At AIS, we believe in the ability and capacity of technology to facilitate and transform teaching and learning. Building upon the successes of our Elementary School iPad program, we have introduced a new class set of iPad Air and Apple Pencils into middle school Art, EDI and Music classrooms. In the past several weeks, students in Ms. Shackleton’s art classes have been utilizing the Apple Pencil styluses to illustrate using Procreate and make their own animated gifs. 

Already we have seen how these powerful tools facilitate creativity, and emphasize the importance of content creation over consumption.

Bringing creativity into the classroom helps students understand concepts, make connections, and think about ideas from different perspectives. And digital creativity opens up opportunities for students to learn and respond using different media and to combine and remix works to communicate new meanings and ideas.

— Excerpt From: Apple Education. “Everyone Can Create Teacher Guide.” Apple Inc. – Education, 2018. Apple Books. 

Students will be using these tools to demonstrate their capacity as effective communicators while creating their own digital media content, and empowered thinkers as they develop and prototype their own apps, and record and mix their own musical performances. We look forward to sharing more about the success of this initiative as the year progresses, and our students demonstrate their confidence in creating and expressing themselves through a variety of mediums!

Sincerely,

Matt Wise
Educational Technology Coordinator