Suzanne's Ed Tech Reflections

Another successful iPad Media Kit training last Saturday. The group was small but very enthusiastic! They are excited about the possibilities having an iPad, Apple TV, and HDMI projector will bring to their classroom instruction and the positive impact to student learning. As we moved through our 4 hours training, the excitement grew and grew as we introduced each app and its potential for instruction, learning, and student engagement. One of the first things we do at iPad Media Kit training is to read 3 articles about teachers using iPads and Apple TVs in their classrooms. It is a great way to get everyone on the same page and thinking about how the iPad and Apple TV will impact their own classrooms. We always try to model best practices during the training. So as teachers are sharing the big ideas from each article, we model using the PaperPort Notes app to record their comments while wirelessly mirroring our iPad screens via the Apple TV. They were excited to set up thei...

The 5 Dice: Order of Operations app is becoming a favorite with many of our math teachers and students. The game requires student to use higher order thinking skills as they work backward to create an equation whose solution equals the target number they have been given. Students must use all 5 numbers from the rolled dice and the given operators to create their "order of operations" equation. The app is appropriate for both upper elementary and middle school students and can address different skill levels. Students can use order of operations that involved simple addition and subtraction or more complex equations involving multiplication, division, and parentheses. There is a whiteboard feature that lets users test out potential calculations to hit the target number. The app also has a built in reporting feature where you can view a student's scores and also email a report to either the teacher or a parent. You can see how a student is doing as well as how muc...

It always amazes me at how organization and creativity our iAchieve teachers. They are always looking at different ways to manage and keep track of the iPod touches. Here are a couple of examples: Some of the teachers use little baskets to organize the iPod touches and their storage boxes. The baskets are numbered by table and list the iPod touch numbers for each table. They have the table leaders for each group quickly and efficiently get the iPods and then put them away when they are done for the day. It's also a good way to store them at the table when they are not being used.        In this classroom the teacher has created iPod touch docking stations for each table. She used "fun foam" and cut out rectangles that could accommodate 4 iPod touches for each table group. Using a permanent marker, she sectioned off the rectangle and has numbered each section for students to "dock" their iPods when not being used. The teacher can easily see who has follo...

In 8th grade social studies, students study 20th Century United States History, including World War II. As part of an assignment, students were asked to write a letter to a relative from the perspective of an internee at a Japanese American internment camp during WWII. One student took the assignment above and beyond the requirements. She used Google Translate to translate her letter into Japanese. Here is the text of her letter in both English and Japanese: The letter in English: Dear Lee, There was news about us Japanese people being relocated. At first I didn't believe the news, but sadly it is all too true. Once I arrived, it looked hideous. It was just so unbelievable how terrible this place looked! Let me tell you, there was no heat, running water, or air conditioning. It is a huge disgrace they are doing this, epically since we are citizens! I have been considering joining the army, but my mind is mad up. I will not fight for this despicable place! These people who pu...

In December I wrote a post about the Haiku Deck Presentations app. It's a really nice, user friendly, and free presentation app. Haiku Deck lets you create presentations that are, in their words, "simple, beautiful, and fun." The creators of Haiku Deck ( http://www.haikudeck.com/ ) promote creating presentations that are simple and include beautiful images but not a lot of text. In previous versions, you could only add two lines of text per slide - I do like that idea. After all, you should be the presenter - not your presentation! Opening slide on a Water Cycle Presentation Haiku Deck has done a lot of updates but the latest Haiku Deck 2.0 update is probably the biggest.While keeping with their philosophy of minimal text and one idea per slide -  simple but beautiful- they have integrated the ability to add both bulleted and numbered lists to a slide. You are limited to 5 items per slide.   Haiku Deck automatically just the spacing of your list but you do...