Projecting from your Ipad (AKA: the greatest thing in the world!)

The day that I realized I could project from my iPad I swear the clouds opened, the sun shined through, and angels sung merry harmonies. This is the greatest feature in the world! (Or at least a tribute...)

Maybe it's not that big for you, but there are so many great opportunities when you project from an iPad. For instance:

-letting the kids pass the ipad and control what's going on in our reading curriculum which is very routine so kids know exactly what to do. While this is going on I can play a supporting role to students who need more one way or another. Glory!

-walking around and projecting student work straight from their desks

-snapping pictures of different examples of student work and then flipping between the images to compare (or even throwing those pictures into Pic Stitch and doing an old fashioned split screen so both images are projected for even easier comparisons!  

-putting it on a stand and allowing children to watch me demonstrate correct letter formation in an authentic way rather than on a giant marker board which is more large motor than small motor like handwriting is

-projecting from the back of the classroom. During handwriting it is amazing to stand at the BACK of the room and demonstrate letter formation through an app. You can actually see SO MUCH that you may be missing when you are at the front of the room facing forward and writing on a marker board. It's so much easier to spot directionality problems in handwriting when you can actually look at the kids as they write. 

Do you need any more convincing or are you ready to get started?

Need more convincing? Read other posts on my blog to see what you can do with ipads in your classroom. Come back. Continue on. 

Ready to take the first step? (see what I did there, stairway??) 

Read on...

To get set up:
I'll explain this the way I would to anyone assuming that you're unfamiliar with the technology. My guess is that many of you have at least a basic understanding of apple technology but I'll try to hit all of the details and make this as simple as possible.  

On your laptop download the Reflector App. It's typically $12.99 but as I write this it is on sale for 20% off ($10.39). It is worth it's weight in gold. You do NOT need to download anything to your iPad. Just download Reflector to your laptop and follow the directions for installation. 

Your mobile device and your laptop must be on the same wireless network to use your reflector app. Double check this first. In our district we have a "public" side and a "private" side to our wireless network and 90% of the time when I have a problem it's because my iPad flipped over to the public network. 

Now that your laptop and iPad are both on the same network...

All apple mobile devices are equipped with airplay. If your iOS device is current (iOS7) you can swipe up from the bottom which pulls up your command center. You'll see an icon that looks like a rectangle with an arrow. It will even say Airplay. Touch that. It will then pull up a list of devices that you could pair with. Touch the name of your laptop and flip the switch to "mirroring." It might take just a second but you should be connected now. 

To make the image of your mobile device full screen do apple F on your laptop. It will always have the mobile device frame. I tried to find a way around it because it's cheesy and I don't like it, but you can't.

Sometimes there's a bit of lag time but it's more of a sluggishness than one of the awful pinwheels of death. If you address it with your students and are patient with them the first couple of times, I've found that it becomes the "norm" and kids just know to go slowly when on an ipad that's being projected. 

Turn on the camera app and use it as a document camera too! 

Hopefully I hit the main points but please don't hesitate to ask if you have questions that I didn't clearly answer on here. 

Happy Projecting!! 

Troubleshooting:

If you need help changing your network, Apple has great support here. 

If you don't know what the name of your laptop is go to the apple (very top left of your screen) > system preferences > sharing. The name of your laptop is there. You can change it if you'd like. Be aware that if you are on a work computer, your employer may have a special way of naming computers to keep track of them. If you change it I'd at least make sure you save the name that it was given by your employer, or maybe just stick with the one it was given. You know your employer and how much you're able to bend rules at work. 

If you think you should be connected but nothing is coming up, try clicking to the home screen of your iPad and then get back into the app you wish to project. Sometimes it seems like it just needs to have some movement before it can connect. 

If you want further details on anything or just want to talk directly, email me at mrs.mosier @ gmail.com!

*I am not being compensated in any way for these reviews/tutorials. I write these because I want to share my personal experiences with my colleagues. Bottom line, teachers need to support and be supported by fellow teachers because it's what's best for kids.