Charging & Storage
The worst thing that can happen when using devices is putting it in your students' hands, only to realize that it's out of batteries! Some lucky teachers have dedicated laptop charging carts like these or charging stations like this that allow for mass charging all in one place. However, anything that fancy was simply out of the budget for me. Instead, I created a makeshift charging station that you can see pictured at the top of this page. I simply used two plastic vertical file organizers to hold my laptops. This creates a smaller footprint as opposed to finding space for 10 laptops laying flat on the countertop. Below the table, I have the charging cords plugged into a power strip. I pulled each cord through the back of the table, far enough so they can reach the charging port on the laptops. What you can't see in this picture is the back of the table: I used a huge binder clip to secure the cords to the edge of the table so it's impossible for them to slip behind the table. Tada! A budget-friendly charging station. You'll also notice the blue bin that lives between my laptop holders. That's where we keep a set of six headphones so they're within easy reach. The rest of the class set lives in one of my closets (and the students are free to access that at any time).
One thing I love about this set up: it's all kid-friendly. Before school, a few student helpers come in to set up the laptops and make sure they're plugged in correctly. After each use, students were very meticulous about setting the laptops down gently into their vertical organizers, and plugging them in. You might notice if you look carefully, there are only three chargers for each set of five laptops. I didn't want to have too many wires creating clutter. This meant only three out of five laptops were charging at any moment. However, even though we used the laptops multiple times a day, we never had an issue with a laptop dying on us. The students were completely in charge of making sure the laptops got charged correctly, and they LOVED being responsible for something so important. This set up worked beautifully for me, and I will use the same set up this year.
One thing I love about this set up: it's all kid-friendly. Before school, a few student helpers come in to set up the laptops and make sure they're plugged in correctly. After each use, students were very meticulous about setting the laptops down gently into their vertical organizers, and plugging them in. You might notice if you look carefully, there are only three chargers for each set of five laptops. I didn't want to have too many wires creating clutter. This meant only three out of five laptops were charging at any moment. However, even though we used the laptops multiple times a day, we never had an issue with a laptop dying on us. The students were completely in charge of making sure the laptops got charged correctly, and they LOVED being responsible for something so important. This set up worked beautifully for me, and I will use the same set up this year.
However, my iPads were a different story. My six iPads lived in a file cabinet where students had easy access to them for their Seesaw assignments. I couldn't figure out a way for them to charge inside the cabinet. So each morning, we would pull out the iPads and chargers and plug them into the regular outlets around the room. The iPads with the lowest battery percentage had first priority for charging. This worked fine, but was a hassle each morning.
This year, I'm trying something new! There are tons of DIY options online, and my favorite so far involves a dish rack, a power strip, and zip ties. The picture to the right shows what it looks like. Look how organized! My only concern is finding a dish rack that will fit my iPads along with their cases. My iPad cases are more heavy duty and look similar to this, which means I'd need to make sure the wires in the dish rack aren't too close together. Nevertheless, I'm hopeful that this will be a great solution for charging iPads! |
Lots of educators have been sharing their charging and storage ideas online. Take a look at some of these other DIY options that might work for your classroom. Each of these could be adapted to be suitable for laptops or iPads. If you still want more ideas, just Google it or hop onto Pinterest for some more DIY inspiration!
Have a Larger Budget?
If you have some money to spend, you might consider investing in one of these options below to charge or store all that technology! Check out these Amazon products to charge your tablets, or any device with USB charging capabilities. Note: prices may have changed since this was posted.
Usually laptops don't have USB charging options since they need to be plugged into a regular outlet. If you're looking for charging options for laptops and you have a larger budget, these choices might be just what you're looking for. Some of these can also work for tablets as well.
If these are sounding way too pricey, don't forget that you can always talk to your administration to see if there is any money available in your school's technology budget!
- 10 Port USB Charging Station, $49.99
- 7 Port USB Charging Station, $49.99
- 8 Port USB Charging Station with Cord Organizer, $55.99
- 10 Port USB Charging Station, $79.99
Usually laptops don't have USB charging options since they need to be plugged into a regular outlet. If you're looking for charging options for laptops and you have a larger budget, these choices might be just what you're looking for. Some of these can also work for tablets as well.
- 12 Tablet/Chromebook Charging Box, $177.99
- 12 Capacity Charging Box, $187.34
- 12 Outlet Laptop/Tablet Charging Cart, $308.27
- 16 Port Storage and Charging Station Cabinet, $532.39
If these are sounding way too pricey, don't forget that you can always talk to your administration to see if there is any money available in your school's technology budget!