Using iMovie in the Classroom

Check out my latest iMovie in the Classroom Smore for tutorials and ideas on using iMovie in your classroom!

Book Creator in the Classroom

Using Evernote to create a Student Checklist

I ran across an article today sharing an interesting way for teachers to use Evernote.  I personally cannot live without Evernote.  There are so many different ways it can be used.  The article "I Have Finally Found It!" shares how teachers can create a student checklist and then share it with others, which means more than one person can access the checklist at once.  Think about how many times throughout the school year a teacher could use a checklist... field trips, fundraisers, receipting money, fire drills, etc.
Take a minute to check out this article if it sounds like something you might find helpful!

Adobe Reader app in the Classroom

I decided to jump on the Smore bandwagon this evening and create a flyer about the Adober Reader app.  Take a few minutes and check it out!

Adobe Reader app in the Classroom

Popplet: Mind Mapping on iPads

Mind Mapping with iPads

Horry County Schools is in the process of rolling out 1:1 iPads to all middle school students in our district.  Popplet is one of the apps we are encouraging teachers to use.  It is a great tool for mind-mapping, brainstorming, etc.  I ran across this post earlier this evening on TeachThought titled "10 Mind Mapping Strategies for Teachers."  It has some great ideas to get those wheels turning and to help teachers think of different ways they can begin to use mind mapping tools, such as Popplet, in their classroom.  

Within the article, there is a suggestion to use mind maps as a form of assessment:

Assessment: A great way to use Mind Maps for assessment is to ask students to express their ideas about a topic in a Mind Map before and after a class. Students will retain the information better and it will also reassure teachers that students remember and understand the knowledge.

I was intrigued by a few of the ideas and had to share!
:-) Danielle

by andrea.leyden

Troubleshooting Ipad Apps in the Classroom

Has your Ipad app lost sound?  We are excited to have many new Ipads in our classrooms this year.  From a tech standpoint, that means more IT support.  Over the past several weeks, I have had many students come down to the media center, Ipad in hand, with an app with  no sound.  In my first encounter, I did some basic troubleshooting.  I made sure the Ipad had sound by recording a short video using the camera app and replaying.  There was sound, which meant it was something within the app.  I checked settings within the app to no avail.  I did the basic shutdown, made sure the app was closed, and reopened to still find no sound.  I finally resorted to calling Apple's support line, still only hearing that it was probably something within the app and we might need to contact their support line.  After a few minutes on Google, I found the fix in an online Apple forum.  I discovered that when some apps lose their sound, it has something to do with the Orientation/Mute toggle switch above the volume on the side of the Ipad.  In most of our issues, we have found the fix to be simply to open the app in question and toggle the switch. This will restore the sound within the app and the students are quickly back to work!  Happy troubleshooting!