I will be presenting at iPad U which is an iPad professional development session hosted at the Grant Wood AEA in Iowa. This PD session will be keynoted by Kathy Schrock. This will be a two day session over integration of the iPad into the classroom. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to share how I utilized QR Codes and to assist in implementing a blended learning model in my daily math instruction. QR Codes were scanned to quickly direct students to videos. Upon completing the video, students took a quiz. After the quiz I used the Flubaroo script in Google Drive to instantly grade the results. This quickly highlighted which students would need some more support or extension. Furthermore, using this model I was able to free up more time to work one-on-one and in small groups more consistently and effectively.
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I was going through my blog list using Feedly and came across a post on Kevin's Meandering Mind. It was titled The Coding Video. I have embedded it below. I couldn't help but think how much of a connection there is between being literate in today's society as well as being literate with coding. Take a look at the graphic below that is from Gary's Social Media Count. I am not sure how much validity there is to the numbers but I think it paints a good picture for how digitally driven society is today. I also only let it run for 60 seconds. I am not trying to underscore teaching my first graders how to read but the coding video really made me think about the future. If society is dependent on computers should learning to code really be an overlooked skill in education. Teaching first grade, I know how much effort students and teachers must exhort to begin mastering the artful skill of reading our English language. The language where you have their, there and they're as well as a multitude of words that are nowhere near close to being phonetically spelled. I wonder if the logic and reasoning of learning to code would assist in a student's ability to decipher unknown words? Would their comprehension of text improve? I feel that inferring, cause/effect, and synthesizing to name a few would benefit from the critical thinking challenges encountered in learning to code. What do you think? Take the poll below to share your opinion on coding in elementary school. Resources for Learning to Code---iPad Resources for Learning to Code---Web Based Google Blockly A simple design to learn to program. Drag commands into order to build your application. Much like a puzzle where the commands will only fit where they will work. Snap Users put their jigsaw piece commands in order to build their application. Test your application at anytime to see the progress and then return to add or delete more commands. Very visual for assisting younger kids in learning to program. This resource was originally posted on the Educational Technology and Mobile Learning Blog. There are always great resources available on that blog so make sure to check it out. The embedded presentation below has many great apps and quick explanations about each app. Enjoy. Jumbled sentences is a total of six free apps that allow students to practice their word recognition, reading and comprehension skills. Each of the six apps has three levels. In each level, words are displayed all jumbled. The objective is to unscramble the words to make a meaningful sentence. If a student does not know the word, he/she can click on the word to receive an audio cue. After all the words have been unjumbled and placed into a sentence, the student can check the sentence. The sentence will be read aloud if correct or the incorrectly placed words will be returned to their jumbled location. Jumbled Sentences 1
Jumbled Sentences 2 Jumbled Sentences 3 Jumbled Sentences 4 Jumbled Sentences 5 Jumbled Sentences 6 Techtastic Teaching While I am not always a huge fan of utilizing an iPad as a gaming device, this series of apps does a good job of helping to reinforce word recognition, reading and comprehension. Students must use their comprehension strategies to determine the correct order of words. What: Bindle is a simple app ($1.99) that allows you to quickly create PDFs of your pictures. 1) From the main screen choose to make a book or an album. 2) Click the plus sign to add pictures. 3) You can import images from your camera roll, take a photo as well as import from a few other sites like Facebook, Instagram, Flickr and Picasa. 4) Once you have your selected images read to import, click done and let Bindle ad them to your grid. 5) Once Bindle is done working its magic, you have the option to share it. How to use..... We have been using this app as a simple tool for create digital e-books coupled with FlipSnack. FlipSnack turns your PDFs into flippable, digital books. Simply upload your PDF and let Flipsnack do the rest. Students could use this app to curate their learning. Send students on a scavenger hunt and use Bindle to catalog their learning. Use the app to snap some photos during PD sessions and turn into PDFs for later reference. If you are looking for a fun resource for helping students learn their alphabet then you should check out the Alphabetimals site. They also have an app. Check out the interactive book to hear an animal for each letter. In addition, there are some great resources such as flashcards, coloring pages and wall posters. You can even type your name/words with animals and then print them out, share them via social media or even order items with the name/word.
Looking around Free Technology for Teachers, I came across Richard's post by Mike Amante. The Slide Share is embedded below. With my school recently obtaining a class set of iPads, Mike's resources will be a good starting point for determining what apps might be essential across K-6.
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Andrew FenstermakerInstructional Technology Coordinator | Innovation Coach | Google Certified Innovator | Presenter | Blogger | Adjunct @UiowaEducation | Owner @kids_f_i_r_s_t |