When starting out in a classroom with iPads can be intimidating, especially if you have never used an iPad. There are so many apps in the Apple store, that it is hard to know where to begin or what apps are even good for your students and age appropriate. Hopefully your school will have a list of apps they approve of or recommend. But if not, I have found that submerging yourself in the app to find out about it is the best way to really learn what you like best, and what would be best for the children. So here are six apps that I have been exploring this week.
1. My Spelling Test - The app My Spelling Test is an app that is useful for children who are having to take spelling tests. The teacher can upload that words by recording the word and maybe a sentence along with it and the child can type in the word. After the child has entered in the word, it will show whether it is correct or not. At the end of the test, it will show how the child spelled the words and whether it was right or wrong. This would be a great practice tool for parents as well as teachers. I remember my mom sitting with me and testing me on my spelling words every week. If she was not available, then it made studying hard. It would be so nice to have this app, so even if the parent is busy the child can study any time or anywhere.
2. Show Me - Show me is an interactive whiteboard app that allows users to create and upload videos of demonstrations that were done on their "whiteboard." When you record your Show Me, it will record what is on your screen and what you are saying. So you can talk about a subject and draw on the board or use pictures, just like you would in class. There is also an option to search for specific topics so you can pull up any Show Me presentations that other users have made public. You can "like" a video, subscribe to a user, or even friend them and you will be able to see their Show Me presentations much like your Newsfeed on Facebook.
3. Strip Designer - Strip designer is an app that lets students create their own comic strips. I remember being in English class as a kid and we had to draw our own comic strips to show the order of a story. Now, for the artistically challenged, this was one of the most traumatic days of class, the only this worse was if they made us show it to the class...or worse, post it in the wall with my name in big letters on the front. To save kids from the trauma and embarrassment of being incapable of drawing anything more than a stick figure, this app would be great to let kids build their own comics to learn how to organize a story. Not only is this less embarrassing, it is more time efficient because the children are not just focusing on what their picture looks like, but what the actual point of the project is, and that is to learn the beginning, middle and end.
4. iMathematics - iMathematics is more of a text book app than some of the others I tried out. The book is in front of you and you can flip through pages. With this app, you have the ability to write notes to go along with your studies. There is also a tab with different equations as well as a calculator. While this app was interesting for me as a prospective teacher who has an interest in math, this app would be limited when it comes to a homework aid. It has helpful hints that would be great for a quick reference, but there wasn't as much practice included as some other apps.
5. MathBoard - MathBoard reminded me of an old handheld game that I used to play with as a kid. I would sit for hours and do math problem after math problem. Granted, mine was a "computer" game that was about as big a modern laptop, and only had 10 other buttons aside from the keypad. But it was a lot of fun and I became great at math through repetition of doing problems over and over in my head. This app is very similar. The appearance of it is as if you are looking at a chalkboard, and are doing problems in front of the class, just without the pressure of all your peers staring at the back of your head. But there are several different games that come with the free installation, all testing different subjects. I played through the one asking greater than or less than, and one where I had to select the correct answer from multiple choice. It was also timed, which would encourage kids to work harder and to learn the material without having to use a calculator.
6. Sketchpad - Sketchpad is an app that would be used for geometry or other higher mathematics classes. When I found this out my brain wanted to immediately turn off because I would rather work with equations and algebra than shapes. But I continued to explore because it is a math class, and I do have at least a tiny bit of interest in it. This app would be perfect for a classroom where each student had their own iPad. In this app, the teacher can set up the different pages that include an equation and what it would look like on the x,y axis. The students can manipulate the plane and move the object around to change the equation, or change the equation to change the picture on the plane. While this app would be a little too advanced for my middle schoolers, it would be an amazing app for a high school teacher if they have the access to the iPads.
Excellent assessments!
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