App-solutely Smashing!

This was my presentation at the Foreign Language Association of NC Fall Conference:

Shoutout to Greg Kulowiec who is credited with coining the term "app smashing" several years ago....    http://kulowiectech.blogspot.com/

Many people already employ multiple apps

 to create a product which is then shared with the world on social media

There is NO reason not to!  High interest level, lowering affective filter, personalized, fun!

One teacher uses dice to select apps! Look on Instagram or Twitter with #appsmash

These are my go-to apps.  All are free except PuzzleMaker.  I also like Noteography, which is 1.99...

Not a super creative task, but keeps the student active and individually accountable...

Smashing adds an extra layer of understanding and personalization to a "boring" book activity.

One student makes this for another to complete.

Kind of like Tagxedo but with more options. Require students to personalize in an authentic and meaningful way so all components work together to create meaning.

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Students can either do this activity on one iPad using the created background in Make Dice Lite OR use 2 iPads, one with dice and the other with the game board.  Try two dice, one with subject pronouns and the other with numbers.  One person rolls and selects a square.  Then conjugates for the other person to check.  If guessed correctly, use the number dice to indicate the number of points won.

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Students create a web with a main idea and individual related items, then add photos to illustrate the main idea.

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Students create questions to ask other students.  In this case, they asked about favorite types of movies, and favorite locations for watching.  Then they put their data into the pie chart maker and collated both in one piccollage.  They followed this up with presenting on AppleTV.

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This assignment was to create a movie poster for a movie of their creation.  She used several apps including camera, PicCollage and Pages.

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With Elin's house, students can create their own house, design the colors, add furniture and can interact with the lights, inhabitants, and items.  Then they take screenshots and open in PicCollage, where they add the name of the floor, the room and list an activity for that room.  Students present their designs on AppleTV by saying "This is the living room.  I dust in the living room".  You could bring in questions about furniture, colors and likes/dislikes.

To practice training their listening skills we occasionally do a dictation.  When we do, students use an app to write like ShowMe.  This is especially important since there is no spell-check feature when students use a writing tool.  If students use the PicCollage (like this one) make sure you have toggled the spell check off.  Students then screenshot their writing so it cannot be changed, then open in ShowMe and correct using the pen tool.  This is especially important for metacognition and reasoning skills.  They get a grade for completion, since this is considered a 'formative' grade or practice.  

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For this assignment, students made a list of drinks they like every day, sometimes or never.  We then added the verb "bebo" to make them sentences.  I had them screenshot their graphic organizer and present to the class using AppleTV.  The other students opened their writing in PicCollage and applied a sticker every time they heard someone present something they had in common.  This is excellent to encourage active presenters but also active listeners. Level 1

Students snapped a pic of a student in class and had to answer several questions related to their new vocab, including Is the clothing tight or loose?  What color is it?  What is it made out of?  What is the size?  They typed their answers in PicCollage (although they were given the choice) and then presented their work in AppleTV.Level 2

After a cultural reading and seeing a clip of a documentary in Spanish about the trip, students had to find out more info and illustrate their finds.  This is what oen of my students came up with.  The words are her own. They then exchanged information with the other level 3 students.  Next time, I'll have them take notes on each other's presentations and then add that info to the test to make them accountable.  

Level 3

I'm in the process of uploading the actual videos.

Check out these links for more information:

Includes a full tutorial video:

http://kulowiectech.blogspot.com/2013/02/app-smashing-part-i.html

Great work flows:

http://appsmashers.weebly.com/work-sample-videos.html

http://vimeo.com/71366694

http://www.edudemic.com/app-smashing-education/

http://edtechteacher.org/blog/?p=2191

Download the Definitive Guide to App Smashing:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/5732877/Ebooks/The%20Definitive%20App%20Smasher%27s%20Guide.epub

Awesome teaching ideas:

http://www.zigzagstech.com/

Amazing examples of app smashing work flows!

http://lifefeast.blogspot.com/2014/06/app-smashing-study-guides-for-students.html
https://www.smore.com/02y4-app-smashing

Activity Ideas...what I've been doing instead of blogging...

Instead of blogging, I've been reading some really cool teacher tech blogs...which you can find links to on the sidebar to the right...one of those supplied me with this:
1. Doll House

This was a really cool idea I stole from a blog and adapted...students used "Doll House" app (free) to decorate a room, then they saved to photos, edited to reduce down to just the bedroom.  Some students opened the picture in picCollage and added some other pictures not available on the app.  Then they opened the pic in Skitch and added the text.  It can be done in PicCollage, too, just save as a background.  

I've been experimenting with different apps and discovered Elin's House app is also cool.  You  have more options and the interface is more user-friendly.  The graphics are better, too.  The only thing with this app is that you have to "buy" furniture...they give you 1000 tokens, so most things will still be free.  The fun thing with this one is that you can interact with the furniture...turn the lights on, open the armoire, etc.  

Not really new, precisely, but I was really happy with how this worked:

2.  PicCollage

Students have this assignment in their textbook, normally they draw on paper while I read the description...but instead of drawing, they took a picture of it and uploaded to Skitch.  

They drew the items they heard.  I did one, too, and used it as a model for them to check themselves against. I projected it to the screen so they could compare.  They then posted it to their blog and I had them analyze their results in a comment.

And speaking of blogs...

3.  Kidblog

 We've started blogging...This app is good (it is also available on the internet) because it creates a secure environment where you create "classes" that can then interact with each other, but are not jeopardized by the outside world, or other classes.

It took me about 10 minutes to enter all my students' names and assign them a generic password, which they then changed upon logging in the first time.  This app makes it ridiculously easy to post a picture...they select the "photo" tab, then click on the pic they want, then click "publish".  I had hoped this would eliminate having to upload to dropbox, copying the link, then turning in via google form. The transition has been a bit difficult for me, with some students doing the original turn in procedure and others posting on the blog, but in the long run, it is easier to grade by going to one person's blog...you can see all their assignments at once.

I use it to post pictures we will use in class for writing prompts.

I use it to post reminders...

I also use it to post answers to an activity.

The only draw back that I can find is that the app is a bit glitchy...it is new, after all...rollout was just over a month ago.  The other minor problem is that it doesn't like videos...but sometimes it will take them, and other times it won't.  In those cases, I just have students post the dropbox link or submit it directly to the google form with the link.

4. Dice Maker Lite

I'm ridiculously excited about this free app.  You can upgrade for .99c if you want to get rid of ads.

Once you open this app, select "Play with Dice Maker Lite"...you will be given a die that you can personalize.  When you shake the iPad, the dice roll...allowing you to do something like this, for basic comprehension checks...roll, then say the meaning of the verb in English...you could also use this for practice with subject pronouns.

You can add a second die to the first by clicking the " + ", then the + in a square to add a second die.  It will be a random die, click on the die and change it to  the first one you created...so now you have two.  You can add up to six for free.

I used this one for students to roll subject pronouns and verbs to conjugate...

One of my kids showed me that you can CHANGE THE BACKGROUND!  In settings, go to grid color and then select "photo album".  you can upload any pic as a background.  Here, I had my kids create a board with the two verbs we were working on in Skitch, then save it to the photo roll.  Then I had them upload as a background and use this to indicate the verb they should conjugate based on the subject pronoun visible.   You could use this to have students select which partner goes first...or as a teacher to select which student replies to a class activity...OMG, I love this one!  Like I said, ridiculously excited!