Using DoInk for the iPad, create amazing animations for a variety of project, lessons, and more. It is a great app, well worth the money. Best way to learn it, is to simply play around with it, Google a few ways to do x or y and just have fun! It is a great way for visual learners and thinkers to create. Respond with ideas you might have on how to use DoInk.
App link here.
I use education technologies with the purpose to allow students to grow their imagination, perplexity and acceptance of failure in a learning environment that is physically and digitally adaptable for independent and collaborative work that continues to focus on understanding the whys behind learning not the what.
Would love feedback and thoughts…
Source: http://images.eurogamer.net/2012/articles//a/1/4/8/2/5/3/2/Minecraft_360_049.png
Recently I attended a conference in Hong Kong and a session on using Minecraft in school stood out to me in and edgy, risky way. As a teacher eager to learn new technologies and to think about how to incorporate them effectively into my teaching, the idea of using a game that my students LOVE intrigued me. Rob Newberry was a dynamic speaker, discussing the intense creativity necessary to both create and to survive in Minecraft worlds. I’ve looked at a variety of articles discussing the pros and the cons of video games as well as investigated a few TED talks on the topic of gaming as well. Previously I was very against video games, thinking that they sucked people into a digital world that then negatively impacted their interpersonal skills. However, having done some research, I do think that creation games like Minecraft require a set of skills that can be incredibly valuable in an adaptive world. That being said, I do not think that people should spend a great number of hours on games, but I do think that using an interactive platform like Minecraft has potential to redefine the way that we teach certain subjects. For example, using Minecraft to teach about culture and community could be an innovative way for students to explore what is essential to life and to living with others. I am eager to think through and to understand the place that Minecraft could have in school. Some questions I have about integrating it would be: 1) understanding from parents that the game could be useful as a tool to teach content 2) what if kids don’t like or want to understand the game, how would this impact integrating it? 3) would it be better to simply have a club after school?
My questions and thoughts continue to pour out of me in regards to this controversial topic. Any opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated. I will be beginning to assist with a Minecraft club soon that is focused on creating a world and a culture. Students will then compare these two worlds analyzing why the are similar and different. Here’s to new adventures, new horizons, and lots of time spent watching YouTube tutorials.
Students listening to a poetry reading of “Owl Moon” on the iPad using VoiceThread. Other applications of VoiceThread: poems read and thought of rather than written, digital versions of narratives, interviews etc., quick and easy way to do a podcast.
When January roles around, many of us find ourselves with bright new faces in our classroom, wide-eyed and a bit nervous. New students starting mid year, are to me, both the most wonderful occurrence and the most difficult.
Catching up a student on the ins and outs of your classroom, technologies he or she might not know, as well as assessing their learning levels so that they can be placed in the appropriate reading and word study groups are all necessary, but time consuming.
My new student is full of the most inquisitive questions and desire to understand. That being said, this wonderful student is still behind many of the other kids in my class. Therefore, I’ve needed to sit with her as we work through math, reading and writing in order to allow her the necessary explanations that will enable her to participate.
That being said, my other students are limited in the time I can give them. So, today I tested out using my ipad as a second “teacher”. I thought of this idea while she and I were reading, then proceeded to spend 15 minutes figuring out how to find an age appropriate website or PDF that I could then convert to an ebook through a site I had googled moments before.
By the length of that sentence, my brain and fingers were trying to move at about 100 miles per hour. So, finally we reached our destination. I changed the general settings on my iPad to allow for accessibility (ie. so that the iPad will read to you when you highlight something). Then, I showed her how to highlight sections so the iPad would read it to her as she read along. We then worked on going back and highlighting the words she still didn’t understand.
This was helpful as I was then able to walk to other reading groups and listen in on their discussion or chime in with additional questions.
My next phase of implementation is to 1) be ready with the PDF prior to handing over the iPad 2) look into installing an epub plug-in on my browser (testing out Chrome plug-in here) 3) figure out how to enable highlighting words and researching their definitions 4) asking myself how can I take this to another level with her? (As of now I am thinking of having her voice record a summary using voicethread.)
