"I have been reading my fair share of blogs, wikis and other documentation as schools around the world are deploying iPads in their classroom. It is finally our turn at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School to welcome 20 brand new shiny iPad2s (no cart, just individual iPads) In the spirit of passing on the trials and errors, as we get the devices ready to be used in the classroom by teachers and students, I am documenting our process."

When laptops first ` in my classroom, I worried about classroom management. How could I create an environment where students used their computers as tools rather than toys? I was worried for nothing. The following are suggestions for keeping students engaged in a project and accountable for their time with computers:

I visited the classroom of an English teacher in my building the other day (@katrinakennett) and saw an interesting integration of an iPad in class. While some schools may already be 1:1 or have class sets / carts of iPads, this classroom is operating with one teacher iPad, a situation that many teachers find themselves in. This class is reading Macbeth, no easy task for high school students. Where the iPad comes into play is during in-class reading. Where traditionally a class may take turns reading through the paper text and have discussion to clarify, explain and expand on the text, the iPad allows the students & teacher to make notations within the text that the entire class can see when the iPad is projected.

I'm extremely happy for all the buzz my blogging brethren have received for their work integrating Angry Birds into the math and science curriculum. No doubt there are intriguing applications of engineering and parabolic motion all over the game. But we're in the Sistine Chapel here, marveling at the refrigerator magnets on sale in the gift shop. We're standing at the edge of the Grand Canyon as the sun sets, eager to get to a hotel and find out what's on pay-per-view. We're focusing on the applications of parabolic motion to Angry Birds, missing the fact that it's a marvel of task design. An utter marvel.