EdTech Hidden Gems of 2014
At Common Sense Graphite, we get to know the tools we review well. When great stuff comes across our desks, we try to champion it because we want teachers out there using the best of the best in edtech. Sometimes, though, the tools we like get a bit lost in the mix alongside heavy hitters like Pearson, Khan, and Google. Here's a list of some tools we've reviewed this year that we'd love to see in the hands of more teachers. Erin Wilkey Oh, Senior Editor, Education Reviews Land of Venn, App, Graphite Rating: 5
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.
Beyond Minecraft: Games That Inspire Building and Exploration
By Tanner Higgin, Graphite The success and popularity of Minecraft in and out of classrooms is no surprise. It’s one of the best examples of the potential of learning with games because it embraces exploration, discovery, creation, collaboration, and problem-solving while allowing teachers to shepherd play toward any subject area. But Minecraft is not the only game of this kind.
70 iPad Apps for Elementary STEM
Update 8/30/2014: Somehow duplicate entries found their way into my app list. Thanks to a tweet from @kiboser I removed them, so the list now includes 70 apps. I also added 3 paid apps I’m going to purchase via VPP this fall: Green Screen by Do Ink, Do Ink Animation & Drawing, and Stick Around. I may also later add some of these 3D visualization apps. This past summer our school district IT department erased all the iPads used in classrooms like mine to update iOS firmware and install Lightspeed “mobile manager” software to (among other things) track and facilitate app volume purchases.
50 Fab Apps for Teachers
Less Is More You don’t need a one-to-one classroom (one device for every student) to integrate tablets into instruction. Whether you have one tablet or five, possibilities for teaching with them abound. Single Tablet • Independent reading Load up your tablet with books in a reading app. Allow students to check out the tablet for the day or week for in-class use, just as they would a book from the class library. Have students sign a contract that they’ll handle the tablet properly.
7 Ways Teachers Use Social Media in the Classroom
Millennials live and breathe on social media, so teachers are learning how to incorporate the medium into the classroom successfully. In doing so, teachers not only encourage students to engage actively in the material, but they also provide online communities for students that might not exist for them in real life. But how are teachers infusing social media into their everyday lessons? We've highlighted several different examples and offered our own ideas on how to best engage students.
Webmix Wednesday: Apps for the One iPad Classroom
Recently, I was asked for app recommendations for a one iPad classroom. After compiling several recommendations, I decided this would be a perfect fit for a Symbaloo webmix! I'm sure there are other apps I might add, but these were some of the first that came to mind. One iPad Classroom by The Digital Scoop (Link for regualar Symbaloo users) One iPad Classroom by The Digital Scoop (Link for SymbalooEDU users)
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? What if the kids were happy and eager to get to school?
3 Good iPad Newspaper Templates for Teachers
January 11, 2014 Today as I was looking for iPad apps that students can use to create classroom newspapers I stumbled upon these wonderful iPad keynote newspaper templates created by the folks in K5 Computer Lab ( this is a site that provides technology lesson plans, activities for word processing, spreadsheets and graphing for elementary school children). You can use these templates with your students to create " kid's news stories, movie reviews, music reviews, field trip reporting…etc". The files are free to download and are also compatible with iPad iWork Keynote for Macs. Click here to access the page where you can download them.
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.
4 Free Websites Where You Can Learn The Basics Of Game Development
Over a decade ago, I taught myself the basics of game programming and game development through the limited tutorial resources I could find on the Internet. Since then, the landscape of game development has changed drastically, and anyone can start creating their own games within weeks with a few Google searches. But let’s say you want to start developing your own games but don’t know where to start. Where do you go?
