Third Annual App List for the 1:1 iPad Classroom

Good afternoon!

Now that we're moving into year three as a 1:1 iPad school, it has become a tradition to write a post on the tools with which we will start the year. Over the past two years, students had access to the App Store and downloaded anything they liked. As of June, the administration has decided to put the purchasing/downloading in the hands of the IT department, therefore, teachers were tasked to turn in their list of required apps for each class. Our deadline was a couple of days ago, so I'd like to share with you the apps that the French community of learners will be using in 2014-15. This year, I wanted to mention that I'm adding Duolinguo and Memrise -- two language games -- because there won't be as much competition with Flappy Bird and other such favorites, at least not on the tablets. Ha!

2014-2015 Required Apps :

Fee-Based Apps:
Explain Everything (New)
Popplet
Quick Voice

Free Apps:
Blogger
Duolinguo (New)
Fotobabble
Google Docs
Google Drive
Haiku Deck (New)
Memrise (New)
Pic Collage
Shadow Puppet Edu (New)
Skype (New)
ThingLink (New)
WordReference Dictionary
YouTube

Course-Specific Apps:
StoryKit (French 2)
Twitter (French 2 and 3)
Pearson's eText (AP French)

Pre-Loaded Apps on All Devices:
DropBox
GoodNotes
Keynote
iMovie
Pages

What are your top tools for the classroom in 2014-15?

As always, I can have free apps pushed to the devices as I discover them over the course of the year, so please let me know if you use (a preferably versatile) one that is a must-have in your classroom.

Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Appy July, by the way!  (Haha. I couldn't help myself.)

Stop, Collaborate, Create, & Listen! Or How to Bring Creativity to the Classroom With Stop-Motion Animation Videos

Hello!

If you're a nineties music lover, you might have understood the reference to Vanilla Ice's super hit, Ice Ice Baby, in this post's title. I'm not sure why that song came to mind, but it speaks to me as I think about the project my learners completed last week. By the way, if you aren't familiar with this song, you can listen to it here.

The first lines of Vanilla Ice's one-hit wonder remind me of the general routine steps that are taken to begin a new, collaborative task in the classroom. So, here we go:  Students have to stop for a minute and learn more about the task, collaborate with a classmate to design an agreed upon product, create with their chosen tools, and listen to each other and folks outside of their team as they work. (Let's see, how can we add 'Shave cool designs in your eyebrows for the ultimate Vanilla Ice look?'  OK, I think I'm getting carried away. Moving on.)

All of the talk that has been going on about bringing creativity back to schools and fostering a spirit of innovation has been of particular interest to me. This would not be the first time I've asked students to create, for sure, but I'm challenging myself to bring new life to the projects we do and allow for more hands-on creativity while actively using the target language. Therefore, I decided to introduce the stop-motion animation technique and learn alongside my students of the French language and cultures. 

As a world language educator, I must mention the fact that we have a special challenge when trying to engage our students in tasks that students in other content areas are more linguistically prepared to complete.  In fact, one of our most important responsibilities is to facilitate authentic experiences that push our students to higher levels of proficiency while preparing them for the realities of today's world. This is no small task, especially when working with novices who can only communicate at low levels. What does this all mean? World language educators, like me, can make room for creativity in the classroom, but it might just look a little different from what learners are doing in another classroom.

So, here's a breakdown of how this project unfolded in French class last week :

Project duration:
We spent three days on this project. Some students have to finish upon our return from Spring Break due to absent team members.

Reason for this project at this point in the year:
It was the week before spring break. Sophomores were out on college trip for much of the week, and the juniors left for Costa Rica that Friday. I did not want to start a new unit, but wanted to experiment with an opportunity for creative expression while using the target language.Students who were absent are not required to make up this project unless they want to do it.

Project Resources:
The directions were posted on slides and displayed on the SmartBoard. The document was also uploaded to DropBox. The work will be assessed with a modified presentational speaking rubric (original doc came from Toni Theisen and her district colleagues) -- one for novice high and one for intermediate low learners. (See below for the link to the downloadable documents.)

Outcomes:
-This task allowed students with various strengths to develop their team-building skills in small groups.
-Learners thought intentionally about ways to have a global impact through the small organization they envisioned.
-Groups worked together to write the commercial in French. They learned new vocabulary that was particular to their product.
-Along with the language component, students became creators. Although these organizations/commercials were imaginary, this type of task could inspire learners to take more risks and consider not only the needs of the local community, but that of villages in remote areas of the world.
-ALL students actively contributed to the project. In fact, learners in other classes expressed interest in doing a similar project in the near future. Yay!

Reflections:
-This task requires more than three 50-minute days. Students could have used some guided small group pronunciation practice.
-Spend time doing a demo on any new apps and basic stop-motion animation techniques before beginning the creation stage of the project.
-Stress that the background is important, therefore, desktops might not be very appealing.
-Stress that photos need to be taken in the Camera Roll rather than the stop-motion app for best results. (Can move to iMovie and add music, etc that way.)
-Include time for tool (re)exploration, even if students already have experience with the tool. We all (re)learned some iMovie editing tricks that we hadn't really needed or explored before that point.

Looking to the Future:
Since our young learners are not always thinking about what lies ahead, it's a good idea to remind them to think about how projects and other learning experiences in the classroom could add value to their resume. While circulating and helping each group, I explained that they could share this stop-motion design experience with college admissions reps or potential employers. There are always ways to make oneself stand out in a crowd! Of course, this tip to keep track of interesting classroom tasks doesn't have anything to do with their mission to become proficient speakers of French, but it does prepare them for the future. That's part of my job, too.

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Educator Materials for Download:
Click here for access to the directions, rubrics, and sample student products. Stay tuned for more videos later this week.

Further Discussion:
How might you use stop-motion animation in your classroom?
If you're a world language educator, how might you use this technique while making the target language an integral part of the task?

Please share your feedback and ideas in the comments.

Hope you enjoyed this post! At the very least, I hope you were inspired to listen to some nineties fun music. Vanilla Ice will rock the mic like a vandal!

In the 1:1 iPad Classroom : Using Interactive Whiteboards for Presentations

When a school goes 1:1 with iPads, or any other device, it can feel like it happened overnight even if the reality is quite the opposite. In fact, it can be compared to the experience of a first year teacher who learned all sorts of good techniques for magic in the classroom, but then reality sets in on day two or three. No matter how much time educators are given to research, plan, and explore projects and cool apps, it's never enough. That's good and bad. As education professionals, we are lifelong learners by default so we are thirsty for new challenges (Get on board, if you're cruising. It's never too late to make positive change! Wait, you're reading my post. I'm preaching to the choir...) It doesn't feel cool, though, to put so much time in what we think is great preparation only to find out that our efforts don't always produce the best (or, sometimes, most effective) outcomes. C'est la vie, non?

Here's a prime example. I did tons of research during the summer before the iPads debuted in the classroom, throughout the year, and then again during the summer after that initial year. Guess what. It's been 1.5 years since iPads were distributed to everyone, and it's only been in the past month that I have realized the power of interactive whiteboard applications. This is due, in part, to the fact that it was completely overwhelming to revolutionize the way we utilized our learning space. As it is the case with most examples of change, I found a meaningful purpose for this app in my unique learning environment at the moment that inspiration hit me. Just as new teachers discover ways to effectively use class time as they make their way through the first years in the profession, I have been reliving that feeling, in a sense, as I discover ways to enhance the learning experience without making tablets seem like fluffy, entertainment contraptions. It has been so exciting!

My most recent inspiring moment occurred after a refreshing, mini brain break in December. Imagine that?! I started thinking that it would make sense to ask students to record and submit their presentations electronically from time to time since it takes up so much precious class time for each student to present en direct. As a result, I installed the ShowMe app, made a demo, and, finally, introduced it to my learners a few weeks ago. (I chose it because it's free, which allows me to avoid asking parents to make any more purchases at this point in the year.)

In the future, I will ask students to publish their work (rather than submit it to me directly.) Then, I will ask them to pick several presentations to watch while completing a follow-up task. In the meantime, here are some examples of student use of the interactive whiteboard app:

French - Level Two (Novice)
To begin a unit on travel and exploration, learners were asked to choose a research topic and ascertain interesting facts about Sénégal, a Francophone African nation. They used the app of their choice to first post photos that would illustrate their research. Then, they moved it to the ShowMe app where they recorded their presentations in French. (They could use one note card with a list of key words.)

Sample 1:
http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=VsipbLk  (Keep watching. Her photos appear around 25 seconds in.)
Sample 2:
http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=PTXSO7U  (Lesson learned: Make sure students take a screenshot of the presentation view of their photos.)

French - Level One (Novice)
In the middle of a unit on communities, learners shared their personal thoughts on local seasons/weather and what s/he likes to do. Students used the Popplet app ($4.99) to create a mind map of their ideas and then transferred them to the ShowMe app where they recorded their presentations.

Sample 1:
http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=efcnA4e

Sample 2:
http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=aOpsLsO

How do you (or would you) enhance learning with interactive whiteboard apps? Please share your ideas in the comments below.

On the 1:1 iPad Classroom: Tips for a Smooth(er) Year

Good morning!

Now that the first year with one-to-one iPads is complete, it's a good time to reflect on the lessons learned and plan for the second year. The following tips are not listed in any order of importance and can be relevant in classrooms where other types of technology enhance instruction.

• Test apps ahead of time with a student or colleague.
• Teach technology vocabulary, especially if you're a 90%+ world language educator, during the first weeks of school.
• Use an app because it enhanced the learning experience: NOT because it is on a 'top app' list.
• Give students a list of recommended apps for content area games/practice so that they can use them when they finish a task early or for exploration at home.
• Create another list of apps that provide ALL students with authentic resources in the content area. Great ones might include newspapers, magazines, museums, and the visitors' welcome page for a city.
• Show students how to add shortcuts so that they can quickly access websites that have not yet created an app for it.
• Actively monitor use of the iPad. If several students are off task, they are not being engaged.
• Ask students to load apps the day BEFORE you want to use them in class. Saves precious time.
• Show students how to make a folder for the apps that they'll use in your class. Do this during the first week of school.
• Know what you want with regards to note-taking tasks before school starts. Are you going to prepare guided notes? Should students take notes on paper? This can be a time consuming problem, so think it over.
• Carefully select the way(s) students can submit work. Naturally, there will be less confusion if students only have one or two ways to share their learning.
• Helps students organize their work within their note-taking apps. Require one-on-one time outside of class if students are unable to get organized. Do this periodically for the particularly unorganized student. I have had students take photos of important information and then leave it in the camera roll. Egads!
• Have a backup plan if the technology fails. We were fortunate to have very few days where the wifi didn't work, but there's always potential for down days!
• Be flexible, patient, and willing to learn!
• Allow students to choose the app they'll use for a task as long as it has the necessary features.
• Put the technology away sometimes. Students need to step away and see that learning can occur without it, too.
• Give yourself a break when looking for apps/tools to enhance a lesson. Quality over quantity.
• Choose apps that are versatile and allow students to create a product, when possible.
• Teach students how to produce quality photos and videos.
• Make a sound booth for recording in the classroom. Consider using a large cardboard box, egg cartons, and a blanket to create this space (sound booth construction idea by @k_shelton).
• Require students to share presentations with you. Hook your iPad up to a screen and pull up each presentation as students comes up to present. Saves tons of time!
• Ensure that the subject heading for task submission is standardized. Keep it simple!
• Decide on the e-mail address(es) you want students to use BEFORE school resumes. The addresses seem to automatically save in Contacts so there is confusion at times if there are too many addresses from which to choose.
• Strongly encourage students to save their usernames and passwords in Keeper (a free app that only requires you to remember one password in order to access your information).
• Ask yourself if the task can be done without the iPad/technology. If it can, ask yourself if there would be added tech skill-building possibilities if you go that route. Technology should enhance.

What tips do you have for educators who are going 1:1 in the classroom?

Appy Times in World Languages!

Good evening!

Now that summer's in full swing, I have had some time to reflect on my experiences with one-to-one iPads in the world language classroom. The initiative began in April of 2012 with the faculty rollout. We participated in several Apple-sponsored professional development days, beginning in May and ending in August. This allowed us to spend the summer discovering apps and preparing for this new adventure. The rollout for all high school students occurred in August, just before school resumed.  What a year of trial and error for everyone involved! 

In this post, the focus will be on the types of apps that were and will be used in the world language classroom. Although these apps were tested for and used in the French classroom, they can be beneficial in other world language classes and possibly even other content areas.

Year One in Review

Frequently Used Apps

-Dropbox (Free) - This one allowed me to organize documents within each unit and class and then share them with students. For the first couple of months, students submitted tasks to my account, but it was an organizational nightmare for me, so I switched to folders in G-mail.  I will continue to use Dropbox in order to share documents, rubrics, and so on.
-Fotobabble (Free) - Take photos, record audio in the target language, and share.  Great for speaking practice on content-related topics! Currently, there is only an iPhone app for it, so we just enlarge the iPhone version on the tablets. 
-iMovie ($4.99) - Create videos in the target language, edit, and publish.  The movie trailer feature would be nice, but we didn't really use it because it appears to only allow users to add music.
-LaRousse Dictionary ($4.99) - This was the required dictionary app last year. It has some great features, like the verb conjugation charts for many tenses and the audio pronunciation of vocabulary, but there are often too many choices for novice learners to effectively choose the word they need. Students will be asked to install the WordReference iPhone app this year (See below for details.)
-Keeper (Free) - Store passwords in this app that requires users to only memorize one password to gain access. Pay $9.99 to upgrade to access in the cloud and backup protection.
-Keynote ($9.99) - Create presentations (Apple version of PowerPoint.)  My students often create presentations made up of images and/or graphs with or without text which they use as a visual for presentational speaking tasks.
-Pages ($9.99) - Type essays (Apple version of Word.)  Upper level students used this app more than the lower levels because they typically wrote persuasive essays for a major assessment research task.

Less Frequently Used Apps

-Blogger (Free) - We started the year out with blogs and planned to comment on other French students' blogs in another state, but it didn't work out in the end because I tried to bite more than I could chew during the first year of 1:1 iPads...  This is a rather user-friendly blogging platform, but initial setup was a bit of a struggle for some students because the set-up steps aren't cut and dry from what I remember.
-Book Creator ($4.99) - This tool allows students to make several books. It includes an audio feature and the finished product can be opened in a variety of places. My second year students used the storytelling tool of their choice for a book writing
-BuddyPoke (Free) - Make talking avatar videos in the target language and share.  Last year, we used the app one time in French 1 in order to create a French-speaking avatar. Learners might make an avatar at the beginning of the year and add to their online portfolio this year. 
-Concept Mapping Tools (Free) - Make a visual representation of one's learning. Great springboard for critical thinking and presentations. I won't name any of the free apps here, but every single one we tried had major bugs to fix, so we were never able to use them.  See below for the tool I may use this year.
-Feedly (Free) - Upper level students used this tool to access all of the blogs they wanted to use for research in the target language.
-Pic Collage (Free) - Make posters with photos or try their design features.  Similar to Glogster.
-Poetry Magnets (Free) - Create poems with this tool that allows users to change the language and include accents! Just drag a tile up onto the wall and double-tap on it to bring up the editing box.  When finished writing the poem, click save and then it can be located in the photo stream.
StoryBuddy 2 - The lite version allows users to make one book at a time and allows users to save the story as a PDF and gives more options than the previous tool I mentioned. The upgrade costs $4.99 and allows users to create 5 stories, add audio, and offers more ways to share. My second year students used the storytelling tool of their choice for a book writing task.

Year Two: Planning Ahead

-Instagram (Free) - Take photos, like them, and leave comments.
-Interview Assistant (Free) - Prepare interview questions and then record answers.
-iThoughts ($9.99) - Visualize the thought process! I've used a free (buggy) one in the past with upper level students who documented their learning over the course of a unit and presented with it serving as the visual. Students do not buy a textbook for my courses (with the exception of AP), but I do require them to purchase a few apps. If administration does not want to purchase it for all iPads, I might include it in my required app list at the start of the year.
-PhotoCard (Bill Atkinson) (Free) - Write post cards in the target language and e-mail them to recipients. Users can use their own photos or the app choices.
-QuickVoice2 Text Email (PRO Recorder) ($2.99) - Record from just seconds to hours in the target language! We tried the free version last year, but students could only record about 2 minutes if they wanted to share their work. Upper level students needed more time so we are upgrading to the pro version this year.  There is also the voice to text feature that will convert 30 seconds of recorded speech.  I only tested it in English, so I don't know if students can use it in French.
task.
-Share Board (Free) - Collaborate with one classmate at a time with the free version.  Before school resumes, I will test this app out with a colleague to determine if it would be a good fit for my classroom.
-Socrative (Free) - Do quick comprehension checks with short quizzes.  I may or may not use this app much since it requires a lot of prep on the teacher side. 
-Tellagami (Free) - Create talking avatars with pre-chosen backgrounds or user photos.
-VoiceThread ($79 for 50 student accounts) - Post a photo, video, or other visual and invite students to voice comment around it.  My school might fund it if I want to use this tool, so I might use it, but I still have to conduct a cost benefit analysis.
-Web to PDF (Free) - This tool will be for my use only since users must be 17+ to install it.  It looks like a great tool for capturing web pages for the class website or presentations.
-Weebly (Free) - Use as a class website where students can access links, documents, and so on. I just created a class site and it looks beautiful in Safari on the iPad. I have not actually used the app to build much yet, so I will be checking it out soon. I might have students use this tool to create their online portfolios this year, as well.
-WordReference (Free iPhone app only) - This is a great dictionary for the world language classroom. Some features include the verb conjugations in multiple tenses, lists of expressions, and the forums.

Voilà, voilà! I divided the apps from last year into the two categories of frequent and not-so-frequent use in order to show you that my students didn't really use a great number of them in the first year. I have found that it can be so overwhelming when we get our hands on new technology for the classroom, especially since there are many tools that can enhance the learning. The key is to choose tools that can be used for a variety of tasks and also help students reach their proficiency goals over the course of the year.  Sometimes less is definitely more!

Is there an app that you would add to this list?

If you use any of these apps already, what are some ways you use them to enhance the learning experience?

Please take a moment to share your 'appy thoughts' in the comment section below.