For as little as few dollars, you can purchase content-rich applications for ipods, ipads and iphones that can help promote student engagement while serving a real purpose. I found many apps that I believe can be successfully incorporated into an ELA classroom. One such app that I came across is called "The Literary Analysis Guide."
This application helps students interpret different forms of literature. The app consists of three wheels -one for each of the aforementioned categories. Each wheel consists of many subcategories integral to each of the three forms. For example, under poetry you will find imagery, form and figures of speech. Students can click on one of these terms and a description will come up, which includes the definition, examples and further questions that can be asked for each topic.
This is a great reference tool for students and at $3.99, it is inexpensive. Also, because it is used as a reference tool, having it on one "class ipad" makes complete sense and is very practical.
Like I said, this is only one of many apps that are created for students and teachers. Anyone have any other app or technology suggestions?
This is a great reference tool for students and at $3.99, it is inexpensive. Also, because it is used as a reference tool, having it on one "class ipad" makes complete sense and is very practical.
Like I said, this is only one of many apps that are created for students and teachers. Anyone have any other app or technology suggestions?
While I agree that adding technology to a classroom is a great idea I have a problem with this app. Why spend 4 bucks on a reference guide when we could have students make them themselves? Ultimately I think, particularly with this one, that the foundational stuff, ie key terms and such, tend to be the most boring aspects of the unit. Why not make it a little bit more interesting by letting the students build their own? Arts and crafts are usually pretty fun and using pretty colored paper and fancy crafts would at least make the activity a little bit more tolerable. I believe that learning happens best when students are actively participating in something and it's hard for me to visualize students learning by looking over a reference app. Why remember something when it's just a few clicks away? I think technology is important but I think sometimes we use it when we don't actually need to.
ReplyDeleteThe "digital age" in general, to me, presents a big problem for teachers trying to get students motivated for the sole reason Joey pointed out in his last couple sentences. "Why remember something when it's just a few clicks away?" This feels like a really prescient sentence, especially because I find myself doing this so much. If I need to know the meaning of T.S Eliot's "Hollow Men" for class, why would I burden myself with having to read it over and over and put thought into each passage when I can just look up the experts opinions on it in under a minute on a device that 3/4 of the U.S population now owns? The line between adapting technology into my classroom and remaining archaic with textbooks and documents is something I struggle with.....which is why we need to create in-depth assignments that students don't have the ability to just look up. We need to have students formulate their own opinions by asking deeper questions than can be easily looked up in thirty seconds on google or Siri.
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