Mobile and Tablet Applications

There are many apps that are now available on mobile smart phones and tablets that are for education. There are many apps that can be researched, here are a couple that I could see myself using in my future classroom.

1. Wattpad: a literature app that allows access to 1,000's of poems and narratives and other types of literature, and allows students to upoad their own work.

 2. Formulas Lite - this app helps with memorization from common mathematical and scientific formulas

(picture and info from http://www.onlinedegrees.org/top-25-android-apps-for-education/)






3. Wolfram algebra course assistant: a math app that helps students with their algebra problems. 

4. Grammer up: an app that helps students can use to improve their grammer skills. 

5.Britannica Kids: Volcanoes, and other apps from this provider. These apps seem to be very interactive and bring to life the topics of science that we will be studying.

(Picture and info from http://www.apple.com/education/apps/ )



Apps are very fun! but they can also be very addictive which can very easliy take away from very other important parts of life. One of the biggest things to be careful is to not let apps take over the time for things in our life. I believe that this is not really the fault of any app, or anything for the matter, but the problem is with us. There is a lack of self-disciple in our society nowadays and the important thing is to grow in the fruits of the spirit so that we are able to grow in self-discipline and enjoy many things in life and not lose sight of our responsibilities. As it says in Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law." Here we are told to take off the things of the world and put on these things of the spirit in which self-control and self-discipline are apart of.  

Copyright

Music must be properly downloaded

Copyright laws are frustrating and they seem tedious and not worth our time. However, they are laws of our land and they do need to be followed. Even when things seem like it's not worth it and we probably won't get caught or in trouble. As Christians we are called to a life of integrity which is in relation with others and in secret as well.

1 Corinthians 4:1-3 This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.

Therefore, it is important to judge ourselves and be trustworthy with what we have been entrusted with. As educators we have been entrusted with the upbringing with our children and setting a good example. We have also been entrusted with the resources and media in order to bring about that education. So whether we are brought to the judge or not, we are to hold ourselves to a higher standard and judge ourselves. 

Podcasts

My wonderful High School Intervention Class

Podcasts are a great media outlet to use inside and outside of classrooms. Personally I would love to be working in a Special intervention classroom in a high school someday and podcasts are one way that can really benefit my students. As a intervention specialist I would be able to use the podcasts that all the regular education teachers make so that I can keep track of what my students are suppose to be learning. Since most likely my students will be in different classrooms throughout the day, there is not enough of me to get to each student in all of their classes. 

The special thing about podcasts in this setting is that I would be able to subscribe to all the teachers feeds and I will be sent all their new podcasts. 

Another way I can use podcasts in my classroom is ones either I have made or that I have found that reiterate foundational aspects of education. Shown either on a personal computer, tablet or on a smartboard. This would be helpful because, usually in an inclusion classroom I would have students coming in during the same period but needing help in different subjects. This is why independent work is needed and podcasts would help me to be available to go back and forth between my students.   

Biblically speaking, one can say that it is our duty to use all our resources for good. in Genesis 1:28 God gives Adam and Eve dominion over all the earth. 

 "...have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

We can see that although here it is speaking of living things on the Earth, we know that then those where all the resources that they had. Nowadays we have tons of resources of all kinds and we have media and technology that man was able to create because of the creative and intelligent minds that God has given man. These are now resources to us that we are able to use for the benefit of education and learning. 

  

Online Games

Educational online games that can be used in a classroom, in groups or as individual students. These games can be integrated right into a teachers lesson plans and can enhance and improve student learning and engagement. Games also help motivate students and build a desire to learn, here are some games that can help out in your classrooms and imporve your lesson plans:

on softschools.com there are many educational games that are preset up and ready to engage students. this link specifically goes to a division game that helps students with their division. I would use games like this one and many other games on this site as an individual activity after a student has finished with the classwork for the hour. The gaming would be an incentive for finishing ones work and for doing well.

jeopardy  is another online game that can be downloaded as a template into a power point system and used for any content area in the classroom. I would use this kind of game for a review session in class with the entire class set up in teams and using competition as a motivator.

Quizlet is another website that uses games to help improve the recall of content from the classroom. This site, in particular, uses games to improve vocabulary. I would use this website as homework with my students because it will help them learn the vocabulary words that are for our English and literature classes.

phonics is a topic in schools that there are many games for, soft schools website also has many games for phonics. Here is a game that is used for short vowel sounds and helps students to recognize the sounds of vowels. I would also use this game as a game after students are done with there individual work and they need something to keep them learning without distracting other students. Games like these also keep score so they allow self competition, to allow students to see there improvement and be self motivated.

the plural girls this is another game, like the phonics games, that is used for grammar in younger classrooms. this game helps students to learn the plurals of different words in our English Language. I would use this in my class in similar ways as the math games as either a transition into Lit or Grammar or for students who have finished early.

Video List

Mucho math from teacher tube:
http://teachertube.com/view_collection.php?cid=16&type=videos

Easy math videos for young students in math, specifically special education students. It has a couple video's on counting coins and for calculating volume.

SchoolMyKid from teacher tube:
http://teachertube.com/view_channel.php?user=SchoolMyKid

There are some great phonics videos posted from this user, and also there are some counting videos and other videos for colors and words. There is even a video to help students learn the months.

Mathster from teacher tube:
http://teachertube.com/view_channel.php?user=Mathster

This user has a bunch of great videos posted to help students with word problems. They are great demonstrations and help students 'see' how to do a word problem and make it very visual to help the students.

Batgirl from teacher tube:
http://teachertube.com/view_channel.php?user=Batgirl0401

This user has some great social life videos that will help special needs students how to pick up social cues.

RustyMay from teacher tube:
http://teachertube.com/user_videos.php?user=rustymay

This channel by rustymay has some great videos to help start the day and get the students focused on whats important. It looks like every video has an extra tip for throughout the school day, either about bullying or doing well in school.


These videos can be of much help in both a christian and public school system. However, the internet can be a scary place so it is very important to monitor children who are using these websites, along with many other activities and practices. Its a parents job to teach a child, as said in Proverbs 22:6 "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." It is important to teach children how to be careful with technology and to teach them that people are more important than technology as well. 
A teacher should be reinforcing things like this that are taught at home. But as we know, society has seemed to flip this scenario, therefore the teacher by default has a lot more responsibility to be enforcing these values on the children and training them up in good morals and proper use of technology and other resources.  

Prezi

Prezi is a great website designed to create an interactive presentation. Used for schools, the workplace, churches, or just for fun, Prezi steps up the game taking the linear power point to the next level. Prezi is redesigned in a way that circularly and dynamically presents information. There are many different ways to make a Prezi personal which has revamped the art of presentation. Through Prezi, texts, images, and videos can be embedded into the site to present, bringing everything you need for your presentation into one spot on one site. There are no need for transitions either. Prezi zooms in and zooms out to hit every point of your presentation with the best view possible. You can find Prezi at Prezi.com.


from: chronicle.com

Prezi is used all through education, whether it is a teacher presenting class material, or a student presentation on their state projects, to a librarian presenting the easiest way to find books, to a music teacher helping her class learn more about instruments. Prezi is a great tool to bring classes together to collaborate in the classroom.