping differently. Allow technology to determine your groups. During the first month of school, complete a student technology inventory and filter your lists by the devices owned by the students. From here, form groups so that they have one of each type of device. This will give groups more options by opening up all forms of technology for the group (Apple products and IOS, tablets, laptops, phones, Nooks, Kindles, etc).
Some Things to Borrow/Modify???
The idea of getting started might feel overwhelming and for the first year it probably will be. This year, I spent the first week or two of school setting up our devices, creating program accounts and discussing digital citizenship. This initial investment in time is critical and can't be overlooked. Below are a few things that I picked up from the MLC training, the department of instructional technology and wrote.
The time that you invest in creating a fantastic website can go a long way with the students and the parents that you serve. Allowing access to the resource and documents that you use in your classroom can and will serve to your benefit in more ways than you can count. Parents will have a place to turn to when trying to help with homework. Dependency on you and your lesson in the classroom will lessen and students will learn to become more dependent on themselves as they learn that they have access to the necessary tools. Lost copies will become a thing of the past. Responsibility will shift to a more equitable balance and a partnership will begin to form. Suggestions for the Classroom Teacher:
Link everything that you use in the classroom to your website.
Incorporate educational games into your curriculum.
Include Powerpoints, simulations and interactive programs for each common core standard.
Try to use dashboard programs for your videos and games (Symbaloo, only2clicks, Tizmos).
Create pages for topics or group common core standards together.
Create a "Learning Communities" page which features free tutorials (Khan Academy, Learnzillion, ShowMe).
Web 2.0 tools can be impactful tools to help motivate students and to raise the bar for finished products. I would also recommend searching for a Blooms Taxonomy and Web 2.0 visual to help you get higher up the Blooms ladder.
Posting documents and learning targets might also be useful.
This is a link to my webpage if you want to see what I'm talking about.