Great Apps to Use in the Classroom!

I participated in the chat, #edtechex! There were some really great apps discussed that I could definitely use in the classroom. The theme to this chat was apps and programs that we use that could help students in the classroom.
I learned a lot in this chat even though there was only a few people participating in it. There were a lot of apps discussed for presentations. They brought up Prezi which I already knew about and another one called HaikuDeck which I need to explore some more. The apps that were brought up are Vittle and Hideout:Early Reading. There was a website that was brought up that had that best apps for a tech class. This is the link, http://bit.ly/1gurR5g . I checked out Vittle and it’s a really cool app to make a video presentation with and it costs $8.99 in the Apple App Store. This sparked a question in my head so I decided to ask in the chat. I asked if the apps were in the budget. There were a lot of responses to my question and it turned away from the original theme. Some responded that it was easy to purchase because it is in the amount of money that they are given for devices. It can be easily tracked using the AirDrop feature on the Macs. Another teacher said that he only looks for free apps because his school does not have a way to track the cost and what not. I found this very interesting because it all depends on what school district you are in and if they support the tech part of learning.
The link that I posted earlier in this blog had some really cool apps that I could use in the my future classroom, one being Adobe Ideas. This app has been reviewed by the blogger’s students and they say that they love it. It is for drawing but, it could be used in many different ways. Also, with the name Adobe on it, I’m sure that it is a great product. Vittle free is also mentioned on there so in the app store there must be a free version but it does not say what the limitations are with that.
During the chat I followed people and program twitters to see what they were about. Here are the ones that I followed:
1) Andrew Jenkins (@allthejenkins) who seemed to lead the chat. He was the one who introduced the theme of it and gave some great feedback to those who were participating. He was the one that said he loved the free apps since his school did not have a way to track the money going into apps.
2) Jon Smith (@theipodteacher) was a very active teacher in that chat that also gave some great input and was very savvy with technology (you could see that from his twitter name). His school did have funding for the apps so he was able to buy apps. He recommended the twitter @explainevrythng that explains great apps. So I decided to follow it.
3) Explain Everything is a flexible design and screen recording tool. I did not look in depth in it but I did find that you can insert and annotate over everything using this program.
4) Haiku Deck (@HaikuDeck) I followed this program because it was one of the presentation programs that I have never heard of before. It promotes the free app on the twitter page as long with different ways that you can use the app as well. I am definitely going to look into this!
5) Educreations (@Educreations) This was one of the first things referenced in the chat so I followed them immediately. Looking through their twitter there are multiple pictures of students using technology in the classroom. They also respond back to tweets regarding technology in the classroom so I would definitely use them as a source of information.
Overall, this was a great chat to participate in and I definitely recommend it to teachers who are trying to use the iPads in their classrooms. It was a great source of information that I could use later on.

Chatting with New Teachers!

I participated in the new teacher chat on twitter using the hashtag, #ntchat. There were new teachers from around the world giving new ideas to two questions that were presented by the proctor. The first question was how can we make back-to-school night a little more exciting and out of the ordinary? I found a lot of good ideas and most dealing with technology. I found this to be refreshing because I could relate it to my educational tech class that I am taking right now. One idea that I thought was the best that I saw was to make a video of who you are as a person (interests, social) and your goals as a teacher. This gives the parents an idea of who the teacher is besides who they see in the classroom. This can also start the year off on a good note when it comes to trusting the teacher. By making a video, it gives a more personalized look at their life and who they are. Another idea was including a letter from a former student to ensure that the teacher has made a difference in someones life and could be that teacher in their child’s life as well. I will definitely be taking these recommendations into consideration when I am a new teacher. 

The next question was what are some of the challenges you face most in communicating with parents? The responses to this were very similar in saying that when a parent is not willing to listen to you as the teacher it becomes a lose/lose situation with the teacher, parent and most importantly the student. Some said that the parents may not know how to care because they had bad experiences in school. This may be the case, but as the teacher it is our responsibility to instill a trusting relationship with the student and the parent. Positivity being the key to this. If the situation got to be out of hand, most said that an administrator should get involved. One suggested this app called Remind101. I looked up #Remind101 and it brought me to a site that was not involved in the chat and it brought me to a podcast by @TeacherCast. The podcast was very helping in explaining the app and I would definitely want to use it with my students. What the app does is that it ensures a safe way for teachers to text their students and parents without overstepping the boundary. The school district should approve of this before the teachers use it so there is no confusion. This gives the teachers the ability to text their students about homework that is due or something that wasn’t said in class. It is reassuring that there can be a safe way to communicate with the students without worrying about getting in trouble with the student or their parents. This is the link to the Podcast that explains all about Remind101 http://bit.ly/1cFkfLd . 

I decided to follow the people who gave me great ideas, inspiring teachers like me and some teachers that seemed to have some experience. I followed @Mr_Dreher because he gave interesting responses to the second question that I definitely agreed with in saying that a parent that is not on your side makes it a lose/lose situation. I decided to follow @NellaGarcia because she was very positive in her thinking saying that parents are assets and add value no matter what the circumstance is. This mindset is definitely ideal when dealing with parents and something that I would want as a new teacher. Next I decided to follow @MeganStamer because she does have some experience and gave the wise suggestion to take it to an administrator if a situation starts to get out of hand with a parent. @mskelly_2014 was the one who tweeted about the Remind101 making me look more into it and finding the podcast. I respected her insight into the technology realm with this app that I have never heard of before. Lastly I followed the founder of #ntchat, @teachingwthsoul. She was one who presented the questions and she did give answers and feedback to some people. 

Overall, this was a great experience and I will definitely be participating in future new teacher chats. It was very organized and easy to follow which made it even better!!