Stem Cell Research Project

My latest successful lesson from my A&P class came from our unit over Stem Cells/Tissues.

The scheduling with this unit was quite chaotic for me because of half days, lack of computer access, Senior Josten's meetings and it was the crazy week of homecoming at OG.  So here is what I did

Day 1 - watch the HHMI video over stem cells
It was the second lecture over regeneration because the kids always relate better to it compared to lecture 1.  Found here.

Day 2 - Talk about the project, get the points of view and start researching
I had the kids pull out slips of paper that had major politicians and people who have an interest in stem cell research and this is their person that they have to portray for the duration of the project.  I found the various points of view from this website  starting on page 7. I told the kids that they couldn't trade and even if they didn't agree with the person they were given and their views on stem cell research; they still have to present their ideas in a convincing way.    

Day 3 - No computers...so did a point of view activity
Since I couldn't give them access to computers - I had them talk to  each other about their ideas they planned to present in their paper.  I had them come up with 3 or more reasons why they either supported or did not support stem cell research with a group of other kids that had the same point of view.  Then I had them meet with peers who had opposing points of view and listen to each other tell their opinions - this gave them ideas for how to develop a counter argument.  Even though this was a filler day because of no computers - it actually worked out pretty well and I think it helped the kids develop their ideas more and point them in the right direction for the rest of the researching days. 

Day 4 - Research
On research days, I basically left them alone to work and just answered questions or clarified things for them if they didn't understand the procedures and such associated with stem cells. 

Day 5 - Research - papers due over the weekend
I have my kids turn in their papers via dropbox - so the entire project is paperless.  Go green! :) Let me know if you want to set up your classroom like this as well - it rocks!  I would be happy to share my system.  Below are some sample essays of what two of mine turned in.  I thought they did exceptionally well with this project...especially when I found out later that most of my kids did not agree with the point of view they were given.  I told them to be convincing - and I think they accomplished the goal.
Sample Student Essay #1
Sample Student Essay #2

Day 6 - Class Discussion day
This is after they had turned in their papers to me about stem cell research.  I had them discuss the topic as a class from their person's point of view.  I specifically told them many times throughout the unit that I did not want to know their own personal point of view until the entire project was over...every thing they presented was as if they were the person given to them on their paper.  To get everyone involved I had them all grab 5 poker chips.  When ever they wanted to talk or add to the conversation; they had to turn in a poker chip.  Once they ran out - they couldn't talk anymore.  So it helped encourage all the shy students to speak up and all the outspoken kids to choose their words wisely.  Once that conversation kind of died down; I had them restock on poker chips and they were finally able to give me their opinion.  We really got into some good conversation and it was obvious that they had learned a lot about their research. 

Finally, the next day I had them write a reflection that told me their own opinion on stem cell research and what they had gotten out of the project.  Overall - I was impressed with my kiddo's work - nothing new.  :)

Instruction Page found here
Grading Rubric found here
Reflection Form found here

We Are...A Get to Know You Activity

In our school, we have our regular classes and then we have an Advisory.  We see them everyday at least in passing, but we have lessons with them once a week and then SSR one day a week. 

This year I have Juniors for Advisory and the lesson that was presented to us was a "Superhero" lesson...and knowing the kids I had in Advisory - I didn't think it would go too well.  So I found this idea on Pinterest and decided to give it a try.  Here was the inspiration:

This was a two day activity; on day one the kids did "speed dating."  I set them up across from each other and gave them 2 minutes to really get to know each other.  I told them they had to 'sell themselves' and what their best qualities and interests are.  Then I had them rotate to the next person until they had talked to each person in the advisory.  I was a little worried they wouldn't buy in, but they really got into it after the first few rounds and talked a lot to each other.

On day two, they came in and i explained how they were going to use the information they gained about their peers.  One at a time a student would go up to the whiteboard and stand facing me.  Then their peers would go around them and write characteristics about the person.  *I kept an eye out to make sure they stayed school appropriate* Then I took their picture.  I had a student erase the words around them before the student at the board could move.  So no one was able to read what others wrote until the picture reveal.  We repeated this process for all the kids, finally when we had done all of them - they wanted to do it for me.  I let them - but you gotta give these kids some credit, because standing up there all vulnerable was actually pretty scary.  But I was impressed with their willingness to participate and work together as a group.

Here are pictures of my kids and what others said:

When i printed them, I had to go back and add sharpies to the writing because it was kinda hard to read...but overall; they turned out pretty good.

The last step was that I made a bulletin board in my room with all of their pictures and with the help of Facebook and Edmodo - we came up with the title as "We are..."

The kids really enjoyed the reveal and had a good time with the activity.  I was proud of them!

Beating Memorization Monotony

We all know that memorization can get quite boring within the classroom; which is why there is such a push for higher level thinking questioning and teachers pushing the kids outside their boundaries...but when teaching a course like Anatomy, some basic memorization is a necessary evil sometimes!

In class, we have covered body cavities, now we are moving on into body landmarks.  There are about 82 terms that they have been introduced to in the first 4 days of school so I wanted to take yesterday and today to do some activities to reinforce the terms they were learning. 

Yesterday we did a new activity with the kids that I developed on a whim this summer. I made cork boards for the kids (I made a class set of 20 with scrap wood at my house and $15 worth of cork from Hobby Lobby)

As you can see, they are just made from 3/4" plywood and the thin corkboard that comes in a roll.  I cut the wood and cork, sanded it to prevent splinters and glued them together with woodglue.  It worked really well. 

When I got to school I printed out smaller (each board is only like 6"x8") pictures of the face, anterior view of the body and posterior view of the body. 

So when the kids came in; their bell work instructed them to pick up a board, one of each picture, and a handful of thumbtacks and wait for further instruction. 

I modeled how I wanted them to use the boards by having them work in partners - one partner would mention the body landmark and the other would mark it on their board, or they could do it together - i kind of left it up to each group and what worked for them.  They had to go over all the landmarks/body cavities and use all the pictures.

Then I had them switch it up to battleship mode.  One partner would put in a bunch of thumbtacks and then give clues to their other partner trying to get their partner to get the same locations on their board. 

Finally we took it a step further and instead of the clues being solely "Place one at the mental landmark" they had to use directional terms.  So the clue turned into "Place one at the landmark that is directly inferior to the nasal landmark."  It made it that much more difficult and they really liked it. 

I could also see this working for many other things where the kids have to recognize the term/location/functions - I'm excited to see what all I use the corkboards for throughout the year.

Today we kept with the reinforcement theme and did my classic Veggie People Activity! 

The kids make a person out of veggies, get their picture taken, then make 'flags' with toothpicks/paper/tape and they label 20 body landmarks/body cavities.  I went over their labeling to make sure there weren't any mistakes and then I injured their veggie person.  By injure, I mean I tell them where they got hurt and they then have to develop a story of how they got hurt (you'd be surprised how creative they can get!), what organs/organ systems would be affected, what doctors would worry most about fixing and any long term effects on the veggie person.  The story is homework for over the weekend and i'm excited to see what they come up with.  Here are a couple of the kids veggie people - don't they look super cool!?!?!?

I love teaching A&P!

What Stuck?

All of us have really good lesson days and today was one of mine!

With teaching Anatomy & Physiology, I normally start out with notes of the basics of the body systems, homeostasis and then we talk about the orientation to the body (body cavities, landmarks and directional terms).

This year I made a goal to get away from regular PowerPoint notes with lots of information and make the move to a lot more pictures and leading discussion with the class instead.  In my first years of teaching, I relied on the notes on the PowerPoint to make sure I taught everything I needed to to and to help me remember it all since I was practically learning it all with the kids. Since this is my 3rd year with A&P, I think by now I pretty much have the material down...so I decided to switch it up.

Today was the second day of school and we did some housekeeping tasks first, then I put up my PowerPoint. Found Here. We only focused on the first 3 slides and spent the rest of the hour focusing on the terms, anatomical position, cranial cavity, vertebral canal, dorsal cavity, ventral cavity, thoracic cavity, diaphragm, abdominal cavity, pelvic cavity, abdominopelvic cavity, ventral/anterior, dorsal/posterior, superior and inferior. We would talk about where the terms were, what they contained, what the directional terms meant and then in sections we would repeat it all.  I would say them and do hand motions, they would say them back with the motions, then they would take turns sharing with their partners, then back with me, with partners and finally some brave kids did them all by themselves in front of the class. They received an applause from the rest of the class.

It was an awesome class!! All of the kids were participating and they did great. It was a lot of repetition but I think they really got something out of it! To finish up the class, I used my new bulletin board!  Each kid took a sticky note, wrote their initials on it, and "what stuck?" With them from today that they will remember on Monday for sure.  I had many kids say to each other "what if I will remember a lot more than one thing?!?" " I don't think I could see a better response!

On their way out the door, they posted their sticky notes on the bulletin board and got their traditional high five.  It was a great way to end my week.  Their enthusiasm for learning just makes me thrilled for this year!

Using QR Codes to Show-off Student Work

I am currently on round three of my Mastery Level lesson plans with my students!  (If you don't remember - check it out here).

So far here is the significant data conclusions I have formed

1. 40% of my 105 students improved their average test scores!
2. My number of POIs (<70%) decreased by 7%
3. My average test score remained relatively the same
4. My chronic POIers still got a POI, but their scores were significantly improved! 

Overall, I love how effective it has been.  My lower kids love that they get to work at their own pace and take their time and my upper level kids love that they get to work faster and have more freedom.  

I have learned to relinquish control! Any one who knows me, knows that I am an uber control freak!  Well, this lesson design forces the kiddos to become the leaders, teachers, students and creators. 

 One of my favorite parts have been the creative assignments my kids have done to showcase their knowledge over the concepts in the units.  They have had the options of making cartoons, blogs, raps, and write-ups over phenomenon or interviews they conducted.  In the grading process, I was able to appreciate and rave about their work....but I wanted to share it with their classmates as well....this is where the QR Codes came into play since the majority of student work was linked with the Internet.  So here is what I did: 

• I created a word document that had the name of the students and what they made as seen here
  
• I copied the URL of their blog/cartoon/paper into the QR Code generator found here
  
• I then copied/pasted the QR Code into the word document....space it right....print....make a bulletan board and voila!!!! I now have a way to show off the upper level work that the kids put so much work into! 

If you have a separate mobile device that you can scan the codes with, take a look at their work!  I'm proud of all their hard work!!!

Designing Classes that are Challenging with out Losing Creativity

This year was my second year teaching a weighted Anatomy & Physiology class.  Now, before I share what I found that worked - you need to understand what class structure/difficulty level when I imagine when teaching a weighted course.  (weighted = an extra point gets added to student's GPA to compensate for choosing to take a challenging class)  I designed my A&P course to be a lot like a college course with more enrichment activities.  I wanted to help my junior/seniors develop then note taking skills, study skills and have a foundation of A&P that would help them when they got to college.  The majority of my students were the top of their class, incredibly intelligent, and willing to work (although some were more stubborn than others).  :D

Not only did I want to help my kids learn the information and be challenged, but I also wanted them to enjoy the class. I am a firm believer that the kids learn more when they are interested in what they are learning.  Most of my ideas have stemmed from an online resource from various websites and then I took what I found and melded it into what I thought would work for my group of kids.  Normally - this turned into a craft project.  I am a selectively crafty person - meaning when I have a good idea, I am all gung-ho about it but I don't just do it to do it.

Some of my favorite projects are these listed below.   I have only included activities that I have pictures for - but if you want ideas/instructions/lesson plans just email me (mrs.weiss1213@gmail.com) and I will be happy to share anything you need.

Pipe Cleaner Neurons

Bone Paper Mache

 

Planes of the Body Model

 

Transparency Man

 

Vege People (for body cavities/body landmarks)

 

 

Flip Man Digestion
 

And my personal favorite that we did this past week (thus inspiring the blog :) )  Floor Path of Blood.  To start out this activity, I have the students take notes over the path of blood through the heart.  I purposely don't go slow, the goal is to get it on paper to serve as a reference for later.  Then I give them the path of blood worksheet and ask them to come in the following day with it labeled the best that they can - just try.


So they come in confused - so the next goal is to unconfuse them and have them walking out the door (in a 50 min class period) able to relay the path of blood with out any resources!  We start out by checking their labeling.  I do this on my iPad via the doceri app.  Then we color code the path of blood, blue for unoxygenated blood, red for oxygenated blood.

Then its time to move to the floor.  This is a picture from college at an NSTA meeting where I first attempted this activity.  I tape down a VERY ROUGH outline of the heart and the four chambers. Since college I have adapated it - there are not veins/arteries connected to the heart, we have to 'imagine' them.  I also make sure that the size of the walls in the ventricles are more realistic with the left side being thicker than the right.

Then I walk through the heart via the path that blood would take.  I do this multiple times and have the kids recite the following with me.

Superior Vena Cava -> Right atrium -> Tricuspid Valve -> Right Ventricle -> Pulmonary Valve -> Pulmonary Arteries -> Lungs to drop off CO2 and pick up O2 -> Pulmonary Veins -> Left Atrium -> Bicuspid -> Left Ventricle -> Aortic Valve -> Aorta -> Rest of the body

Then each student takes a try.  We make it a little more interactive with the whole class because the other students provide the student walking a body landmark that the blood is coming from (so they have to decide inferior/superior vena cava or the coronary sinus)  and a body landmark for where the blood is going (ascending/descending aorta)  Each students has to be able to do it all the way through with out making a mistake, or they do it again.  Of course we make this a very light hearted atmosphere.  By no means is my intention to make them embarrassed - just to make sure that when they walk out the door, they know the path of blood.

This activity is by far my favorite out of the year.  I look forward to doing it every time we start the cardiovascular system. I promise you - it works!  I also have it as an essay question on the test and I rarely have a student not get it 100% correct.  I normally see mini drawings of what was on the floor that they drew on their test as a reference.  Definitely an activity to keep doing for years to come!

As you can see, I love being creative in my classes.  I think that you can cover challenging material with your classes as long as you provide a way to remember all the key information in a creative way.  Not only does it make the class more enjoyable for the students - but they remember it!  As a side note, normally all the craft activities that I do with the kids have some sort of writting assignment that goes with it.

I have had numerous students from last year (seniors that have already graduated) that have contacted me saying that their experience in A&P has really helped them be successful in college!  Some say that when they took A&P outside of high school, they knew so much of it and it was a great starting place vs their classmates who had no background knowledge. 

Nothing is better as an educator when a former student comes back to say how much you helped them be successful after high school.  All the effort/work/creative lesson design suddenly seems like a piece of cake. 

Using the iPad to Minimize Your Time Crunch

An educators arch nemesis is the ticking clock.

It seems that as educators we never have enough time in a day, in a plan period, in a conference, in a PD session or in our classroom to accomplish everything that we wish to.  There are so many lesson ideas out there that all good educators want to implement, but where do we find the time?!?!?

If you have seen in an earlier post of mine (found here), I have recently found the benefits of using an iPad in your classroom.  But owning the iPad is not the only step you need to take - you need to find apps that would be beneficial to your students!  Here is my list of go-to apps/programs that I love.  Keep in mind, I too encounter the time crunch and don't have an extensive list - but this is at least one to get you started.  Most are focused on the science field, but others can be adapted to to any subject across the curriculum.

First up - Doceri!  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Doceri.  I use it in the classroom to make slide shows of my powerpoints and then present to my students.  It allows me to write on the screen of the iPad instead of projecting on the whiteboard and writing on it.  I hate using the whiteboard because my back was to the students and there was always a glare I had to avoid.  With Doceri, i was able to face the students and have them participate in doing the example problems.  I also was able to create screencasts and videos for my students to use in the mastery units and also as resources at home.

Here is a video I made using Doceri about momentum.

My second favorite application is Dropbox. Dropbox is basically a cloud where you can store all your documents.  I have it installed in my home laptop, my iPad, my phone and my school desktop so that where ever I am - I can have access to all my folders and documents.  This has saved me SO much time because I used to put everything on a flash drive and then I would forget it at school.  Or I would have to email myself back and forth to send documents home to work on them and then forget to email myself back with the edited documents. Dropbox has completely eliminated all of those issues for me.

I have also used dropbox in school to help make things go more eco-friendly.  With my A&P classes we set up a collaborative folder that all of my students had access to.  This is where I would post documents/examples/links/rubrics they needed to complete a project. They would also post in here if they did a powerpoint presentation to make the transitions between presenters more smooth.  Then each student had a folder that they labled "A&P Grades - their initials."  Only that student and myself had access to it and this is where they would turn in their ppt, papers, popplet etc to be graded.  I would then post back a picture of their graded rubric.

In my freshmen Physical Science my kids all have access to the same dropbox account (a general one I created solely for their class) and it has all the documents they need for their mastery level units.  They log on and they print out the assignments they choose to do and I don't have to waste paper printing out the assignments they did not want to do. 

Next up is Popplet!  Popplet is a graphic organizer maker that is all online.  Once you create your account you can access all your popplets on a desktop, iPad, or phone device that you have installed the app.  I love it because my kids can add me as a 'collaborator' and I can see exactly what they have gotten done everyday.  You can make them as big as you would like (no running out of room on the paper) and you can color-code/edit/insert pictures and links.  I love it.

 AutoRap is one of the newer apps I have downloaded.  I have a colleague that teaches a foreign language that has used it more than me - but it is freaking fun!  All you do is talk into the app and it then converts what you said into a rap.  This is fabulous for people like me who don't feel very creative when it comes to rapping - but this does it for me!  What a way to get kids more interested in something that isn't just a lecture - but its still giving them in the information. 

Bamboo paper is awesome!  I have used it for multiple professional and personal reasons!  You can create notebooks for different subjects and then add in pictures or whatever you want to do.  I did my grading for a project all paperless with bamboo paper and dropbox.  Here's how:

1.  Took a screenshot of the rubric in dropbox (do this by clicking the sleep button and the home button simultaneously)
2. Went into Bamboo Paper and inserted the screenshot of the rubric. 
3. While the student was presenting/me reading their paper/reviewing the popplet/reviewing their ppt  i was writing on the rubric.  
4. When i finished scoring, I took another screen shot of the rubric. Then upload the screenshot picture to the individual grade folder of each student.  (remember, only the student and I have access to the folder that has their grade in it.)
5. It sounds complicated - but its actually really easy once you get the hang of it.  And its completely paperless - talk about going green!

I use the Elsevier Sobotta Atlas with my A&P the most.  I LOVE THIS APP.  It was pricey - and I realize not most people want to spend this kind of money...but i promise you that it is worth the investment!  Not only do you have access to some awesome pictures, but it also shows small pieces of information with each picture, you can chose to put labels on or off, it has a training mode where it quizzes you on the anatomy using the pin function.  It has pictures of medical traumas and CT scans (normal and abnormal).  In short words: IT IS EPICALLY FANTASTIC!

Pocket Brain is also an app that I love when discussing the CNS.   It has the ability to take off and add layers of the brain and then has pins where it will tell you what it is pointing to and give information about that structure.  and - it looks 3D!  You can rotate the brain sideways, up and down and manipulate it any way you want.

Nova Elements is an app I would use with my freshmen Physical Science.  It has an interactive periodic table that has a lot of good information on it. It also has an element builder where you can add in the number of protons, neutrons and electrons. 

 Gas Laws HD is an app that shows Boyle's Law and Charles' Law.  You can collect 'data' from it and then graph the relationships within the gas laws.

 

  

 

These are just a few of the apps that I have found the most successful in my classes of Physical Science and Anatomy & Physiology.  If you have any questions of how I have used them - feel free to comment and I will try to respond in a timely manner.  Hopefully this helps you with your limited time schedule to grasp how useful and fun your iPad can be in your classroom. 

Putting the Learning Back in the Students' Hands

This year has been interesting to say the least!  I have five classes of freshmen physical science and only one of A&P vs last year when I had an even split of the two classes.  This year OGHS has implemented the POI policy.  POI stands for Power of I Can Do This or Power of Incomplete.

#1:  Power of I Can Do This: For this POI policy, the kids have to score a 70% or higher on each test.  If they do not reach the 70% score, they have to retake the test until they do reach the benchmark.  When we enter the grades in the gradebook, we average their highest score with the initial score and record it. The goal of this policy is to encourage the kids to study for their tests and be more confident test takers.

#2: Power of Incomplete:  For this POI policy, the kids have to complete/turn in every assignment before they can take their test.  If they do not turn in an assignment when it is due - they then only receive 50% earned credit.  If they do not have all the assignments turned in by the test day; they then cannot take the test and they have to take the test either before/after school within the next few days.  The goal of this policy is to teach the kids how important it is to do all their homework.

Now, for this class of freshmen; we have tried both policies.  We started out this Fall Semester with the Power of Incomplete and ran into issues of the students holding back assignments to have more time to study for the test and they did not see the 50% reduction on the homework as a consequence.  So we switched to the Power of I Can Do This...again - I was seeing issues where it was not serving its intended purpose.  Some students were still using it as a crutch and would come in expecting to get a POI but it was 'okay' because they then got another chance to raise their grade.

Despite all these efforts, I decided they needed a change.  So I flipped the classroom set up on them.

At the beginning of the year we would follow this set up for instruction:  we would lecture over concepts, do practice worksheets, do an activity to reinforce, more lecture, worksheets, reinforcement activities and repeat until test day.  Homework/activities are roughly worth 40% of their grade and then the test is roughly 60%.   This wasn't working for this group of kids - so I changed it.

We started our Mastery Level Project and the points are broken down like this:

• Participation Points: 2 pts for everyday of productive work (they actually have to be working, not just visiting/wasting time)  If they are absent they have to make up the time they miss either in free time (we have time built into everyday),  before school or after school.  
• Mastery Level: explained below - 100 pts
• Test - same size test as normal but only worth 30 pts 

As you can see from the point values - the main focus is on the students Mastering concepts; not just memorizing facts but actually understanding the material.

So here is how the Mastery Levels work - I gave them the requirements for each grade level (D, C, B or A).  Everyone starts out striving for the D, when they finish it they can start the C, when they finish that they start the B and so on.  They are given workdays in class everyday to work up the mastery levels as far as they want to.  I have each of them set a grade level goal and they work to achieve their goals.  They have to complete the D level as a minimum but they are encouraged to work as far up the mastery level as possible. The key is that they have to complete the assignments within the mastery levels with 100% accuracy before they can move on.  If they get a question wrong; I mark it and they take it back and try again.  It is not counted against them, but the goal is for them to learn it and fix their mistakes.

The first time, we set up the assignments where they have 2 or 3 assignments per grade level.  They have to finish an entire grade level to get the grade (65/100, 75/100, 85/100, 100/100) and if they don't finish they fall back to the previously completed grade level.   The second time we did it (currently in this unit) I gave them choices.  They had to complete 2 of 5 possible assignments for each grade level.  They asked for the choices - so I gave it to them.  No matter what, the D level provides them with all the information and the higher mastery levels deepen their understanding/reinforce what they learned as a baseline in the D level. 

My kids like it because they are able to work at their own pace and actually comprehend instead of working at their classmates pace.  I love it because I feel like I have been able to give them more freedom, help them more one-on-one, watch them control their learning and success.  We have been able to do more exciting activities that involve technology and higher DOK.  Instead of just doing the demos in front of the class; they get to do them, instead of mentioning careers that utilize the information; they get to research them and interview people who live the careers.  I feel like  I have worked less at home (grading/planning) yet the new system has made me a more effective teacher.

I love that the teaching has been put back in the kids hands and they are in charge of how good/bad they do.  They know how they learn best - so why not let them do it?
 

Connecting the iPad to my Projector

I have never been the 'techy' kind of person...until I bought and iPad on a whim!  Yes, I was a complete sucker for the Black Friday ads and convinced my husband to let me get an iPad!  I sold it to him by saying I would use it for school - yet I had no idea the world of possibilities that awaited me in the world of 2.0 education. 

My first challenge with my iPad was figuring out how to hook it up to my projector in my room.  I soon found out that just a small screen was not going to cut it when trying to show things to my kiddos so I had to hook it up to some sort of projection device in order to make it work.  So this started me on my treck to figure out what works...and more offten than not - what does not work.

I found the Doceri app and I LOVE IT!  It allows me to control my laptop on my iPad or to directly show what is on my iPad in the doceri app onto the computer screen.  The downfall was that I couldn't show any other of my neat apps that I found, I could only show what was in the Doceri program. 

My next challenge was to connect my desktop to the iPad via Doceri - I figured it was at least a stepping stone compared to not using the iPad at all.  Well...the initial few tries was a fail.  But what I did figure out is how to finally do it. 

First - I had to get my desktop wireless!  This is fairly easy, all you need is a Wireless USB Adapter (roughly $40) Then your desktop and your iPad need to be on the same wireless network that does not have a ridiculous amount of firewalls that prevent the ability to control another device.  Then you need to download AirServer on your desktop.  (teachers -$11.99, others - $14.99)  Click here to download.  This license will allow you to put AirServer on multiple devices.  I used my licenses on my laptop at home, my desktop and I have an extra if needed somewhere else.  You do not need to put it on your iPad - it comes in already installed. 

Once AirServer is installed on your desktop (make sure it is on - you should see the icon in your bottom toolbar).  Double click the home button on your iPad and scroll all the way to the left. 

Click on your computer and turn mirroring on.  You should see what is on your iPad on the computer screen now.

If you are doing this at school and your desktop is hooked up to your projector - turn your projector on and WAH BAM!  It WORKS!!!!  You should be as excited as I was :) 

Since I have hooked up my iPad I have used Doceri multiple times with my classes for going through PowerPoints and showed them a lot of apps.  I have really lucked out because I teach Anatomy and Physiology and there are TONS of apps out there for the medical field.  It is very cool to show my kids CT scans, XRays and abrasions that I would otherwise have more difficulty either interpreting (most have descriptions to use) or showing them the content.  I also use it with my freshmen Physical Science to look at the elements on the periodic table, building atoms and showing the basics physics concepts. 

The bottom line - I may have been a sucker for good marketing when buying my iPad, but my kids have reaped the benefits of what it has to offer in the classroom.