Tactilis App In Action

We tried the Tactilis App in our math cooperative group work.  Some students LOVED it, some students went  back to their paper after a few short moments.  Either way, I like the fact that ALL students were engaged in the learning and recording/reflecting during the math problem.  Some students used the large white board that accompany all learning environment areas and some utilized the paper textbook.

See what happened...

What I Like About School...

After six weeks of embracing technology...
Hardware: 30 iPad2, 10 Netbooks, 5 Desktop Computers
Apps:  See the list
2.0:  Student Professional Blogs, Twitter, YouTube, Google Apps For Education

and embracing Problem-Based Learning...

our students explain "What They Like About School..."




NOTE:  We will be showing this to parents when they wait patiently during Parent-Teacher Conferences...
ANOTHER NOTE:  None of our teachers or students have had this type of technology or been involved with Problem-Based Learning; It is definitely a work in progress...

Quizlet - Perfect For iPad

Our math lesson today brought us to multiplying and dividing integers.  We will get to the contextual problems tomorrow, but today we focused on the rules for multiplying and dividing integers.

I started by displaying a Google Presentation that put the rules in a love/hate relationship.  See it below.


We then moved to two great Quizlet sets of multiplying/dividing integers.  I love Quizlet as it works fantastically on the iPad.  Yes, I know there is an app, but we really don't need it, and the links to the flashcards are easy access on our classroom blog.  I was also thankful that I saved some time and chose a group of flashcards that were previously made from a different person.

See the video of our class in action with Quizlet on the iPad2.

Career Clusters in an Invention Process

We developed an invention and decided how each of the 16 career clusters were involved in the process.

In this video, students posted their ideas on Twitter.

Team Tests - Collaborating To Succeed

We utilize one team test per chapter that usually occurs two days prior to the individual test.  We have have found that it is a great way to have students rationalize what they know and how they know the steps to solving problems.  See the process and hear how students use the time.

Tactilis - FREE iPad2 Writing App

There are many writing apps for the iPad that are compiled in a great blog post by Apps in Education.  However, today is the day I discovered Tactilis - FREE writing app for the iPad.  Not fancy, but it allows for "saving to photos" which then can be posted to our blogs.  I will be using this for quickly writing out a math problem to post to the students' blog.



Visit the Tactilis Website

iPad2 Camera For Reflecting on Concepts

The camera on the iPad2 really opens doors for reflection time.  We used our blogger app to teach our parents how to subtract integers.  Students did a great job of combining real problems, pictures of their work, and written directions on their blogs.

iPad2 App List As of October 11, 2011

The Apple Volume Purchasing Plan (VPP) has cut into the amount of apps we can have this year. With that in mind, our list of apps on our iPad2s at this time are HERE.

KI - Another Piece of Furniture

Thank you once again to KI for the furniture.  We are not sure how we are going to use it.  Student with best email of how to use it, gets two days in the chair.

Subtracting Integers

When I Googled videos about subtracting integers, every one had a teacher lecturing how to do it.  We decided to create four videos that would allow for students to see real subtraction problems of integers.  They needed to determine the "take away" problem and how it changes to an addition of the opposite.  We consider it a small case of problem based learning!

See the vidoes!

Our students using the videos for discussion of subtraction of integers!