Forget your MacBook at home!

A few weeks ago, the unthinkable happened... I forgot my MacBook at home.  I live far from the building I work in and I had no one available to stop home and deliver it to me, so I was left with panic and cold sweats.  Suddenly, it felt as though I didn't have a pulse or even air.  As I stood in my classroom thinking I was in a bad dream and wondering how life would go on, I suddenly remembered I had a different tool I could try to use to get me through teaching for the day - my iPad.  (That thing you use to take pictures in your classroom)

I was fully prepared to give my students a talk about my mistake and how a few things might be different today, since I was unable to access their attendance and other files we use.  After playing around on my iPad for a while, I became more and more aware that my day would not be affected very much after all.

The morning started.  I shared my digital attendance slide to my SmartBoard with just a few short clicks.  I airdropped my math lesson to the students rather than pulling it up on the Smartboard.  I quickly grew more comfortable with the flexibility I had walking around the room with my iPad as I taught.  Was it possible I was enjoying this?  My students were more engaged in my lesson than usual.  I tried things I hadn't tried with them before and explored new apps.  A wave of relief came over me as I wondered why I don't use my iPad more often.

I'm the first person to tell you how vital the MacBook is to my day.  However, I encourage you to leave it at home - just once- to force yourself to change things up and find the beauty in the options the iPad can give you.  I was forced to change my routine and try something I hadn't thought to do and now I'm very thankful the universe was not on my side that day.  My creative juices for activities I can do using my iPad with students have been flowing ever since.  Give it a try and let me know how it goes!  You got this :)

(By the way, I created the image above on my iPad!)