The New Periodic Table of iPad Apps

The New Periodic Table Of IPad Apps via Mark Anderson @ICTEvangelist


Click on the image above or click here
 to see an informative graphic via Mark Anderson (@ICTEvangelist) that breaks down useful iPad apps into categories for suggested use.  You can easily search for apps by color coded categories like creativity, collaboration, teaching, learning and more.  This updated guide can serve as a great resource to determine apps that can amplify your existing teaching and make a big impact on learning in the classroom.  As Mark points out in his blog posts, it’s not all about the apps, good pedagogy always should come first.  To see the full blog post about this Periodic Table of iPad Apps click here.  There is also a Periodic Table of iPad STEAM apps and a Periodic Table of iPad apps for older students on the ICT Evangelist website.  

Google Expeditions – Field Trips from the Comfort of your Classroom

Google Expeditions allows you to take your class on a Virtual Fieldtrip. Tour the Aztec and Mayan Ruins, the International Space Station, or Gettysburg National Military park. You can do all of this with your classroom iPads. When using Expeditions, you become the leader on your iPad and students join you on the tour with their iPads. Edtech teacher has created and quick video to show you how this works. Start by downloading the app on your iPad.  After that, you will be ready to take your students on a virtual Field Trip!

Deleting pre-installed Apps

Did you know that you can delete some of the pre-loaded Apple apps on the iPhone or iPad?  If there are some on your device that you never use and would like to get rid of follow these steps:

How to delete a pre-installed Apple app:

• Open a folder or locate an Apple app you want to delete
• Push down lightly on the app icon until it starts to dance.
• Tap the small x icon that appears on the top left.
• Tap Remove.

Quick Tips For Removing Distractions

iPad or iPhone  – Use the do not disturb feature. This will silence notifications on your device so you can work distraction free.  

Laptop – Close all apps. Turn off all notifications. Only use one app at time.

Extra Challenge – To give yourself larger blocks of time to focus. Check email only 2 or 3 times a day.

What works for you?  Let us know in the comments.

EdTechTeacher Resources

For week 3 of our Learn | Try | Amplify initiative, we are sharing a short video (2 minutes.  See above) about EdTechTeacher.org, which can inspire you with many innovative ideas and resources for teaching and learning with technology.  We invite you to share about your discoveries and ideas for amplifying your teaching from EdTechTeacher in the comment section of this post.  

Tech Tool Note: I created the EdTechTeacher video using Adobe Spark, which allows you to easily narrate and share well designed stories in minutes.

iPad as Teacher’s Assistant

The iPad Can Help Manage Your Classroom

Ever wish you had an assistant in your classroom? In a way, your iPad can act as your assistant and, in a sense, amplify your lessons and activities. Full Disclosure…. I’m completely stealing this idea, verbatim, from Tony Vincent’s blog. Tony’s infographic is filled with great ideas for using your iPad as your assistant. Each section of the infographic is organized into common tasks like manage your classroom, assess student work, or interact with your students. Below, I have shared just the section titled “Manage the Classroom” to narrow things down and provide focus for this week. I encourage you to give one of these apps a try this week and report how it went in the comments. That way, we can all learn from each other.

Photo App Smash

We were so happy to see the awesome display of art from the iPad Photo App Smash Elective currently hanging outside the Upper School Music Room.

Here is a description of the elective from Upper School Art Teacher Chris Vivier:

Using their iPad cameras and a variety of apps in various combinations, the students in this elective course have created these amazing images!  The exercises performed in each class are designed to expose students to the excitement of creative exploration and discovery.  With no preconception of what their work “should look like”, each student visually experiments with and manipulates their own images, responding intuitively to each unpredictable twist and turn in its evolution as they continually edit and alter it from one app to the next.  Ultimately, they arrive at a unique and personally determined conclusion with a new creative work of art.

Enjoy a few examples below and if you have a chance make sure that you pause the next time you are walking by and enjoy the entire show in person.

How Will We Make 2015 the Best Year for Pike Students?

EdTechTeacher and Google have partnered to create the EdTechTeacher Google Jamboree. The jamboree is a one day conference designed for educators including panel discussions, keynotes, and hands-on sessions at Google Headquarters in Boston on February 27th.  This is a chance for educators to learn from cutting edge thinkers and innovators in the field of technology and education and connect with other educators around the world. The event is limited to 200 participants.  To apply applicants must submit the answer to the following question ” How will I make 2015 the best year for my students?”  publicly in 250 words or less via a blog post, google doc, info graphic, image, poster, google slide, video, screencast or animation.  The following is my application and answer to the the question above.

EdTechTeacher start reading here.  

The Pike School is halfway into year two of our 1to1 iPad initiative in grades 6-9 and we are very excited about the opportunities that this initiative has already provided for our students. Students have created videos and iBooks to explain their thinking and show their understanding, backpacks are lighter, and students have access to a  world of knowledge at their fingertips throughout the entire day. To make 2015 the best year for Pike Students, the Pike Tech Department is taking advice from EdTechTeacher’s Justin Reich. In his checklist for “Moving Beyond Pockets of Excellence”, Justin recommends picking a small number of goals on which to focus, rather than, a large number of broad goals that can be more difficult to implement. The Tech Department has chosen these two of the six 21st century literacies from the National Council of Teachers of English to focus on with teachers and students this school year.

  • Develop proficiency and fluency with the tools of technology
  • Design and share information for global communities to meet a variety of purposes

To work towards these goals we are developing a four part course that will give teachers ideas, strategies, and training for classroom activities which will be available on this blog for teachers who cannot attend. We will be organizing Educamp style workshops for both teachers and students where the community can learn and share ideas. In addition, we will be assessing our progress via surveys to both students and teachers. Working in partnership with our teachers and students on these initiatives is going to make 2015 a great year!

Inspire Creativity – Three App Smashing projects from Greg Kulowiec

 

Looking for new ideas to help students tap into their creative side?  Check out this post by Greg Kulowiec.  App smashing discussed in a a previous post is when “students and teachers use multiple apps to create individual pieces of content that are then merged or smashed together into one culminating product”.  Three App Smashing projects by Greg Kulowiec gives details on how to create ….

  1. Animated paper videos
  2. RSA animate style videos
  3. Video lab reports
  4. Art reflection videos

As always the Pike Tech Department is available to help you get started with these projects.