Thing 29: App-palooza 2018-2019

I decided that I would take a look at this Thing because I got 5 iPads for the library this year that I am underutilizing.  They are great for exit ticket or survey-type activities because they do not require the students to log in as the Chromebooks or desktops do.  We have a few apps on the iPads, but not many and some of them are not working as I would like.

So, first I read: SAMR made easy with Google Apps.  I can tell that I am stuck in the Augmentation level with my 2nd through 5th graders at this point. They do group research projects using analog and digital resources and then use Google Docs to type, edit, rewrite, and publish.  They share with the members of their group and with me.  I am branching into having at least 5th grade then do Google Slides, but at this point, there is not really interaction with other group members.  We also use Google Forms and Google Classroom to share comments, do exit tickets, or take surveys, etc.

When I taught 6th grade (before my schedule changed to be a teacher prep so now 6th grade doesn’t come), I did encourage them to do more interacting with each other because they started with group projects but ended with individual projects and there were simply more projects than I could keep up with.

I guess I should consider how to get my students to the Modification Level in their next project. Hmmm!  Peer coaching perhaps?

I was disappointed by the Exemplars as they are all clearly HS level.  Isn’t there anyone out there who is a model of excellence at the Elementary Level?

Next, I read: Should I Download that App?

My thoughts:

1.    Content first -I hope that this was obvious.  Are there really people out there not considering the content when they use apps in their classroom?

2) Skills -Again, duhhh!  The whole point is to teach the kids something.

3) Consumers vs. creators -Well, yeah, I want the students to be creators, but isn’t there something to be said for consumers, too.  I want the kids to know how to use a variety of resources for information.  Those resources are to be consumed; they do not really allow creation on them, but the information that is consumed can be used to create.

5) Better app to do that -I have been trying to download a bunch of apps on my home iPad to compare, but that is incredibly time-consuming and could be expensive.  For instance, I compared the OverDrive, Libby, and Sora apps.  Sora is definitely the winner for ease of use.

10) Talking to App Creators -I literally never considered doing this.  I have written to some of the developers of the electronic resources we subscribe to, but I never considered talking to anyone about the apps.  I just figured I liked them or I didn’t.

Finally, I’m glad that they included the paragraph about privacy, but I wish that it was higher in the list.  I understand that there are new regulations going into effect regarding apps that sell info to third party vendors.  I wonder how this will affect our ability to use apps.  I’m not even sure how to investigate that aspect of the apps.

I read: iPads in Kindergarten and will forward that link to our kindergarten teachers.  They have 1:1 iPads for their rooms and can utilize these much more than I can with 5:17+.

Next, I looked at iPad as Teacher’s Pet.  I am very glad that I bought my own iPad to learn on and to use at school. (Though every time I misplace it somewhere, I worry about theft!) Here are my thoughts:  

• Using the document camera -I wonder if that would work.  I get glare on the books and papers I show sometimes, but it is worth a try.
• SMART Notebook app -Is it worth the money? I usually use the computer to make my Notebook presentations.  The app would let me create at home, but that could be its own disadvantage and typing on the iPad can be annoying.  (I’m using my Chromebook right now.)
• Randomly -Sounds interesting, but can it handle lots of different classes?  Strange, I can’t seem to find it on my iPad. I seem to remember that there are other options for this from past Cool Tools sessions.  Again the whole privacy question will come into play.  I will look for something else.
• Many of the other management apps can be found on the https://classroomscreen.com/ site.  It has a timer, a clock, a traffic meter, a sound level, and more.  Seems easier than lots of other apps.  I do use the clock app installed on my iPad to be sure that I am submitting morning attendance on time.  The timer and clock are already in that one, too.
• I do use ClassDojo with my first graders who are a challenging grade.  I turn off the noise though because otherwise I feel like I am training rats or recreating the Pavlov’s dog experiment.  ClassDojo lets you link with parents, but while I want their support for serious problems, I’m not getting into notifying them for every little problems.  I wonder about the privacy issue with ClassDojo.  Other teachers in my school use it, so the kids were already listed for my school.  I just picked the ones for each class.  Stil, they know the kids first and last names (because there are so many duplicate first names in our classrooms) and who their teacher is.  Many have parent contact info attached, too.  This is certainly an issue.
• ForAllRubrics -It sounds somewhat interesting, but it seems like the rubric feature is not enough to cause me to duplicate the grading & communicating features of Google Classroom and SchoolTool.  More levels of input is not necessarily a good idea.
• Post-it Plus -I’m not sure why I would need this.  I could take photos of the post-its or use a scanner.  Doesn’t seem worth it.  Am I missing something?
• Quick Key -This seems like it would be good for a multiple choice quiz, but it doesn’t really fit into my library classroom.
• Talent Show Buzzer -This could be fun, but I already own buzzers.  Also, I found that using buzzers encouraged impulse answers instead of deep thinking.
• Book Creator -the app costs money, but the site is free for a limited number of “books”
• Tiny Tap -I’m downloaded this to investigate.  I found it tough to locate the activities that were already made on subjects I was interested in.  I tried my hand at creating activities without much luck.  I could get the page to look great, but not so much the actual interactivity and learning aspect.  I did some Googling to search for help and found multiple references to the fact that when you first download it, it is a trial and that you are ultimately subscribing.  I certainly can’t get into subscriptions at school without lots of prior approval.  We all lost our SMART Notebook subscriptions for over a month last year while the district looked for the money and got the contracts for that.  I’m not sure if we are the only district with these problems, but I hate to build a lot of lessons based on something that won’t necessarily be around. 
• Flipgrid -I wonder how I could integrate these with my lessons.  Since we aren’t 1:1 it would have to take place over a larger period of time.
• Audience Soundboard -This might be an interesting way to get the attention of the class.  It is just a website and not a part of the classroom screen that I mentioned previously.
• Nearpod -Looks good, but pricey.  I had investigated this over the summer after the Learning with Innovative Technology 2018 conference and I would still love it.  I know that they have been offering free trials again, but just like with Tiny Tap, I am hesitant to jump into something that I might not be able to continue.

I hope to get a chance to come back and look at Library in Every Pocket but I don’t have the time right now.

In the final analysis, I didn’t find anything earth-shattering.  More time is required to investigate.  Interesting that I said that I knew I needed to know the content and skills I was teaching to pick the app, but I’m sort of just randomly looking at apps.  I guess that is because it is hard to find the time to investigate the apps when I am in the midst of lesson planning/preparation. It is on my down-time that I investigate apps or other resources and then try to see if I have a use for them.  Am I doing this backward?