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

Good and Evil Twins with Split Pic

One of my students suggested this app...he uses it on his phone but there is an iPad version, or you can use the iPhone app on the iPad.  I imagine there are similar options in the android market.

Great free iPhone app allows you to create one photo with two by splitting the lens. While there are more applications, I'm sure, we are using this one today to create a graphic with good and evil twins.  

Students describe their twins using terminology like "travieso", "consentido", "bien educado", or "generosa".

This was the original, which he liked so much he posted to his Instagram account.  He later added his adjectives in Pic collage. 

Some students did theirs using the regular camera feature, then importing two photos into PicCollage, like this one...

(Yes, I realize there are some errors. This led to a productive review discussion about adjectives and gender.)

(Student photos used with permission)

  

Web 2.0 tools for a paperless classroom

 Click the link for the JogTheWeb Jog list...Web 2.0 tools for a paperless classroom

Recently, I was asked to share some tools for going paperless with a group of high school world language teachers, mixed languages.  Since we were using a room with desktop computers, I wanted to find similar tools to what I use every day on iPads, but in the pc/web version.  I wanted to focus on generic language tools, not content specific.  This is what I came up with...

Page One:
I started with a highlight from Google Docs.  I use it to create an answer sheet.  We complete an activity out of the textbook, for example, then I post the sentence prompts as a Google form.  This makes grading RIDICULOUSLY easy.  Every answer is the same in a column...it is glaringly obvious when there is a wrong answer.  From there it is easy to grade.

My feedback to students is decidedly low-tech. Either I meet with them individually (my preference, but difficult if class numbers are large), or I write on a scratch paper and hand it to them with the numbers of questions they got wrong.  I give them the option to resubmit.

Page Two:
I have created a Google form that students complete whenever they finish an assignment.  This is it.  It records their name and class period, the type of assignment, then a weblink to the final copy of their assignment.  Sometimes students complete work in their blog, upload to Dropbox or have handed it in on paper.  All they have to do is submit the form and I will have a list of student work links or the information about how to find it.  This has been a major time-saver for me.

Page Three:
Edmodo.  I still love thee, Edmodo.  Going beyond what Edmodo has done for my connections with students, it has done more for my connections with teachers.  Through Edmodo user groups, I've connected with thousands of teachers with ideas, links and activities!  The good folks at Edmodo really should be paying me...

Page Four:
This is a link to the list of teacher created user groups.  Click the link for your desired group and request to join.  It is very easy!  Let the sharing begin!  I just got word today that there is a new Realidades 1 group.  Contact me for info!

Page Five:
Zondle.  I've found Zondle through my work with Edmodo and I am looking forward to integrating this more.  It is a game platform for learning that has gotten some very good reviews.  I can tell you it is very easy to use!  I've only spent a small amount of time with it but I've had no trouble.  And the creators are on Edmodo and rapidly respond to any user issue!  I really like the new group-play feature currently in beta testing...it lets users join the game using the smart tool of their choice!

Page Six:
Web Whiteboard.  I use Skitch so much as I'm explaining grammar concepts or for students who can take a picture of a document or download a document and then complete it.  For this presentation, I wanted web-based tools to do similar tasks.  Web Whiteboard is what I've come up with.  It does similar work but is based on a web platform, not an iPad app.

Page Seven:
Fake Text:  If you are an aficionado of Facebook, you've already seen the results of this web application.  Essentially, you can create a small dialogue between two people and make it look like an actual text message screen.  As long as you follow a certain format, and keep it short, you will be able to see a web shot of the "text" conversation, and then you can save a copy or share it!  It isn't good for longer conversations.

Page Eight:
An excellent visual storytelling tool....Storybird.  I must be upfront here, I haven't used this.  I ran across it one day and found a couple Spanish stories.  I also asked my colleagues on Edmodo (do we sense a theme???) if anyone there had used it and several teachers responded-with both middle and high school levels-that it was actually a really cool tool.  Students use preloaded images supplied by real artists to create a "book".  The user adds the text.  I've seen it used for students creating stories using Preterite/Imperfect and for Teachers creating user-manuals for students learning how to form the imperative...Lots of potential here!

Page Nine:
Pinterest.  Kind of like Tumblr, for those of you who know that...it is a collection of user-curated images which usually link to websites, tools, recipes or blogs.  You can also "follow" others with images you like.  I started it because I am very visual and like all the pretty pictures!  I continued using it when I found the wealth of information for teachers.  Now, I must say it has kind of backfired on me...I go on it for fun and all I see are the hundreds of pins from all the educators I follow!    Boards and links are all in the public domain, so anyone can follow anyone else, if you can find them.  Users have been recently allowed to create three "secret" boards which no one else can see.  I know of teachers who create pinboards for their lesson of the day, or a certain topic, like "el Día de los Muertos" for example.  You can find a link to my Pinterest boards in the Best Links section to the right of this post.

Page Ten:
Speechyproject.org is a great blog combining language-learning and technology tools.  I've gotten lots of good ideas from them.  They have lots of examples in French and German, too.

Page Eleven:
Quizlet.  This is one of my favorites.  It is a flashcards, self-quiz, and game platform.  It is very like Quia.com but has some big things in its favor:  you can keep track of what your kids are doing, it has great tools for free that other sites make you pay for, and it does not use Java, so kids can use it on the iPads!  Another plus is that there are so many users now that I almost never have to create a study set, I just do a search for the book, level and chapter and pick from a list of options.  Once you find one you like, copy it to your own account and it becomes yours.  You can make changes, edits, etc.  I create a class and send a link to all my kids in Edmodo...then when they join for free, they are automatically linked to my account.  I can access their account info and game history.  Since they are a member of my "class", I attach a flashcard set to their class and they all get a copy of it instantly.  Two drawbacks:  you can't see the individual score for students' work and you can add photos to the vocab words but only from Flikr images (you can use your own in the upgrade edition).  Usually, there are plenty of Flikr images to chose from but sometimes the tags are weird and the exact picture you want is a bit hard to find.  Minor inconvenience.

I've heard teachers talking about Quizdini.com on Edmodo and would like to try it as well.  I think it does similar things.

I hope you enjoy and are able to glean something to use from this list.  One of the participants at my presentation said he enjoyed the student turn-in form on Google Docs and  my "evangelical statements" about Edmodo.  *big smile*

Qikshare, Dragon Dictiation and I'm a real blogger now...

I'm not sure when I started feeling this way exactly, but I noticed it just a week or two ago...when my last post hits exceeded the number my friends and family could account for, maybe...but I think I am considering myself a blogger.  It brings to mind that commercial from the 90's when a kid is pulling up his diaper underpants and singing "I'm a big kid now".  I'm a blogger now.  Go on, you know you are singing it in your head...

So I got excited yesterday when I tried something new.  Or two somethings, to be specific.  And since I'm a blogger *wink, wink*, I immediately began composing a post in my head.  Here it is:

Dragon Dictation.  In iPad education, this is not really a new app.  I've read about others using it, but I guess what surprised me--and what I wanted to share with you--was the strength of the interaction and engagement created by this app.   We set the language setting to "español américas" and then we practiced our vocab words.  Simple, right?  Well, what we got was a really interactive and engaging, not to mention FUN, practice time where EVERY student received IMMEDIATE feedback on their pronunciation.  They speak their words into the mic then ask it to process.  It prints out what it thinks it heard, then kids have to reflect on what they did to produce that written response and how they can make it better or change to receive a different response.  Very high level thinking required!  Sometimes the responses are so ludicrous you can't help but laugh...but the process of practicing a word several times can be very rewarding when they finally get it to type the right word...immediate gratification!  They practice a couple more times for extra reinforcement, then move on to the next word on the list.  I have them keep all the mistakes and then the corrections on one screen and then take a screenshot.  Each student posted his or her screenshot on their class blog, then made a few comments about what was difficult for them and what was surprising, or easy, etc.  I will definitely be making this a regular activity!

The second cool thing we did was use this app...Qikshare lite.  

Students were composing crazy class rules...like "hay que comer la mochila"(You must eat your bookbag), in PicCollage.  In the paper form, I used to have students hang their responses on the wall and then we would vote on the best crazy rules using sticky notes.  (Each student received one sticky note, then they posted their vote on the best rule).  My challenge was to have students share their info and then vote in electronic format.  I wanted something like Bump that shared information via bluetooth and what I found was even better!  This is actually a form of Bump (they are quick to say they are not a replacement for it!) but it uses Dropbox, which my students are already very familiar with.  So students save to Dropbox, then open this app and select the file and Bump it!  They had a great time bumping and sharing info.  Some got a little carried away bumping and forgot to actually look at the file, but other than that--perfect!  

This is exactly what I want my class to be about...using the iPads to improve upon best practices to create an engaging (and fun!) environment for learning!    Yay for iPads!  And Blogging!  And apps!  Ok, I'll stop now.  But you get the idea.  *smile*

Building a family tree

As an experiment prompted by a recent article I read, I thought about having students collaborate as a group while using individual iPads.  I picked my two smallest classes.  I didn't grade it, or even give much direction...I said they had to build a family tree using all the iPads available.  They worked to divide it up and make them...some were quite the works of art!  

It was pretty cool watching each of my students think critically about the smaller and larger pictures (figurative and metaphorical). 

Recommendations:

-make sure all iPads are on full brightness

-specify portrait or landscape

-make sure you have a surface where all the iPads will fit together!

and 

-If I were to do this again, I would make it a collaborative process in Spanish...and give the kids some speaking guides with useful phrases (Spanish I).  

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!