Apps For the Classroom
5 Clever Apps that Teachers can use to Enhance their class
1. Spark Notes
In a classroom setting if I was teaching Romeo and Juliet, once we had completed the unit I would have the students (for homework) read through the "important quotations explained" and "key facts" then proceed to go through the quiz as prep for the unit exam on Romeo and Juliet.
2. Educreations Interactive Whiteboard
This app has many uses for in the classroom but one that stands out to me it taking a concept that is key in the course and elaborating on it. For example, if I were teaching Math and the students were having difficulty understanding pythagorean theorem, I could create 2-3 questions and record the process of how to solve for side c while talking over the visual representation. By recording it students can pause or re-watch the lesson as many time as they want to get the concept.
If you would like to download the app you can do so by clicking here.
3. Pocket
This could be a great tool in the classroom for Social Studies teachers. I say this because I would use an app like this for research projects. When I have done research projects in the past I sometimes find great articles online that I could use but then something happens and I forget where I found the article. As a teacher I would have the students, while working on their research, to save ALL articles to their pocket. This way the teacher can see things like how many articles the students found and which ones they used/didn't use. It also allows the students to access the article from where ever they are on their mobile devices, laptops, or the computer lab at school.
If you would like to download the app you can just click here.
4. Edmodo
This another app that has a very large variety of uses for the classroom. One that stands out to me is the ability to post important dates and assignments which sends the students a message to their mobile devices. For example, if I were teaching a Construction class and I required that the students find a safety video on YouTube to show for the next class, that evening I could make a post on Edmodo to remind them of this. They would immediately get a reminder on their phones so if they forgot they would now be reminded. In today's society it is rare for a student to not have a cell phone. So if a teacher can use that to their advantage by sending students messages to their phones about important dates and assignments it can help they students remember. The app is great for this as the teacher does not have to have the students' phone number or vise versa, but can just send a message through Edmodo. I definitely want to take advantage and use this is my classrooms.
If you would like to download Edmodo for free you can just click this link.
5. TeacherKit
This app is a teacher's greatest friend. It's a great tool for keeping track of all your students and classes. This is definitely an app that I will need to use as a teacher as I love to have have things organized in one place and this will do just that. One of the ways that stands out to me the most about this app that I am excited to use is the grading. The app allows the user to "Log student grades as you add gradeable items in the intuitive Gradebook (Teacherkit, 2012)." For example, if you have a quiz with your math class that you want to add to your gradebook you can very easily add another column to your Math 9 class called quiz 3.2 and quickly add the marks that each student received. It's a quick and easy way to save paper and save your data.
For a quick video on the app click on the video below. If you would like to download the app click this link.
References
Educreations. (2013). Frequently Asked Questions. Educreations. Retrieved on November 11, 2013, from http://www.educreations.com/faq/.
Pocket. (2007). About Pocket. Pocket. Retrieved on November 11, 2013, from http://getpocket.com/about
Wikipedia. (2013). Edmodo. Wikipedia. Retrieved on November 7, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmodo
TeacherKit. (2012). Features. TeacherKit. Retrieved on November 11, 2013, from http://www.teacherkit.net/features/