Mobile Apps

      This week we are focusing on mobile apps and how they can be used in education.  I have chosen some apps that I feel would be most beneficial to my students and our curricular needs.

     As I explored the possibilities of apps for my class I found great ways to practice math facts using Match Up Math and SkillsTutor Math Fact Fluency.  SkillsTutor even records what students do so that I can view their progress.  Teachers are always looking for ways to incorporate fluency practice into our daily instruction.  Using Fluency Timer would allow this to be completed in a station with students recording their fluency weekly, monthly, or as needed per individual student.  Writing is another area that I always search for something creative to do with my class.  With Storyrobe students can create books and record their own voices.  Timelines are something that we have been doing in classrooms for such a long time.  Using Tiki-Toki I found these timelines can be created by students.  This could be independent work or even a group project.  Finally, my school is always looking for ways to connect with families.  With Google Groups I have highlighted how teachers can create mailing lists and include parents, students, or even other teachers.

Please view the apps I have chosen to highlight.  I am excited to try some of these with my own students.

Apps	Brief Description/Uses
Storyrobe	Students can create books, record their voices, and share their books on the internet.
Match Up Math	With this app teachers could differentiate practice for students using addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division.
Google Groups	Using Google Groups teachers can create mailing lists to share documents, such as class notes, sites being used, and even calendars with class information.  This could be shared with other teachers, parents, and students.
Fluency Timer	This app costs $0.99.  Teachers could ask their school’s PTO to purchase this app.  Students can record their fluency reading and teachers can review these recordings throughout the year.  This could also be shared with parents at conferences.
SkillsTutor Math Fact Fluency	This app offers instruction and practice for math facts.  Students could use this at home or school.  All the work is recorded so teachers could view it.
Tiki-Toki	This app so many possibilities.  Students create timelines.  This could be great for writing stories and creating personal narratives.  In Social Studies the class could keep a timeline for the school year keeping track of what they have learned.

Using Technology Tools in School

Throughout my technology course I have been keeping a list of my favorite technology tools and website to use with my students.  This really helped me to select my favorite resources to evaluate for future use in the classroom. 

I chose four areas of criteria to evaluate: Accessibility at School, Assignments Can Align to Standards, Interactive for Students/Teacher, Instructional for Age Group, and Promotes Social Networking.  Most of the tools I chose we already have access to at my school.  If I find problems with student access I can send a request to our technology department.  I believe all of the resource tools I chose are age appropriate after students have received some basic instructions.  Many of the technology tools will be interactive between the students and myself.  This will be very beneficial so that I can keep records of student work and give appropriate, immediate feedback.  Aligning these tools to standards is such an important question.  I believe using my own creativity along with students’ ideas we will be able to incorporate these tools with our standards successfully. 

            When creating this evaluation rubric, I was thinking of my own fourth grade class and the entire grade level.  As a grade level we do research with each of our classes and I know my team would be more than willing to explore some of the technology tools I have chosen.  I believe some of the tools will be incorporated into our Science and Writing curriculums easily.  I have simple ideas for class note taking using the type with me tool and class presentations using powerpoint or voicethread.  I know my students and they will love using these tools individually and as a whole group.  I am excited to share these ideas with my team of teachers. 

We do research across the curriculum and I would love to incorporate so much more with these resources.  I recently received an email about technology summer training and hope to be able to attend.  I know my team of teachers will be pleased to see how I will be using some or all of these new technology tools.  I have ideas, but would love to open up the discussion at a team or even a staff meeting to brainstorm more ideas.  Technology must be part of our daily instruction so students will be prepared.  Using technology tools, such as those I have identified and evaluated, would be a great place for teachers beginning to incorporate technology.  Once a teacher begins to explore with these tools, I am sure they will be pleased with how simple they will be for the class. 

I honestly had not heard of many of these before taking the W-531 class.  Although each week I find myself extremely intimidated when reading the instructions for the week’s activities, in the end I have found that the activities and projects weren’t as difficult as I had thought.  Looking at my classmates’ blog pages and weekly projects, it is very obvious that I still have so much to learn as I see very impressive, even professional-looking work.  I am pleased with what I have learned so far and am excited to see what my students will be able to so with these technology resources.  

Please view the Technology Tools I have chosen and my evaluation of each tool.  

                  Technology Tools Rubric

                   Renna Waalkens

	Criteria Evaluated
Technology Tool	Accessibility At School	Assignments Can Align to Standards	Interactive for Students/Teacher	Instructional for Age Group	Promotes Social Networking
Xtranormal	3	2	1	2	0
typewithme	3	3	3	3	3
scribd	3	2	3	2	2
voicethread	3	3	3	2	2
MyBigCampus	2	2	3	2	3
blogger/blogspot	3	3	3	2	3
slideshare	3	3	3	2	3
wikispaces	3	3	3	3	3
facebook	1	2	3	2	3
powerpoint	3	3	1	3	0
googledocs	3	3	3	3	3
Learn360	3	3	1	3	0

3: Excellent

2: Very Good

1: Good

0: Poor/None

21st Century Skills

21st Century Skills need to be utilized in every classroom so we can prepare our students for our technology world.  After studying 21st Century Skills, I now understand how important these skills are for my students.  Please view my Visual Story demonstrating my ideas about the 21st Century Skills.

21st Century Skills Visual Story