DOCSTEACH APP for this APPY FRIDAY

Subtext in your Classroom or Library

Subtext

"Subtext is a free iPad app that allows classroom groups to exchange ideas in the pages of digital texts.  You can also layer in enrichment materials, assignments and quizzes - opening up almost limitless opportunities to engage students and foster analysis and writing skills."   I see so much potential with this app!  See what teachers say here and I will walk you through how easy it is to get ePub documents on Subtext. 

I collaborated with 5th grade teachers on a series of great tools for students to respond to the book Wonder, by R.J. Palacio.  I want to make some cross-curricular connections by bringing the disease that August had; as well as, bringing in some math and social studies.  The first thing I had to do was build my library with some articles.  You can see my library below.  

You will also have to set up your class groups.  Subtext works with Edmodo, so if you have Edmodo, it will populate your groups for you.  When you create a group, you are given a code that students will need to access their Subtext group.

When you first get subtext, it will ask you to save a link to your bookmarks bar so that you can easily convert articles.  

Next, begin searching for articles you like on the web.  I loved this article.

 When you find an article that you like click the "Save to Subtext" link and you should see this....

 When you click the Save to Subtext, you will see this next prompt asking if you want to save to one, two, or all of your groups.

Then, when you go to your library, you will see your article in ePub format.

Then you have an option to create questions for discussion.  You are given options for True or False, Multiple Choice, Polling, or Paragraph responses.  I chose a poll to bring in some math statistics.

 After a group has been given instructions to read an article, they would choose the discussion link to respond to the literature.

I found this tutorial - so I am going to include it here....

 Can you see the possibilities of this platform?  My mind hasn't stopped spinning since I have come across it.  Please share your ideas for using Subtext in your library or classroom by leaving a comment below!

Apps for the Inquiry Process

Our school just unrolled the first phase of our 1:1 iPad program tonight.  In preparation of this big event, I spent some time this summer looking into how I could support and guide students through the research process using apps.

It was tougher than I expected to build a list like this....  

Apps come and go.
Opinions vary.
And upgrades can leave a favorite app on the bottom of the heap.

But it was also a lot of fun to read through suggestions, try new apps, and build a chart that includes all phases of the research process.  You are welcome to take it, use it, and share it:

At my school, we follow Kath Murdoch's Inquiry Cycle so I have grouped the apps according to the steps of that model.  But I think they can easily be adapted to other models. 

My simple hope in sharing this is that I get you thinking about which apps you use with students during the research process.

And let's keep the conversation going...

Because apps come and go
Technology evolves.
But the need to be able to locate, evaluate, and use information will continue.

What would you add to the list?

App of the Week: Follett Destiny

I frequently use Destiny Quest on my iPad to access our catalog while I am in the stacks with students.  It's just so.... portable... convenient... and easy. 

I love the feature that provides suggested titles - a life saver when the requested title is already checked out or has been mis-shelved.  

The idea of an app for the circulation side of things has been on my wish list for quite sometime.  Just think... book check-out IN the stacks, IN the hallways or staff rooms, IN the classroom... everywhere things change hands.

Follett Destiny

In all honesty, it is a little embarrassing to be so late to the table with this post, but I was so thrilled to finally discover this app existed, I just had to share... 

The Follett Destiny app was first released last September, and while I am not sure how I missed the news, I know I am not the only librarian who was busy starting a new school year, settling into a new role, learning hundreds of new things each day.  If there were blog posts, LM_Net discussions, or Tweets about the release, I missed them all.

Until last week...

I stumbled upon this app while reading what's new in the recent upgrade to Destiny 11.0.


While still somewhat limited, the Follett Destiny app does the basics beautifully.  You can:

• Check books in and out by keying in or scanning barcodes
• Find patrons by scanning library card OR searching by name or id #
• Check patron status
• Check item status

This is not an app to replace the traditional platform of computer and barcode scanner.  When checking out multiple books, one must tap on "scan" for each book.  Tap, scan, tap, scan.  Not really a problem, but an extra step I am not used to doing.  Completing checkout for an entire class of students with multiple books each will obviously take longer than our existing circ desk approach, but scanning the odd book outside of the library has become much, much more convenient.

Another thing I have found is that I need to close the app when I leave it.  If I return to Follett Destiny without relaunching, some of the features do not work.  Closing and relaunching solves this.
After more use of the app, I realized the problem was me, not the app.  You must clear patrons (one tap) between individuals, otherwise it thinks you are searching books.

I read in the app store reviews that some users would like an inventory tab.  While this would be a nice feature, bear in mind that items "checked in" during an inventory will be marked "found"... which makes it possible to inventory via the app.  However, you will have to tap "scan" between items, and there will be no beeps to alert you when a book is misshelved.

Have you used this app?  What do you think of it?

Apps of the Week

I have tried a few new apps recently, but I have not found one that proved to be an indispensible tool for a while....

and then I stumbled across the lists below 

from Silvia Rosental Tolisano on Langwitches blog.

I can already spy half a dozen I want to check out immediately.

YAPP - App Yourself!

Yapp is an app that you can use to create events, then share with a group of people via web or tablet.  

Yapp gives you a variety of options to choose from when choosing themes....

Once you have chosen a theme - you can personalize your YAPP with a photo like below:

Then you add invitation information and twitter feed hashtags like: #clockworkprincessbookclub

Then you can add group photos, book cover photos or any other photos you choose:

And last, but not least - you have the ability to add personalized pages:

Once you publish your YAPP -  you can share with other via email or URL.  If you want to customize your URL - you can do so for $5.00.  There might be benefits for that but I am not willing to pay $5.00!

I see so many uses for this app - don't you? Think about it - group meetings, book clubs, vacations, hangouts, and sports events - a lot of ways you can utilize YAPP.  Let me know what you use it for!

Haiku Deck - Free iPad App

Haiku Deck

Haiku Deck is a free iPad app that allows  you to create wonderful presentations easily.  Haiku Deck allows you to choose from different styles and themes and then gives you access to free Creative Commons licensed photos.  It is so easy - kids can use it too!  On February 15th, the Haiku Deck blog written by Claire, gave some great ideas on how to use Haiku Deck in the classroom and iTunes gives a list of great ideas too.  Suggestions?  Science lab presentations, homework assignments, summarizing discussions, book talks, sharing books, reports, visual resumes, poems, highlights of lessons and pitching ideas.  Teacher presentations are always the key to how student's are going to listen - this tool can definitely make the difference.  On the Haiku Deck web site - they have a gallery of different presentations that students, teachers and other professionals have produced.  Here are a couple:

Catherine Carr created this presentation on Mobile Learning using Haiku Deck....

Ken Shelton created the presentation below.....

Can you think of great ways to put Haiku Deck to use?

App of the Week: ShowYou

I am challenged.

Just ask Ann.

I have had an account since completing 23 Things in 2010, but I rarely used it. Ann, however, is a master at Twitter, and has encouraged me to jump back into the stream...


Maribel Castro is another Twitter-inspiration. At each presentation I've attended, she mentions Twitter and its value to her professionally. She recognizes that we all have our preferred social media (I am a Facebook person, Maribel is not.) At her last presentation, she confessed to being Prezi-challenged, and shared that she commits herself to learning a new technology each month.


So I am committing myself to mastering Twitter. I can do the basics: log on, follow, read posts.... and I even post myself, although most of my posts come via Scoop.it! But there are two challenges I need to overcome:

I need to learn the language

Twitter is a foreign language in which I am not yet fluent. Most posts look like a bunch of gibberish with all the #'s and @'s and URL's. My 10-year-old daughter, in an effort to help, added Justin Bieber to my feed. Dare I admit that this teenager's plain-language tweets are the most intelligible easiest to read (yet irrelevant) of all I receive???

I need to learn to Tweet effectively

Time saver or time waster? How do YOU handle the non-stop stream of tweets? I tried using HootSuite, which is a good app, but left me deafened in a cacophony of tweets. For a time, I avoided Twitter completely because the tweets from colleagues read as a list of links... links that I feared would take me on too many bird walks (no pun intended) to be a productive use of my time.

Showyou to the rescue!

While it has not reduced ALL my Twitter anxiety, Showyou has simplified a great portion of the links I receive. Showyou delivers of all the videos my contacts post in Twitter and Facebook, and it allows me to browse through thumbnail clips of them, taking some of the guesswork out of which links to pursue. There is even an option to follow other Showyou users, which I have not yet experimented with.

 

  What are YOUR Twitter survival strategies?

I have a prize to mail out for the most helpful tip/comment I receive by the end of the working day, 5:00 CDT, Monday, June 11. 
(Anonymous comments do not qualify. Sorry.)

EduClipper - Sign Up Now

According to Educational Technology Guy, there is a new app on its way that will allow you to clip and share anything on the Internet.

Sign up now here to be notified when EduClipper is available.

Apps of the Week - BugMe! & Visualize

With 1000's of apps out there, how do you find what you need? My app choices are generally either serendipitous or word-of-mouth recommendations. I certainly haven't tried them all, but I am committing to share a couple of my favorite apps each week.

BugMe!

I am a messy thinker. Ann about fell out of her chair the first time she watched me take my to-do list, write each item on a separate sticky note, spread them out across my desk, sort, and stack into a prioritized list. "What happens if you lose them?" she asked.

Losing my stickies has never been an issue, despite the daily travel. Staying focused is. I just can't work down a to-do list without getting side-tracked from the highest priority. So a stack of stickies gives me one thing to focus on at a time. AND I love the physical act of crumpling up and throwing away each item when a task is complete.

Fortunately, they are some other messy thinkers out there who know how to create apps. Now I can create virtual stickies without fear of losing them. BugMe! is an app that allows you to create stickies, color-code and sort them. They can be "written" with a finger or, for you less-messy thinkers, keyed in. You can even set up reminders or save them to your launch screen. When a task is complete, throw them in the virtual trash can. I do not remember how I found this one, but for $1.99 it has been a steal. Between BugMe! And Outlook, I stay focused while on the fly.

VISUALIZE
Visualize is the photo layering program on my ipad that I used to create the graphic in my last post. (ThingLink was added later.) This program came as a recommendation from
Kathy Schrock at the Infographics session I attended at TxLA. There was a small cost which I cannot remember.... There is a free version, but I splurged and got the $0.99 version. This is the first program I have been able to successfully create visuals with on my iPad. It is eBay to use, but the provided backgrounds and stickers are limited. It allows for imported PNG files, but I have not yet tried that.

What are YOUR favorite apps?

Personal Learning Progress - Part 2...Chopping Onions

My mom once bought a food processor.  And while it chopped an onion into uniform pieces in nothing flat, it was a pain in the backside to clean.  It had to be taken apart and washed and all those little trapped bits of onion fished out.  I decided right then I would NEVER own one of those.  Chopping onions with a knife and cutting board works just fine.  There is something satisfying about persisting at the task until the pieces are exactly the right size.  And clean up is a snap.

I tend to look at most objects, including webtools, with a critical eye to see if they are really a tool that will help me, or a toy that, while it may be a lot of fun to use, really doesn't move me from point A to point B.

My to-do list for the past couple of weeks was laden with new apps to take a closer look at.

So I started with a closer look at Symbaloo, leftover from my previous blogpost...

I even created an account.  And added two links.  I am supposed to be able to access my bookmarks anywhere, but that means I need to find them all first.  I realized I didn't have enough time to build a webmix of all the bits and pieces I use, although I can see its usefulness and efficiency once it is built.  I will add to it over time.  I will use it to create webmixes for teachers who ask for resources.


And then I moved on...


In the past two weeks, I have signed up at over a dozen sites.  Most of them have been free.  And most of them I just entertain the idea of using "later".


Like Symbaloo, Pearltrees is a site to organize your online stuff.  This feels like Scoop.It meets Del.icio.us.

I love the eye-catching graphics available here.  This looks like another way for this perfectionist to spend kill a lot of time.  Again, I think I need to add to it over time instead of cram everything onto it at once.  But Symbaloo or Pearltrees?  Anybody have a preference?  How have you used these with teachers.


Speaking of trees, check out InstaGrok, which looks useful for teaching research.  But I wasn't doing research or teaching, so I'll save that tool for another assignment, and let teachers know about it.

But will we use it?  Do we need it?  You can get nearly the same results using our Destiny Quest catalog... with print, website, and database results.  These can be filtered by grade level, subtopics, domain, etc.  The format just isn't a colorful graphic organizer.



While I was trying to organize my online stuff, I found Hojoki, a site to bring all of your cloud apps together.

I signed up, but then I didn't like the idea of sharing all my passwords for my Google Docs, Dropbox, Cloud app, Twitter, Delicious... The concept is great, but I just felt like I was sharing too much information with them.  I would love to hear from others that use this app.



Speaking of organizers, I found ThreeRing.  This app is still in beta format, but I am trying it out.  It is a place for teachers' to create digital portfolios of student work.

It is easy to set up and easy to use - especially with my iPad - and it is free for teachers.  I could see this being a great mom tool - a way to uploaded those early works of art, organize it, and eliminate the paper clutter.



Finally I decided I should stop and share all of this information with you before there was too much to report.  Trying to keep up with current technology, I thought I ought to put it in an eye-catching, graphic format...
So I signed up with Piktochart, Visual.ly, and got the Visualize app.  But I didn't really have statistical data to share and learning to use these tools was taking too long.  (My Infographic journey will be the subject of another post soon.)

Instead.... you get a plain, wordy blog post.  Because my goal was to chop onions, or in this case, share what I have learned, not wash more dishes.