Elementary Interest Chair
Over the summer, my school district issued me an iPad to use in my classroom. The district is not ready to dive into a 1:1 initiative, but has begun putting more and more technology in the hands of teachers and promoting a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy for students. Since many schools are moving in the same direction, here are some of my favorite apps I’ve discovered. Though these are for the iPad, some may have iPhone, Android, or other versions for other devices (or you may be able to find a different app that has similar capabilities).
Shakespeare in Bits: This app has everything for the Shakespeare guru. The app itself is free, but within the app you can purchase Shakespeare’s plays for $14.99 each. Currently, the available plays are: Midsummer, Macbeth, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet. When you buy one of the plays, you get a wealth of information and many tools that break down the play into bits. Each scene is animated with subtitles available. You can also watch the animation and follow along in the script side by side on the screen. Each line turns red as the video comes to it. Within the script, certain words are highlighted because you can click on them to change the word to a synonym. Out to the side of some lines are symbols that can be clicked on for more information about a particular word, questions to guide deeper thinking into the text, more information about a word or phrase, or explanation tied to a theme of the script. Each scene also has a section with notes, a synopsis, and a section for the reader to take their own notes. There is also a tab within the app with a list of characters and detailed description of each, along with a picture of their animated character from the video. This section also provides a character map. In the analysis tab, you’ll find a plot summary, discussion of themes, imagery, language, notable quotes, and information about Shakespeare himself. This app would be great for a teacher guided the class through the play or an individual student working with the script on their own.
TeacherKit: This free app is a gradebook, behavior note tablet, seating chart creator, attendance taker, and parent communicator all in one. Each class you create, displays one the screen as a door with the title of the class written on the door. Click the door to enter the class. Inside, you can take picture of the class and using facial detection software within the app, assign each student to a desk. Once you have put names to faces, each student’s face is on a desk that can be moved around freely or organized alphabetically to create a seating chart. Also displayed on each desk is a grade tracking bar that changes color depending on the student’s grades. If you click on the student’s desk, you can enter in the student and parent contact information. This also displays the number of absences, any notes you’ve made on behavior, and a summary of the student’s grades. With contact information entered, you can email individual parents or an entire class through the app. In the attendance tab, you can take attendance easily as the students are entering the room by clicking on the student’s desk to mark present, absent, or late. If absent, the desk will tell you how many absences the student has had. In the behavior tab, you can make notes on particular students, as well as mark the note negative or positive. The note is automatically time/date stamped. In the gradebook tab, the students and assignments are shown in a chart (the students listed down the left-hand side, assignments and an automatic grade average along the top). You can add assignments with a particular maximum grade. When you are ready to record a student’s grade, click in the corresponding box and type in the grade. You can change the weight of the grades to distribute however you see fit. As a student’s grade changes, the colored status bar changes here in the gradebook and on the student’s desk in the My Class tab. You can configure a passcode for the app to keep confidentiality and link to DropBox. This app seems to eliminate the need for paper in the teacher’s life almost entirely.
Easy Board: This .99 app is handy for teachers working with student with special needs who use visuals to communicate and redirect. The app is mostly a simple drawing tool on a white background, but also includes “magnets.” These magnets are commonly used visuals such as “no hitting,” “quiet hands,” or “restroom.” You can even use a magnet and draw on or around it to tailor it to your particular student. Instead of carrying around a folder of visual cue cards, they can all be within this app.
iTunes U: This free app contains the ability to search and download “courses” created by educators all over the world. There are as varied a number of course topics as a college or university might provide in their course catalog. You can search for courses and download as many as you like for free! A course might contain links to videos, online resources, suggest activities or articles to read, or outline an entire online course of study. Educators can create their own courses outside of the app that students can download and use from their own devices. A few of my favorite courses are: TED Education: Creative Problem Solving, CEDFA: Fine Arts Curriculum & Instruction, and anything from the National Theatre (Wigs and Makeup, Scenic Construction, Handspring Puppet Company, etc.) This app could completely change your syllabus.
Pocket: This free app has a simple premise: I want to read this article or watch this video, but not right now. I don’t want to keep it in my email or save it on my desktop, but I need to remember how to get to it later. Put it in your Pocket! Whenever you are emailed an article or video, or have a link to a website that you want to access later, email it to your pocket. The app then downloads the text or videos so you can view them within the app at a later date. When you are ready to view an article from a website (for example), the app eliminates all the clutter of the normal website (ads and other junk) and isolates just the text for you to read. When you have read an item from your pocket, you can check that it has been read, star it as one of your favorites, or delete it. You can also open the item in typical web browser mode. If you want to share the item, you can email it, tweet about it, pin it, post it on Facebook, and many other options. The app will de-clutter your email and favorites list on your web browser.