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. 

Popplet

Skill: Planning out a story

Citation

Lesson 3 of The Writing Process
The teacher assigned students to brainstorm for their books in their literature notebooks. The biggest issue I found with this is that as eighth grades, many of the students had lost their notebooks or had illegible handwriting. I began to realize that as a teacher, checking up on student progress would be easier if students had kept their work online.


Students will create a Popplet to keep track of the details and ideas about science fiction. Popplet is an online mind map creator. Students can create a popplet online through their website or download the app. The free version of the app allows users to create one popplet at a time. Students can easily add text, pictures, or links to their mind map and customize it by changing the colors of the boxes and linking them in various ways. Users can then save and export their popplet as a PDF or JPEG. Popplet is a quick and easy tool to keep those thoughts straight!


When looking at the SAMR model, popplet in this lesson is a substitution for the simple pen and paper model. While working with middle schoolers, a substitution in this respect can save a lot of time and energy. Students already have tablets with them so it is a productive utilization of their tablets. Having students complete their work on popplet makes grading easier. Students no longer need to turn notebooks and they can still have a copy with them.


Note that saving JPG is blurry- but images come out better if you screenshot the page.

Story Telling Dice

Skill: Brainstorm

Citation

Lesson 2 of The Writing Process
The next skill students are working on in the writing process is to work on building ideas for the story. As I am working with the students, I have noticed that many of the students are having trouble coming up with their own ideas and starting the story. 

To help students work on creativity in writing, I found an app called story dice. Story dice is based off a board game but has now become an app that can be found on the apple store. Story dice is a creative writing prompt tool to help writers come up with ideas for characters, plots, and setting. 

Students can team up and play with the story dice to practice coming up with ideas for stories. Students begin by selecting how many dice from each category they would like. Students have the option of choosing dice from a general category, kids, mystery, or Star Wars. Up to ten dice can be chosen. When students begin and roll the dice, pictures will show up on each die. by shaking the device, students can roll the dice again.

In this lesson, students are challenged to start with a small number of dice first and then add more as they begin to get the hang of creating stories. Students are challenged to uses all of the dice they have rolled in their story. Students have 5 minutes to think of and tell their story.

This lesson could be done without technology by simply buying the board game however, using the app allows for students to work in smaller groups and collaborate more. It also allows for students to go back to the dice if they are stuck on thinking up ideas for their own story.

Draw and Tell

Draw and tell is a free iPad app that can be used to create stories. The app is aimed at younger kids - preschool and kindergarten- but can easily be used with older students as well.

The student begins by choosing whether they want to start by drawing on a blank piece of paper or coloring page. Once selecting, students choose between various colors, brush types, stamps, stencils, and stickers. Once they complete their drawing they can save them as photos in the app. Students can then record their voice over the photo and animate their picture by moving their drawings and stickers. students can also add text to each picture to make it more like a story book. Students can then save their finished photos and videos to their device pictures.

Draw and tell is a great way to introduce students to basic animation and movie making. Students are able to use their creativity in designing a story and drawing pictures.