iPad Inspiration!

This semester, my technology class has been all about the iPad!  But with so many apps available, how can an educator find good effective apps to use in the classroom? Though I learn about many of the apps I write about through my classes, I get a lot of ideas from other educators and blogs. Some apps I have found through exploring the education section of the app store, though this can take a while. A lot of my favorites have come from the teachers at the Ron Clark Academy and following hashtags on Instagram and Twitter such as #teachersfolloweachers and #teachersofinstagram.

For my last few blog posts, some of my app inspiration have come from watching free-webinars and some fun iPad info-graphics. My favorite list of classroom friendly apps can be found attached to the bottom of my Google Site page. This list is a PDF of teacher and student tested apps for all subjects and areas in the classroom.

Animoto

Skill: Publishing and Presenting

The final lesson in the writing a children's book unit is an extension activity. I came up with the idea for this lesson as the students were asking me everyday if they could add videos and sound to their children's books. Although I can not modify any of the assignments as a substitute, I thought of some ways that students could include other forms of media in my ideal lesson.

Lesson 9 of The Writing Process

Upon completing a science fiction children's book, students will turn their story into a video using Animoto. Students can use the pictures they drew for their book, or they can find pictures online as long as they are able to give credit to their sources.

Animoto

Video creation view on the iPhone app 

Animoto can be used as an app on an iPad, iPhone, or online. Through the use of an education account, Animoto allows the user to create longer videos with various effects. Students can add pictures, videos, sound, and text to bring their children's book to life. Making videos on Animoto is simple and can be completed with little effort or videography background. Animoto starts with having the creator select a design from the gallery. These designs allow you to focus on the content of the video rather than how the video will transition. Once the design and music are selected, the rest is to simply select the pictures, videos, and texts you wish to add in the order you desire. The simplicity of the Animoto tool allows for easy creation and distribution of videos.


SAMR

The use of Animoto in this unit allows for the transformation of the lesson and redefinition of the task. By creating a video from their children's book, students are using their creativity to share their story with others. Animoto also allows for students to create a different type of video presentation. The students are tasked with not just reading their book allowed or recording the story. Students are tasked with creating a movie like version of their book without use of people. Students must think outside their comfort zones and develop a new style of presentation.

Book Creator for iPad

Skill: Publishing

Citation

Lesson 8 of The Writing Process

The final step of the writing process that the teacher left for me was creating the final book. Above are pictures of the assignment that she left. Students are to hand write and hand draw their stories using their own supplies. I ran into a lot of issues with this as students were upset that they could not type their books yet they did not have good handwriting and many of the students claimed they were not artistic. I also had issues with students remembering and obtaining their own supplies. Many of the students do not have printers at home so they do not have access to white computer paper. I also have been having issues with students loosing pages or crumpling up their papers because they are not careful with them. 

A great way to ease these problems and have students actually use their tablets would be to have the students create their stories using Book Creator. Book creator is available online or in the app store. The free version however only allows users to make one book but no account is needed. 

When creating your book, the first thing to do on book creator is to select the orientation of the book, give it a name, and add the author. Students can then begin creating the cover and pages for their book. Book Creator allows you to upload pictures, write text, take pictures with the camera, draw, and add sound. For my book, I used the drawings I made on the app Draw and Tell  and uploaded them. I then added text to the pages. 

To edit your story, book creator allows you to select the background of the page, add a soundtrack, and gives guide lines so that you can make sure your test and pictures are even. 

With Book Creator, students could still hand draw their pictures either with paper and pencil, Draw and Tell, OneNote, or Evernote. Book Creator will also allow you to share screenshots of the individual page to get advice from peers or teachers. 

When students finish their books, they are able to publish them and share them on iBooks, OneDrive, OneNote, Evernote, and many other apps. This allows for better presentation and sharing of their children's books. 

SAMR

Book Creator allows for a modification of the lesson. Students will be able to collaborate more effectively and utilize multiple methods of creating a book. Book Creator allows for differentiation of the assignment and students can find other methods of illustrating their books if they feel they are not great at drawing with paper and pencil. Using Book Creator also alleviates the need for students to buy and find supplies to use.

Post it Plus

http://www.post-it.com/3M/en_US/post-it/ideas/~/featured/?idx=featured

Did you know that your favorite sticky note brand has an app? I had no idea that Post-it had its own app until I stumbled upon it this week! While exploring the app I found that it may be the perfect solution to a problem I have run into in almost every classroom. Students are naturally curious. They are constantly asking questions, many of which are off topic and cause the class to get sidetracked. I have thought about using sticky notes before to have students write down random questions or unrelated comments but they can be costly to give out to students everyday. The Post-it app is a great solution to this problem. 

Students can scan and digitize a picture of their notes/questions and upload them to the board, or they can select a sticky note on the app and write it on the screen (saving paper!). Different boards can be created for different groups, classrooms, or subjects. 

At the end of the day or the end of class, the notes can be read and comments and questions can be addressed at a more appropriate time. This app can be a real time saver in the classroom and help teach students about when it is appropriate to ask off task questions or input irrelevant comments. Addressing comments and questions can also help build relationships with students and and teach discipline and focus skills. 

The Post-it app can be downloaded on apple devices, windows, and android.

Class Dojo

ClassDojo

I have used and observed ClassDojo in the classroom on numerous occasions. ClassDojo is a classroom management tool used to quickly give positive and negative feedback to students based on their actions. Each student creates and personalizes an avatar to be a part of the class. Throughout the day, teachers can give and take away points simply by opening the app on their smart phone, computer, or tablet. ClassDojo also allows for whole schools to use the program and any teacher or administrator can give student feedback and notes, allowing behaviors to be monitored throughout the day instead of in just one classroom. When a point is given or taken away, a noise is made. If the points are displayed on a TV or other screen, students can monitor their own behavior and see how well they are staying on task. Through the app, students can also be divided into groups to monitor collaboration during projects and assignments. Students and parent can both create accounts and have access to ClassDojo to monitor behavior. One of my favorite parts of ClassDojo is the ability to create reports on each student. These reports allow the teacher to add notes to why a point was given or taken away, as well as record when the feedback was given. If a student causes problems consistently, or begins to act differently, it is easy for teachers, parents, or administration to keep track of behavior trends for that student and see if there are any triggers that may be causing the behavior.

The school that I am currently in uses a school wide behavior plan. Students are awarded and deducted scholar dollars for social, academics, and leadership. At the end of the quarter, students can spend their money at the scholar store. This is very enticing for some students, however it does not work well for many others. I have found that the biggest downfall to the scholar dollar system is that points are recorded on paper in the student agendas. Because of this, teachers often do not bother taking/giving scholar dollars and pages are often ripped out or lost by students.

Though the school I am currently working at is a middle school, I believe that switching to an online system like ClassDojo could improve the scholar dollar system. Recording scholar dollars online could create a more reliable system that allows teachers to give student feedback more easily. An online system would also take away the ability for students to purposefully lose scholar dollar sheets due to misbehaving in class.

ClassDojo is available online and for download on any smart device.

Grade Proof

Skill: Editing

Citation

Lesson 7 of The Writing Process

Students have now begun the editing stage of their stories. I have noticed that students are having many issues with grammar and spelling. The directions from the teacher say that students will have at least one peer edit their work before a teacher will look at it. As student work is coming to me, I have noticed that while students are doing a good job at editing the story for clarity and flow, they are having difficulty with fixing or even noticing grammar and spelling errors. Much to my surprise students were unfamiliar with spell check on word and did not know what it meant when a red or blue squiggly line was under a word. 

If I were planning the lessons for this class I would spend a few days on learning about grammar and understanding the tools that help with editing on Microsoft word. I assume that the reason grammar and spelling is not emphasized in school is due to lack of time. Due to the lack of time for teaching grammar and editing, I found a great iPad app that will walk students through changes that can be made in their stories. 

Grade Proof is a free app and website that can help students edit their work as well as check for plagiarism. By having students use Grade Proof first, editing by the teacher can turn into helping students work on and discuss the content of their story instead of having to mark through all of the errors. 

To use Grade Proof, students sign up with an email address to create their account. Students then upload their text and begin with the editing process. 

Grade Proof first helps with spelling and grammar mistakes. The entire piece is read over and the app will notify you with the total number of errors. Students are then able to go through the errors one by one to see the mistakes. The great thing about Grade Proof is that it is not only correcting the mistakes, it will explain why it believes the piece needs to be edited so the students are still getting to learn the grammar basics. Students are then able to choose whether they want to edit the error or ignore it. It is important to explain to students beforehand that computers make mistakes and that they do not understand dialects or intentional spelling errors so students need to actually look at what is trying to be changed. Grade Proof has the user make the change either by typing it in or selecting it from the suggestions. So unlike sell check on a computer, students can just mindlessly click accept change. 

The next step that Grade Proof goes through is 'Rephrase It' this looks at sentence structure and more complex grammar concepts. Students then select their goal for their writing which is to improve their writing. The piece is then analyzed again and students select if they want to change the wording to one of the suggestions or ignore it. 

The next step is 'Reword It'. I found this very helpful as I noticed that often the students are not using words in the correct context or the word they choose does not mean what they think it does. Grade Proof will go through the sentences and pick words that it thinks need to be changed to better the writing. Students again look through the suggestions and decide if they want to change the word. 

The final step is a plagiarism check which is extremely beneficial for teachers. Plagiarism checks can be extremely expensive but with Grade Proof, students can run the check and send the screenshot to their teacher for free! The changes to the piece can then be sent by email in a document.

SAMR

Grade Proof allows for a redefinition of the lesson. Students are able to get the specific help they need in editing which will create time for the higher level analysis of their work by a teacher. It allows students to be independent and work through their papers at their own pace while still learning about grammar rules and how to improve their writing. 

Evernote

Skill: Drafting

Citation

Lesson 6 of The Writing Process

The next step of the writing process that the students were given was to begin their rough draft. Students were instructed to create their rough draft in their ELA notebooks or on a word document. As the students were creating children's books, they began to run into some problems. Many wanted to type their draft so that they could move around the text and check for spelling but were unable to add pictures to their draft. Those who were handwriting had a difficult time changing their story and moving around pieces as they had to cross out or start over creating frustration. Students also ran into the problem of being able to work on their stories outside of the classroom.

To improve on this lesson, I would instead have the students use Evernote. Evernote is a note taking program that allows you to sync and share notes, text, pictures, and more from any device. Using Evenote, students can log in using their google account and save their work and access it on any other computer, tablet, or electronic device.

When using Evernote, students simply select the type of note they want to make (text) and begin working. As they work, they can click on the pen at the top and switch to draw mode and draw drafts of their pictures to go along with their story. Students are also able to add notes to their writing and record messages which can help with editing. When finished, the note can be shared to other Evernote users, presented, and emailed. This is a great way for their teacher to be involved with the writing process and eliminate the need for her coming in weekly to collect notebooks.

 SAMR

The Use of Evernote in this lesson allows for a modification and augmentation of the lesson. Students are now able to draft their drawings as well as their text. It also allows for easier editing and revision of their stories. 

Autorap

I have been substitute teaching at Allen Jay Preparatory Academy. This school is known for its high energy and students getting involved in their learning. On of the biggest stand outs is the use of song and rap in the classroom. Teachers try to make the content more relatable and easier to remember by turning it into songs or raps.

I found an app called AutoRap by Smule that will turn speech and text into raps. In this school this can be very helpful as it can aid teachers and students who rapping does not come to naturally. It is also a great tool for teachers to have students rap and save their work so that they can share it with others. 

The app is very easy to use. User start by creating a free account, all that is needed is an email address. Once their profile is created, you can start creating. The user pushes the red button and begins to talk. When finished, simply press the button again. When finished, the app will put music and a beat behind your voice and turn it into a song! 

Once they are finished creating their song, students can share it with others and even start rap battles! It is an easy way to get students engaged and interested in what they are reading. 

This app can also be used to turn books that may not be interesting or engaging for students into fun raps and songs. 

SAMR
This app allows for a modification of the lesson. Students are able to create raps and songs instantly which they could not do before. The technology can be used in many subjects to create a more engaging lessons.

OneNote

Skill: Character Development

Citation

Lesson 5 of The Writing Process

Above are the directions given to me by the classroom teacher. Students were to create a drawing of their character in their notebook and write what their character thinks, what their character feels, and what their character does as well as draw what they look like. This again was being completed in students' notebooks and again students were loosing their pages, running out of room, and over all wasting paper. 

OneNote would be a great way to solve this. OneNote is a Microsoft application that is also available as an iPad app. The students already have OneNote loaded on to their tablets so it would be a really great interactive way to keep all of their work together on their tablet which they are required to carry around. 

OneNote on the iPad

OneNote on the iPad

OneNote is a free virtual note taking app that allows for creativity in the usage and syncs to any device. Students can draw in OneNote and then annotate their drawings with ease. To begin, students can create a notebook for the class at the top of the program next to quick notes. On the left hand side is where each page of the notebook will be. Students can create a page just for their characters. On the page students can add drawings, text, highlighting, etc. 

Using OneNote, students can share their characters with their teacher and each other to collaborate on making their characters more dynamic and relatable. 

SAMR

This lesson uses technology as an augmentation. OneNote allows for auto saving and auto syncing so students do not loose their work. It also allows for students to better manipulate the characters and edit their information instead of having to start over as they would with paper and pencil.  

Pieces Basic and Number Pieces

Another app that was essential during my student teaching was the Pieces Basic and Number Pieces app. Both are free and created by the same company, and the number pieces app is a more complex version of the pieces basic app. The Number Pieces program is also available online. 

The app is very simple to use, just drag and drop the pieces you want on to the screen. You can add numbers at the top to keep track of the problem. For addition problems, you are able to draw a big circle around pieces you are using and press the blocks together button (third from the right) which will condense the blocks into the proper number of ones, tens, and hundreds. This tool was used after students had written down their answer to the problem.I found this very useful for my students as they were having a lot of problems 'trading' when using the physical manipulatives in their classrooms.

*The trading problem is due to difficulty with keeping track of physical manipulatives not an issue with the math concept which is why I allowed them to use the tool on the app*

The app also allows for the tens blocks to be lid in either direction (horizontal or vertical). This feature allows for better organization of the blocks on the screen. Another way students can organize their blocks is by changing the color. The default setting is that ones are yellow, tens are green, and hundreds are red. However, students can use these three colors on any of the blocks so they could make an entire number red and the other number green.

Though I mainly did addition with my students, the app also allows for easy subtraction. To break apart the blocks for subtraction, simply select the pieces to be split and hit the button second from the right. This will break hundred flats into ten rods, and ten rods into ones cubes. This again limits the error that may be caused by trading out the physical manipulatives. 

When working with younger students, the pieces basic app is best as it only offers ones, tens, and hundreds blocks. The Number pieces app also contains thousands and number lines. Number Pieces works the same way as the Pieces Basic app but with added blocks.

SAMR
In most classrooms, using this app may seem like a simple substitution for real base ten blocks. In my classroom for student teaching however, this app allowed for modification. Students were now able to complete the tasks without getting confused and creating errors in their problems. It also allowed us to work more on the skill of breaking and building numbers with the students as we were not able to get sets of base ten blocks for them to use.

Timeline Visualizer

Skill: Plot

Citation

Lesson 4 of The Writing Process

The next step in the writing process that the teacher laid out was for the students to create the plot for their children's book. As I look at student progress on their book, I have noticed that many students have tried to skip this step entirely. The teacher asked that students create a simple plot diagram to show what will happen in their story. The students that have skipped this step are the ones who are having difficulty with the writing process and figuring out the pace of the story. 

If I were to plan this lesson, I would have students use  Sutori. Students seem to be lacking the understanding of the importance of planning out the pace of the story. When creating the plot diagrams, students are simply writing what very little about each event. They are also having difficulty determining the order of events in their stories. 

Sutori allows students to look at and create timelines of their own. By having students create a timeline of the events happening in their story, they will be able to visually see the timing and pace of their story. 

Sutori is very easy to use. It is an online website that students can log in and create an account using their google account. With a free account, students are able to create story timelines, share their timelines, and join groups to work on timelines together. Unfortunately with a free account students are limited in some of these aspects, they can only create two groups for collaboration.

When first logging on, Sutori will guide you through using the website. To create a story timeline, click on the center create box. Students begin with entering the title and description of their story. They are then able to add events chapters, pictures, etc. Sutori will even auto-save for students! I have already had multiple students tell me they have lost their work, both paper/ pencil and electronic.

Students add their events by clicking the plus button and inserting text, images, video, audio, and more. Sutori even allows users to rearrange the order of their timeline/story at any time.

When they are finished with their timeline, students are able to share it and allow others to edit. Using this tool would have been great in the classroom I am in because students would be able to share their timelines and drafts of their stories with their teacher so that they could make sure that they have all of the elements she is looking for. It would also allow for her to edit their stories online and give feedback so that the students know what they need to fix. Students are even able to print their story.

SAMR
According to the SAMR model, the use of Sutori in this lesson is substitution and augmentation. This lesson could be done with paper and pencil in students' ELA notebook however, the use of the website allows for better editing and reorganization which are so important in the early stages of writing. It also allows for better collaboration of peers and interaction between teacher and students.

Bitsboard and Sight Words

Trace It Game

During my student teaching last year, Sight Words was one of my favorite apps to use with my students! Sight Words is the most basic Bitsboard app and is designed for students from preschool to third grade. Bitsboard also makes similar apps for different grades and subjects. The main focus of the app is to help students learn sight words or vocabulary words in a fun and engaging way. 

The app is very simple to use and navigate through. When the app is opened, the user chooses an account to use. Accounts are free and can be set up for each student or the user can proceed as a guest. The advantage to creating accounts for each student is that the teacher can go into the app and check student progress. 

Once in the app, select which grade or group of words to use in the games. Each list  has about 20 sight words on it. This list can be narrowed down by going into the account settings and selecting which words from the list you want the student to work on. Students then choose what game they want to play to practice their sight words (these games can also be limited by the teacher). Possible games include photo touch, match up, trace it, unscramble, missing item, word search, crosswords, and more! Each game works on the spelling and recognition of the words as well as the pronunciation and picture association. In the games, words are in a random order to increase learning and decrease memorization of the order so students have to actually learn the words to do well. At the end of each game, students will be given a score which can be recorded by teachers to determine the success and learning of the given words. 

Teachers can also use the Review Game to quiz students. Words will pop up on the screen one at a time. The student reads/says the word out loud. After reading the word, the teacher/student can hit "Tap to see answer" and the app will read the word. A bar at the bottom will then pop up and ask "How well did you know this" with color coded answers: red- not well, yellow- somewhat, green- very well. Once all of the words have been assessed, The app will tell you the percent correct (yellow and green), the percent known (green), as well as a list of all of the words given and the score given. Teachers can also compare these scores to all of the past scores to see the progress being made. 

Use in classroom

My student teaching was in a special education resource classroom for Kindergarten through third grade. I mainly used the app with my K-1 students and one second grade student. My students loved using the app! It was a great tool to have them practice as I worked one- on -one with other students. It was also a great way to keep them engaged and actually interested in studying sight words. My cooperating teacher and I were able to see huge results from before using the app to the end of my student teaching with all of our students. The three students I had using it most all loved the Trace It Game. I eventually had to tell them that they could only play it once every 5 games!

SAMR

This app can be used in many different ways in the classroom. In my classroom last year, I was mainly using this technology as an augmentation. All of the uses for the app, I could have done paper pencil or with physical flash cards. The app however allows for all of the games and tools I may have been using with my students into one place as well as keep data for me in the same place.