Tech Tuesday

Today I am linking up with Marie from Once upon a Classroom for her Tech Tuesday.  I have been wanting to link up for the past several weeks and there just always seems to be some crisis that pops up and gets in my way.  But I finally made it this week, although it is a tad bit late. 

I am loving the app Plickers.  It is a fast easy way to assess where your students are at.  You go to their website here and sign up, no worries it is free.  Then download the app to your phone or iPad. Next you will need to print an answer card off of the website for each student in your class.  It is click and print, super easy.  Each card has lets the student answer a question with A, B, C or D.  

You can assign just the number to each student or enter their name into the app and set up the number of questions you will be asking. Now you are ready to assess.  You just pose the question to your students, orally or projected on your smart board. Each student holds up their card with it pointing in the correct direction displaying their choice...A, B, C or D. Next you quickly scan the room with your phone or iPad and the app does all the work for you.

You can just view the answers on your device and you will be able to see who still needs help with mastery.  As a second option I have projected the answers up on the smart board and that way we can discuss what the different answers were and what the correct choice should have been. It is a great opportunity for the students to explain the reasoning behind the answer they chose.

I first saw this app at a tech conference last June. My first thought was, this is so cool, then I was thinking, how will this work in kindergarten. Much to my surprise it works pretty great.  The kiddos learn quickly which direction to hold their card to display the different answer choices. I keep meaning to take a picture of my kiddos participating, but we are usually caught up in the excitement and I forget.  If you do teach K and want some easy premade assessment question cards to be used with this app check out Mary at Sharing Kinderdarten.  She has them for several Math and ELA standards. She even made a how to video for you visual learners.

As you can see the possibilities are endless with this app. Hope you all have a great week!

My iPad can do what??

If you had to describe your summer using the title of a blockbuster movie, what would it be??  That’s what our Principal asked us to come prepared with on our first teacher workday in August. Well I answered “The Notebook”. 

Now I know you are asking yourself what does this have to do with iPads.  I am getting to that I promise.

Anywho…the movie title is not what you are thinking either.  I do love my hubby.  We have been married 22 years next week, by the way I was a child bride, I must have been, I can’t be that old, I digress again…but he is not really the super romantic type.  I choose “The Notebook” because I went to three different Professional Development training's this summer and filled up a notebook with fantastic ideas.

One of the training's was three days all about technology.  I learned some pretty terrific things.  So I am linking up with TheTeaching Trio for a fun Tech link up.

Have you thought about going paperless, or at least using less paper in your room.  There are all kinds of ways to do that.  I am super lucky since I have a class set of iPads.  We are still learning how to best utilize them to their full potential.  However, even if you only have one device there are still things you can do.

First up, I have some fantastic short cuts to use with your iPad. I know this week is supposed to be all about apps, but I have a few quick tips for your iPad too.

Did you know??

Gestures to use with your iPad…

*Use 2 fingers to pinch in and out to activate dynamic zoom on text and pictures.

*Use 3 fingers to double tap on the screen to turn on zoom.  Then drag your finger around to pan to other areas of the screen.  Tap and hold to zoom up and down levels.  Double tap to close out.

*Use 4 fingers on the screen going upward to see all of the windows you have open that you can then scroll through.  4 Fingers down will return you to where you were.  I look at this like flipping between multiple tabs on my computer.

*Use 5 fingers pinched to the middle to close any app you are in.

Next Up some Keyboarding tips. 

*BY hitting the space bar twice at the end of a sentence it will automatically put the period for you.

*Shake your iPad 2-3 times to undo what you just did.

While on the main keyboard do the following:

*Press and hold the comma to get an apostrophe.

*Press and hold the period key to get the quotation mark

*Press and hold the N to get the Spanish n

*Press and hold any vowel to get alternates

While on the second keyboard do the following:

*Press and hold the $ to get the &

*Press and hold the 0 to get the degree symbol

You can switch keyboards to get any of these actions, but once you have the hang of these short cuts it would be much quicker.

Now for some fun apps to use. (All of these will work with your iPhone or iPod Touch too, if you don't have an iPad yet.)

Notability...  I really love this one.  It is $2.99, but so worth it.  You can add any picture, pdf or word document into it from your google docs and write directly on it, with your finger or a stylus.  This has endless possibilities.  One of my favorite ways to use this is when giving my DRA tests.  Put the passage on your device and make your notations right on your iPad.  Then file it under each child’s name.  No papers to keep track of. You can even easily export the files back to your desktop if needed. 

You can also use the record feature to keep a record of their voice to listen to at a later time if you need to recheck. The best par,t if you want to do this, you can get all of the DRA’s already in individual pdf’s online.  Just visit…http://literacyloungenyc.wikispaces.com/DRA+FormsK-2  They have higher levels available as well. 

Do you do running records?  You can do those on your iPad too.  readwithmeapp.com

Want to turn your projector into more??  Download Doceri  You will need to put it on your iPad and computer.  Then what ever you have on your ipad will project onto your screen, if your computer is connected to the screen as well.  You can then circulate around the room. Go through your presentation, or power point, without being tied to your compter.  

Even ask students questions about the content.  Hand the student your iPad to choose their answer and it shows up on the board.  Everyone is involved and interacting.

Want a fun and easy way to access the learning happening in your room? Check out Plickers  You print off a card with a special shape for each student.  You put in your list of multiple choice questions into the program.  You ask the question and each student holds up their card in the proper direction, essentially choosing A,B,C or D.  You take a quick scan around the room with your iPad and it puts the answers up on the board.  

You can see how many answered each letter.  No need to use personal names if you don't want to, just use student numbers .  Then you can see who needs a little more practice on a particular skill. It also allows you to discuss as a class which answer was correct and why.

For those curious students.  Why not discect a frog…what…yes you can.  There is an app that shows it all (frogdissection) and lets you do the work by moving your finger on the screen.  I have some kiddos that are going to love our unit on frogs. Warning the app is $3.99, but I think the experience will be priceless.

I have even more fun to share, but rather than overwhelm you with too much I’ll be linking up again next week with some more Technology Tips.  Hope you found something useful.  Be sure to check out all the other fantastic ideas in the Technology linky withThe Teaching Trio!

~Laura