Jerry's iPad moments: livening things up

This morning when the bell rang at 9 am for my 1st period Freshman English class here at Togaku, I sighed when I saw that only three out of 23 students had arrived. Now in the latter half of the fall term, it has become harder and harder for students to wake up and come to class on time. Months of inadequate sleep are catching up. As late students straggled in one by one, I knew that I would need something to help liven up the dragging, low-energy atmosphere.

iPad to the rescue!

During one exercise where pairs of students had to perform a short dialog in front of the class, I used the Desk-Bell & Buzzer app (¥115 from Webvantage Design) to great effect. It went like this: after giving some time for pair practice, I called upon each to present their dialog. Since they were sleepy and didn’t practice with any sort of intensity or conviction, I knew they would have trouble during the performance stage of the activity. Sure enough, as the first pair struggled through it, I surprised them all by pressing the big red buzzer: Bzzzz! The suddenness of this sound made them jump and laugh with surprise. The performing pair smiled, blushed slightly, and continued again. When they finally got it right, I gleefully pressed the bell chime: ping! Again, everyone laughed. I continued doing this during the rest of the activity. By the end, I noticed that the energy level had perked up measurably. We all had a good laugh and were able to continue on with the rest of the class with a bit more energy than before.

This little moment highlighted again for me the truism that the iPad “is what you make it”. In this case, I took a silly little app that I had gotten for my kids and used it to bring a little humor in to my lesson. The coolness factor of the iPad itself combined with the sudden silliness proved to be a potent combination. Fortunately I had the good sense not to overdo it! Humor is something that works best spontaneously, in the moment, as a natural outgrowth of your personality and the situation you’re in. Had I continued to use this Bell-Buzzer app, the joke would have grown old. But just a little bit did the trick…

After the class I got to thinking about all the other fun apps that could be applied in this way. Who says the iPad needs to be limited towards conventional uses? While searching the App Store’s Entertainment category, I could see numerous sound-effect apps, with many of them offering free “lite” versions. While a bell or buzzer might get old after a while, next time I could surprise them with other sorts of sounds... How about a chorus of boos or wild cheering? Or how about some crazy cartoon noises? In search of laughs, if you don’t overdo it and use sounds with good taste and timing, the sudden shock of humor can really help change the vibe in your classroom.

Note:

The Desk Bell & Buzzer app is made for the iPhone/iPod Touch but will, of course, work on your iPad.