Blog Post #13

Dr. Strange assigned us to contribute to future EDM310 classes by making an assignment in which we think they would benefit.

I think one thing that we have not covered yet that would be beneficial for future teachers to learn is all of the apps out there that are available to help teachers. We focus so much on apps that help the students to improve their skills that we forget about apps that could be useful to us. An assignment could be to find 5 to 10 apps that would help us as teachers and tell what they do or how they could be beneficial to us.
During my research, I found a few apps that could be beneficial to teachers no matter what they taught and no matter what the age group.



Class Dojo
This app helps teachers keep track of each child's classroom behavior. You can give points/rewards and take them away. It is specified for teachers so you can add your entire roll into the app. It is an easy way to control your class when it is getting out of hand because it makes a fun noise when you are giving each of the kids points so when the kids start to hear the noise, they start to straighten up. It is also fun for the kids because they are trying to get points so you can give the kids some incentive by telling them that they get some kind of reward when they get to a certain amount of points. It is also beneficial for the parents because they do not have to wait for a report card to come out to see how their child is behaving in class.

Remind 101
This app is like text messaging but in a safe way for your students, yourself, and the parents. This app allows you to send messages to you class about reminders of due dates, upcoming events, etc. and you can send texts to parents about conference dates, behavioral emergencies, concerns, or updates on school events. The best part about this app is that no one can see or have access to any one's phone number. The app has them secured so you do not see any students' personal phone numbers, any parents' personal phone numbers, and best of all, they do not see your personal phone number! All of the communication without having them blowing up your personal phone number. Cannot go wrong with that!

Haiku Deck
This app is one that helps build presentations. It is a presentation app that is built just for an iPad or devices like it instead of using PowerPoint. It has many different preset layouts that you can choose from and has high quality pictures or you can choose your own. It is easy to use and is great for when you are in a hurry to make an impromptu slideshow for class. It has the option to create custom graphs also so if there was an in class project you could easily put all of the information into graph form for the class to see.

Trollo
This app is great for project management. You can assign tasks and within each task you can attach files, assign labels, due dates, and more. It is designed for you to see a news feed so individual work within collaborative assignments are less likely to fall behind. Students can also "vote" and comment on tasks so you can get immediate reviews for feedback or brainstorming ideas. It is a free app and keeps your project groups organized and your students' on a structured path of their own.

Socrative
This app is great because it can be used for testing or for play. Teachers can set up questions and students can answer them on the app and you can display the results in a real time graph as they submit their answers. This can make a pop quiz more interactive or you can turn this into a round of jeopardy. Either way, I know I used something like this in my college classes and it was always much more fun than a normal quiz.