Quizlet

Find the Technology Flashcards

Reflection - This is an easy app for creating sets of flashcards. The set creation could be done by students or by the teacher. There are many different options for ways to study the flashcards, including some races against the clock. This would help students review terms, practice vocabulary, or review key facts about a topic. I don't prefer games of rote memorization, but I know the students will like studying this way, and they can challenge one another with the speed games. 

Augmented Reality

Reflection - These apps would be very engaging for for elementary students. The AR flashcards would be great for younger kids and would get them very involved with the alphabet, shapes, and colors. The colAR Mix app would be great to get older kids excited about art. Many kids don't like the idea of coloring as they get older, but to see the pictures come to life would make it so much more exciting. 

Qrafter

Reflection - I have created QR codes before so this assignment was a bit easier than some. I created QR codes with a Google Maps link for our school, for a YouTube video that several teachers created for Halloween, and one linking to my school webpage. These would be fun to use in school, too. I have always wanted to put QR codes in the library near certain series of books that would link students to other books in the same genre. Near the Harry Potter books, I could post a QR code that would link to a website, "If you like Harry Potter, try these..."
     Another idea I had for QR codes could be to set up a scavenger hunt. Each QR could link to an answer to a question. Find all the QRs and you will find all of the answers!
                                                      I also really liked the idea of QR codes being used for student portfolios. This would be a great way to store student work and information.
        The potential roadblocks that I can envision would have to do with the lack of technological resources. We don't have devices for all of our students. Many bring devices from home but this is not an item that every student has. This would be a great tool for parents, too, but not all of them have access to a smartphone or other such device. In school, we share iPads among many students so it is possible that they will not be available, or they will not be charged for students to use.

Stop Motion with LEGO Movie Maker

Reflection - Creating a stop motion film was fun, but quite time consuming. First, a tripod would have been very helpful. It is really hard to keep the iPad in the same position throughout the filming. One must also have a lot of patience because in order to make the film flow, the objects can only be moved a very small distance.
     This project would be very fun if students were acting out a scene from a book. Different groups could pick different highlights from a novel and then bring them to life through stop action films. I have taught a  LEGO Night Lights (after school enrichment) class for the last several years. It would be fun to incorporate the stop action movie making into this class, too.

Movie Trailer with iMovie

iMovie was fun to use and the trailer was easy to put together. These presentations would be fun ways to introduce new units in the classroom. It would definitely engage the students! There are many possible ways that iMovie could be used in the classroom. Creating a trailer would be a fun "group mixer" for the start of the year. Small groups could work together to take videos and pictures and put them into the trailer. This app would also be a fun way to put together a year-end video for students. Many of our classrooms have a "Student of the Week" who puts up a display outside the classroom. It would be fun to have a "Student of the Week" trailer featuring a student's family and highlighting the student's interests.

Garageband

Reflection - I had fun adding and experimenting with instruments to create my own "sound" but I was very frustrated with finding a way to share the audio. I think that older students would have a great time with this app. They could create fun study guides that would help them remember facts for a test. Younger students could even put easier facts to music or to a beat. It would be a great way to memorize numbers, like an address or phone number.

YakIt Kids / ChatterPix Kids

This is my video using YakIt. This was a simple app to use and I like the fact that I could choose pictures from a gallery with many options. I liked that I could change voices too. The only disadvantage to this app is the 15 second restriction. It felt like it was too short to get my point across.



I made this video using the ChatterPix app. This app was easy to use, too. But this app did not have a large gallery of pictures to choose from like the YakIt app. But what made this app better was the fact that I could record for 30 seconds instead of 15. It made a big difference in being able to make my point without feeling rushed.

Reflection - There are many other ways that these apps could be used. We could take pictures of different computer parts (monitor, mouse, CPU, headphones) and then animate those objects to explain in 1st person what jobs they do in the lab. Another idea is to use the apps for 1st day of school introductions. Each student could take a picture of themselves and then animate the picture to tell a little about themselves and their goals for the year. Another idea would benefit the 2nd grader's animal reports. A picture of the animal could be animated to tell some facts that students learned from their research.