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Top Five iPad Apps for Teaching Across All Content Areas

Top Five iPad Apps for Teaching Across All Content Areas
Ever since I was a kid, I loathed back to school commercials. They always showed parents gleefully skipping through aisles of pencils and notebooks as the kids, sullen and dejected, sluggishly followed along. It's a scene we are all too familiar with, and one that creates a negative stigma around school. But what if that scene were flipped? Although this post is a little early for the back-to-school season, consider it an early reminder that summer is near and that, eventually, the start of the 2013 school year will be close at hand. I’m going to share five applications for the iPad that will take the place of student supply lists, provide savings and replace dread with anticipation. Notability While some may argue that there are better options -- and free options -- out there, I find, along with many of our students, that Notability is the go-to application for note taking. A note about Notability: I would strongly endorse Evernote here as well. Haiku Deck Edmodo ShowMe Google Drive

10 Must-Have Apps For iPads In The Classroom My students love using their iPads in the classroom! iPads in the classroom provide student with the opportunity not to be restricted to the traditional way of learning. As a teacher, it is a wonderful feeling to see students being engaged and interacting in their learning. Since our school’s 1:1 iPad initiative in all Math and Science classrooms, I have become passionate about finding technology tools that will motivate and inspire my students to learn. Great use of iPads technology tools directly impacts the learning environment of the classroom. The following is a list of free apps and websites that I have found that really motivates and inspires my students to be actively engaged in their learning. (1) Today’s Meet ~ A backchannel website that helps you connect with students in real time. (2) Corkboard.me ~ A website that allow students to collaborate in real time with the use of sticky notes on a board. (5) Sonic Pics and (6) Doodle Buddy ~ This duo is a perfect pair.

Free Technology for Teachers Running Records on the iPad Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.-Harry S. Truman Powerful teaching happens when teachers take information gained from observations and assessments of children’s literacy development into consideration when planning instruction. We use running records as assessment tools to assess students literacy progress. I have found an app called Record of Reading. Running records inform our instruction through capturing progress, assessing text difficulty, matching texts appropriately to students, and seeing and hearing reading behaviors directly. Watching my students grow as readers is rewarding. Today, we will do exciting new things. Like this: Like Loading...

10 questions parents should ask about their children's 1:1 program I have two grandchildren who attend the Shawnee Mission School district in the southern part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. The area looks generally wealthy and the schools well-maintained. The grands are doing well academically. But technology has never seemed to be the district's strength based on my visits with the boys and their schools. So when my son-in-law and daughter both send me information about an ambitious 1:1 initiative that the board has adopted, I was excited. While I am very much in favor of students using and accessing technology (I am a tech director after all), I am also aware that 1:1 programs can be very effective - or they can be money down a rat hole. On first glance and with only two sources of information, this Shawnee Mission program looks pretty good. There is a very ambitious timeline with the devices going to students in August. What are the teaching/learning goals of the initiative?

Educational Technology and Mobile Learning: 7 Excellent iPad Games to Develop Kids Critical Thinking There is an app for everything these days. From health apps to travel apps, iTunes market is teeming with all kinds of apps. It only takes one click in a search engine to find what you want but as we always say not every app can do what its developers preach , you need to have a critical eye to evaluate the apps that will work for you. As teachers and educators, we are in a constant search for apps to use with our students and this is why we need to make sure we have recourse to checklists such as this one whenever we are to recommend apps. In today's post , we are providing you with a list of great games designed to improve your students critical thinking and creative powers.Check them out below and don't forget to check the list we have posted before on iPad Apps to Develop Kids Critical Thinking. 1- Feed the Head " The iPad adaptation of our classic surrealist toy! 2-Where's My Water "Where’s My Water? 3- RoomBreak 4- Cross Fingers Fee 5- Doodle Fit 6- Jelly Car 7- Geared for iPad

The Complete Guide To Twitter Hashtags For Education What is a hashtag? A word or phrase preceded by a “#.” How do hashtags work? Twitter can be a busy place with lots of tweets–and thus lots of “noise.” A #hashtag is a way to aggregate tweets that are appended with a hashtag. See also 50 Of The Best Education Accounts On Twitter Who can use hashtags? Anyone. What else do I need to know? Don’t hashtag spam–if your tweet doesn’t add to that hashtag’s topic, discussion, or user base, don’t add the hashtag.Use more than one hashtag if it applies to more than one topic, but choose wisely. Meeting Times Many of the hashtags have “meeting times” where educators agree to “meet and tweet”–that is, send out messages on a topic at a certain time on a certain day. If you do participate at the agreed upon time, you’ll see the tweets stream in live and participate in said conversation (via twitter) in what is nearly real-time. Note, this list of hashtags will be updated periodically, including reorganization, and functional linking on all hashtags. Trends iPad

The iPad Effect: A Top-10 List » Third Graders, Dreaming Big It’s only been a few months, but I’ve already noticed some drastic changes in our classroom when the iPads roll in…. I’ve labeled these Top-10 phenomena as being The iPad Effect, as they seem to occur every Tuesday and Thursday…. 1. Fewer Water Bubbler Visits Days when there are no iPads in the classroom, students seem to ask to leave to hydrate at the bubbler far more often than they do when the iPads ARE in the classroom. 2. We try to time our bathroom visits with regular breaks in our routine. 3. Seems that iPads are the latest cure for stomachaches, headaches, hang-nails, sore arms and legs and boo-boos. 4. I can say with confidence, during my eight years of teaching, I seldom have had students ask to do MORE work than what is required. 5. In a room full of students recording their voices, and playing them back, you would think that focusing would be more difficult. 6. Face it. 7. Students who are off-target in their behavior risk missing out on part of their iPad time. 8. 9. 10.

Stage 3 Research on the Use of Tablets in Schools and Education The Tablets for Schools Stage 3 Research Report is now available for download. Click here to get a free copy. Whether you are a parent, teacher, student, or an advocate for tablet technology in schools, this report will give you valuable information on how tablets can benefit learning, and help kids acquire 21st century skills. The objectives for Stage 3 were to examine teacher, student and parent engagement, to measure perceived benefits and drawbacks of Tablet use,to review the process of introducing one-to-one tablets to a school, and to summarise the global picture of the use of Tablets in education. Abstract from Family, Kids & Youth This report summarises findings from an evaluation study that is looking at the feasibility and educational impact of giving one-to-one Tablets to every child in school. The Stage 3 research, carried out by Family Kids & Youth, involved high-achieving schools (with the goal of improving the learning experience), and those struggling in some capacity.

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