So far, so good with the new iPad program.  I have been around the Upper School observing quite a bit these past two weeks and have also asked other faculty what they have seen.

1. Kids are helping each other with iPad use; they are working well together, and when one person figures something out, they happily offer assistance to others.

2. Many fewer kids are lugging heavy backpacks around.

3. When the biology students did a Notability challenge on an article about the characteristics of living things there were lots of "wow - it can do that?" responses along with "wait, what did you just do?" moments as kids looked at how others were tackling a piece of the assignment.

4. Kids are also taking pictures/videos with their iPads through the eyepiece of the microscope and figuring out ways to keep themselves organized by using Phonto/Skitch to write on their photos and Pages/Notability to add descriptions. 

5. English students have created electronic portfolios in Dropbox to track the year's assignments
6. Notability is being used regularly across all classes.
7. Kids seem very focused; there is consistent iPad use in almost every class.

The only concerns so far have to do with the level of distractibility for some (a predictable outcome of having access to many diversions even with our system filter on) and another interesting obseravtion that some of our less extroverted students may be less apt to have dialogue with other students when there is an iPad to look at.  So we have to make sure to continue offering "tech free" times in class and advisory.

Overall we have seen the power of this device already and certainly it has added even more fun and excitement to our learning community.