Explain Everything is an app ($2.99) that I’ve had on my iPad for awhile but haven’t really used it much. Wanting to see how quickly our students would be able to use it, I enlisted the help of two of our fourth graders.
The students had been blogging about their favorite Texas Bluebonnet book which they’ll be voting on at the end of January. After they wrote their post, I asked them to illustrate a favorite part of the book. They were then to add the picture to their blog. After reading the posts, I asked Molly and Emma if they would like to use the Explain Everything app to record their narrations of their book reviews. Not surprisingly, they were extremely eager to help out!
The girls stayed after class on Friday and I briefly showed how the app worked. I had already added their illustrations so they just needed to decide on what tools to use on their slides and what to say on the opening slide. I absolutely loved listening to them as they planned their narrations. The biggest dilemma they had was that one wanted to draw a bluebonnet and write “Texas Bluebonnet” on the screen while the other gave a brief introduction. The girls discovered that it took longer to write that it did to talk! So, it was decided that Emma would draw the bluebonnet before they began the recording.
Below is the “finished for now” project. It’s not exactly polished as you can hear paper rustling in the background but that’s okay. We only had 20 minutes before school was out so there was not enough time on that day for a redo!
What I learned is that the students learned how to use the app in no time at all. They were eager and excited about Explain Everything, even telling me that they were going to ask their parents to buy it for them. Both Molly and Emma agreed that it would be easy for their peers to learn and that it would be useful in the classroom (explaining math problems, etc).
Last November, one of our second grade teachers and I were able to attend EdTechTeacher‘s excellent iPad Summit conference in Boston. All of the teachers at our school were given iPads at the beginning of the school year and we were eager to learn ways to use them that would move students from being a consumer to becoming a creator.
We were asked to facilitate a 2 1/2 hour workshop on the day we returned from the holidays. Having been a classroom teacher, I know the last place educators want to be the day before students return is listening to someone else talk! So, we had to do our best to make this an active workshop!
Jane, our 2nd grade teacher, had attended Beth Holland’s“iPads in the Elementary Classroom” pre-conference workshop and I chose Greg Kulowiec’s “Creating Digital and Multimedia Content” presentation (click here to see their resources). We learned SO much in these sessions and were excited to share what these two innovative instructors shared with us.
Knowing we wouldn’t be able to get to every app, we chose to have the teachers participate in a QR Code Scavenger Hunt. We had found examples of student-made projects using these apps so we linked to them using QR Codes. The codes were placed along the hall. The teachers were told to get into groups of no more than 4 and their job was to scan a code and match it to a description on their “hunt” sheet.
It is amazing how fast a group of teachers can move when there is the mention of a prize! We had one group back in less than 5 minutes! Of course, there was no way they could have listened to every link but they received the prize anyway. It was my fault! What I neglected to say before hand was that they should LISTEN at each station (my assumption was that they would do just that; should have known better – this is a very competitive group!!).
We were able to share pedagogy (objectives first then choose technology IF it’s appropriate) as well as explore some of the apps and brainstorm how they could be used in the classroom.
We have a phenomenal group of teachers and they were an awesome audience! As presenters, we had a fun morning. I’m looking forward to working with our educators as they implement iPad technology into their classrooms.
Last November, at the iPad Summit in Boston, a couple of people mentioned using postcard apps with their students. With the semester ending and holidays coming, I forgot to look into it. A few days ago, I came across an excellent post called, Creating Postcard Summaries, from the blog, Teach Thru Technology (well worth reading). That was a great reminder to check it out! I like the app mentioned in the post, Bill Atkinson PhotoCard.
The app allows the user to either take a photo, choose from album (camera roll), or choose from the built-in nature photos (beautiful images as seen in the screenshot below).
The app is well-designed and intuitive. There are “stickers” that can be added to the back of the card. The writing section is large enough for students to write a couple of paragraphs – excellent for summarizing.
Of course you can mail your cards – this costs as little as $1.50 for delivery in the U.S. But what I like is that the photocards can be emailed or saved to the camera roll. We would have students email to the teacher so she could collect them for assessment.
Here’s a finished card.
Think about all the writing that could be done using this app!
character studies
information about a place (take a screenshot of a place in Google Earth!)
This would be a great app to make a collage of several photos, save to the camera roll, then pull into the Photocard app. I practiced with it by pulling in a screenshot of Washington, DC in Google Earth that had been labeled using Skitch. I then added photos taken in DC. Next step was to write a bit about the city.
Both apps are very easy to use and would be a fun way to encourage writing.
I wanted to share a couple of apps that I think would be a worthy addition to a classroom.
Daisy the Dinosaur is a free app designed to teach simple computer programming skills to students. The app takes the user through guided steps that increase in difficulty. Students learn how to make Daisy move, jump, turn, etc though an easy drag and drop interface. This is an excellent way to help students with problem-solving skills.
Trading Cards is a free app from ReadWriteThink (and everything I’ve used from their site has been excellent!). This app allows students to create trading cards in seven different categories: fictional person, real person, fictional place, real place, object, event, vocabulary. Students are guided through the process of what information to include. When finished, the cards can be printed, emailed, or saved to the iPad’s camera roll. Think of all the educational uses! Story character cards, biographical information, country/state studies, vocabulary study cards are just a few that come to mind.
I practiced a bit with a real place, adding a photo of Connecticut’s Capitol. Didn’t add more information but you can see the capabilities of this app.
Richard Byrne (Free Technology for Teachers) has written a great post about the Trading Cards app. Click here to read his review. Another excellent review with screenshots comes from the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District.
Sometimes you just need some “fun” apps – as teachers, we are always on the lookout for those educational apps that would be beneficial in the classroom. Of course, there are thousands of fun apps out there but here are a couple that I’m enjoying at the moment.
Cuptakes is a $ .99 app for iPad and iPhone and is promoted as “treats for the girly-girls.” The app offers a wide variety of really cute wallpaper backgrounds so that you can personalize your device. New wallpaper is added monthly so you can change as often as you like.
Just a few of the many available wallpaper choices!
If you like jigsaw puzzles, Jigsaw Box is the app for you! This is a free app that offers over 100 jigsaw puzzles. But the best part is that you can use your own photos to create personalized puzzles!
Nice variety of puzzles or upload your own photos!
Once a puzzle is chosen, there is a choice of jigsaw size – from 8 to 252 pieces.
Just like the real thing!
But, unlike a jigsaw puzzle from a box, you can even share this one with others!
Fun stuff! And this one can have educational value – it’s certainly good for spatial reasoning and just think how excited children would be when presented with a puzzle of something that’s meaningful to them!
Since about the closest we come to snow in Texas most years are pictures, the first graders illustrated snow scenes using Microsoft’s Paint program. Next week we’ll blog about their pictures using KidBlog. Hope you enjoy their drawings!
Our first graders were introduced to their class blog on Wednesday. We use KidBlog, an excellent blogging platform because of its ease of use. I love the new feature added this year that allows students to either upload a picture for their avatar or choose from one offered by KidBlog. We spent most of our lab time letting the children choose an avatar from the choices provided (they loved doing that!).
After that came writing a comment to a post that I made for the students.
We talked about how to write a comment, reminding students to sound out words as best they could. The main concern for children always seems to be how to spell words but we assured the students that we wanted their thoughts and to do the best they could. It was fun watching them help each other with spelling.
I absolutely love reading what first graders write (or say for that matter). They are completely honest and it is so exciting to watch the growth in their spelling throughout the year.
Don’t you just love Blaine’s choice for what he’s thankful for?!
For first time blogging, I thought that these young children did a fantastic job. They were very excited and engaged in the process. Next steps – introduce how to write a post. Then we’ll practice writing strong comments to each other.
I wish you could have seen the excitement of our music teacher, Judy Holloway, when she discoverd the power of QR Codes! As a preface, some members of our co-curricular team dressed as the “Quick Response Team” for Halloween. We had QR codes on our backs that directed people to either our website or animoto videos of students. Mrs. Holloway had so much fun letting her students use her phone to “read” the codes (of course lower school students thought it was amazing!).
Mrs. Holloway’s 1st Animoto
The next day, Mrs. Holloway asked if I could meet with her to show her how to create her own QR codes. We started with Kaywa QR Code Generator, a great site to quickly create a code. Judy learned how to save the code as a picture and insert into a word document to print. But then we took it a step further. I showed Judy the Unitag website. This fun QR code generator allows you to personalize your code with colors, shapes, and more. We did a couple together. I went off to a conference and the next thing I know, Mrs. Holloway has created several animoto videos and QR codes. She placed the codes on her bulletin board so that parents can scan them as they wait for their children!
What a fun idea!
I am so excited to see how Mrs. Holloway is using this resource to share with our parents. But to me, the best part is watching Judy step out of her technology comfort zone. She has taken off with this! Way to go, Mrs. Holloway!
Thursday’s keynote address from Tom Daccord offered a practical look at how to create the classroom that nurtures innovators.
Tom started his talk by showing pictures of learning spaces – the traditional rows of desks vs those that allow for collaboration (i.e. small study areas, places to connect laptops for projection). We have to redefine learning spaces if we want to encourage students to work and plan together. How often do you still see classrooms with rows of desks? Do we, as teachers, keep them that way because it’s the way we were taught? Do we prefer the more structured way of teaching because we’re afraid of the increased noise level that occurs when collaboration happens? Yet, I believe redefined learning spaces is a critical change that needs to be considered so that our students are able to work together.
an active contributor who is able to work effectively in teams, exercises initiative, takes calculated risks, is innovative and strives for excellence
a self-directed learner who takes responsibility for his own learning, who questions, reflects and perseveres in the pursuit of learning
Isn’t this what we all want for our students? Isn’t this what companies look for in new hires?
Tom asks the question, When someone visits an iPad classroom, would they be able to define the objectives of learning? He says in order to move from pockets of excellence to systemic educational change, we need a well-defined plan.
What is the mission of iPads in the school?
Does everyone know what that is?
How does that align with the school’s overall mission?
Tom shared this quote from Professor Ben Shneiderman: Learning seems useless unless it prepares us to be creative. The question is then:
How can I put my students in creative learning environments?
Tom shared practical examples of what that looks like. He tells teachers to use what you know in an authentic, effective way. How true is his comment that “when technology is introduced in a classroom, it is typically an extension of the classroom.” For example, interactive white boards involve teacher control; they aren’t student centered learning. Tom says to think of a situation where the teacher is front and center. Is there a way to use iPads so students become in charge of the learning?
Writer’s Workshop Poetry Lessons with iPads This is a wonderful lesson with first graders from Chicago’s Burley Elementary School. Students illustrated mental images of a poem read by the teacher. The students shared their drawings and then published them in a variety of ways. Seeing this example prompted a flurry of whispers from our second grade teacher – “I want to do this. When can I get the iPads?” After frantically sending off emails to our tech director, we are set up with a class set of iPads for her students. I told her I want to be there when she does the lesson!
Kathy Cassidy’s Class Kathy is a teacher of 6 and 7 year olds in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. She does amazing things with these young children! Her blog’s byline states “6 and 7 Year Olds Inviting the World into Their Classroom.” Each child has his/her own blog where work is posted. There are illustrations, photos, videos, audio – all showing learning and understanding. Kathy puts her young students in the position of instructing others.
Creating with GarageBand Students and members of a band get together to create an original song using iPads plus a few instruments.
A serious issue is that iPads are being used ineffectively. We focus too much on content-specific apps rather than the open-ended apps that allow for creativity. We must move away from just using technology as a substitution or extension. It’s imperative that what we ask students to do truly redefines their learning!
Who would have thought a nor’easter would come through Boston in early November when we attended the iPad Summit Conference? When you come from sunny, warm Texas, that’s quite a change! We arrived on a beautiful but very chilly day but having lived in New Jersey years ago, we were prepared. Heaviest coats (not used often in Texas), gloves, and earmuffs all helped until the winds from the nor’easter picked up. Boston was only supposed to get high winds and rain. What a surprise when we left the conference Thursday afternoon and discovered it was snowing! It didn’t last long but we don’t see snow often so it was pretty to view.
Boston skyline
Surprise Snowfall
The conference was one of the best I’ve attended and I am excited to return to share with our teachers. I’m ready to use our iPads as a creative tool. More about the conference in upcoming posts.
Explain Everything is an app ($2.99) that I’ve had on my iPad for awhile but haven’t really used it much. Wanting to see how quickly our students would be able to use it, I enlisted the help of two of our fourth graders.
