iPad conversation

We met after a several-week hiatus (conferences, vacation, etc) and discussed how the iPads are going in our classrooms. We talked about:

-note taking on the iPad is hard...what is the answer? A Bluetooth keyboard?

-struggling with one iPad per room...we need to group them together more

-we will plan ahead to share the iPads

-feel comfortable giving it to the kids...they are quite responsible

-voice thread on the iPad is great because students can choose/take photos and they are automatically put on the camera roll and can be easily uploaded.

We'll meet again in two weeks and then connect with the first grade teachers on March 16th!

Btw...this blog was written on an iPad!

PaperPort Notes!

I have been using this app for about 3 minutes and my mind is going wild.  PaperPort Notes was recommended by Cathy, after she read about it here.  Since it was free, I downloaded it.  With PaperPort you can create a document by typing, writing, and using voice-to-text recording.  I like the flexibility.  It's like dragon dictation and an interactive notebook combined in one app.  On the second try, the voice-to-text recording worked perfectly for me.  The thing that is most exciting, though, is the ability to share in so many different ways.  I can share a document as a PDF file, through email, Dropbox, or Google Docs.  I can also open it in Pages.  What this means is that a child can create a document, using their voice or a combination of voice and typing/writing, and then share it very easily with their teacher.  For students who struggle with handwriting or organizing their thoughts on paper, this is a great step for them.  I am excited to try it with a student soon.

Educreations

I am using a great app called Educreations to document student understanding of the different algorithms taught in 4th grade.  My goal is to have each student complete a tutorial on several different algorithms.  We started today and several students recorded themselves working on a division problem.  Here is one example:


This is so much more powerful than looking at a student's work on a piece of paper. I can get a sense for his thought process and his understanding.

For some reason the sound doesn't seem to work on the above. Try this link.