AMARILLO, TEXAS -- It's never-ending challenge for schools, staying ahead of technology. Highland Park Independent School District believes it has an answer when it comes to iPads.
Thanks to some bond money, Highland Park is getting those items for kids in Pre-K through fifth grade. Thursday, teachers in the district learned how to use them in their classrooms this fall.
These days you'd be hard pressed to find a student, or even some toddlers, who don't know how to use an iPhone or an iPad. They are a generation raised on technology. So now, schools are learning how to evolve with them.
"Technology is integrated into everything and eventually we're going to be getting rid of the desktops and everything is going to be going straight to iPads. And the cool thing about iPads is that it's just like your smartphone," said Doug Howard, Art Teacher.
Another cool bonus of using the iPad, school officials say, is the more than five million apps available to educators. That brings in games, cartoons, animation, weather and other fun activities.
One teacher who already uses the iPad says her students are excelling in learning their ABC's.
"It's more patient then a teacher or an assistant could be because it says the same thing over and over and over and it helps the child with repetitiveness. It works well with our ESL students because the app can be transferred over into their native language," said Mickey Dunham, Pre-K Teachers.
Teachers can also connect their iPads to smartboards. Just another evolution in technology these teachers are learning about.
For now, the iPads are just for those students in Pre-K through fifth grade. But every year, a different grade level will be added, and iPads will replace their laptops.
