Tag Archives: presentations

Nearpod for 1 to 1 Classrooms

13 May

image (27) image (26)In classrooms with just one iPad there are lots of apps that you can use to create presentations (Educreations, Doceri, ScreenChomp, Haiku Deck).  If you have access to 1 to 1 technology you have to try NearPod for presentations.  Use an old PowerPoint as a template and upload it to the NearPod website.  Add interactive items like quiz questions and polls that will keep students engaged and help you access student understanding.  Once your presentation is created, students can watch on their own iPad screen as you control the pace of the presentation.  It’s easy to use and with free basic accounts it’s definitely worth checking out!

If your students are making their own presentations, check out my screencasting guide!

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Poems by Heart

12 Apr

image (1) photoIt doesn’t have to be Poetry Month to learn a new poem! Poems by Heart from Penguin Classics teaches users how to memorize a poem. They offer two free poems to get you started and there are more available through in app purchases. Whether you’re teaching fluency, extending a biography project of a famous poet, or just celebrating great works – check out Poems by Heart for a poem to memorize!

Check out my Common Core aligned iPad lesson plan bundle for teaching ELA in the classroom! (Here’s bundle #2 and bundle #3!)

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SlideShare Presentations

25 Mar

SlideShare is a great resource for PowerPoint presentations. This website allows you to view presentations created by teachers (and all sorts of people) that may be useful for your classroom. It’s also a fantastic place to share your presentations with others.

Check out my SlideShare presentations:

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Working Together: iPad Apps that Facilitate Student Collaboration

19 Jan

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If you weren’t one of the 300+ attendees of my live webinar, you can still check out my presentation:

View on SlideShare

Download the Presentation

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iPad Document Camera

11 Jan

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So many teachers in one iPad classrooms love using Educreations as a SMARTBoard simulator. Another fantastic presentation tool is Stage: Interactive Whiteboard and Document Camera.

This app works as a document camera and allows you to switch from a whiteboard, picture background, and camera while leaving text on the screen. It also has a laser pointer feature that allows the user to point out details on the screen without leaving a mark on the image.

20130111-082401.jpgI’ve heard of teachers creating a document camera using an iPad in place of an ELMO projector, and there are products that do just this for you. I’ve used Stage Interactive in whole class instruction and small groups but I can definitely see the benefits of having an iPad on a stand when using this app.

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Replace Your Dry Erase Board with a Portable WhiteBoard

7 Jan

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My students spend a lot of time working in differentiated groups. That means that I’m constantly circulating to make sure that everyone is on task.  Sometimes I need to quickly review a skill for a group. Instead of carrying a small dry erase board (and turning my fingers different colors from messy Expo markers) I take my iPad from group to group and draw on the screen.

Using a whiteboard app like Educreations, I can work through a math problem or draw the arc of a story.  In a small group using Educreations I’ll take snapshots of student work to annotate, just like I would grab a fantastic example and place it in under my Elmo projector for the whole class to see. This is a great tool for a one iPad classroom!

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Understoodit: Formative Assessment Tool

2 Jan
UPDATE 5/13: Understoodit is closing but here’s another similar option – PollEverywhere

photo-4If you are looking for a new formative assessment tool check out Understoodit.  Whether your students are on iPads or have access to the web from desktops, Understoodit is a fantastic free assessment tool that is perfect for collecting data when presenting new information to students.  As you speak, students press one of two buttons on a website unique to your class: “Confused” or “Understood” You’ll receive real-time data on how well your class understands your presentation.

At first I was hesitant to try Understooit with my fifth graders, since it seemed so perfect for university professors and high school teachers, but it worked great with my group.  I don’t normally teach by lecture so I had students first try it out while watching a BrainPop video.  This way it was easy for me to know when to pause and initiate a discussion when they were confused.  I’m gathering formative data and can alter my instruction by the minute!

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Easy Memes for Every Subject

21 Dec

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I’ve discussed how much I love HaikuDeck as a presentation tool and the way I’ve used it to create memes with my students.  There are lots or free apps that make it even easier to create memes (I like Mematic), and I’ve started using them across subject areas.

Have students….

  • write a riddle for math over a picture of Albert Einstein
  • pose a science question over an image of Marie Curie
  • summarize the main idea of a text over a snapshot of a book’s cover

Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plan that would be perfect for this app!

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Explain a Website

14 Dec

Screen shot 2012-12-02 at 10.37.30 PMI usually only recommend free apps since I’m using a class set of iPads in my classroom and don’t have access to a volume purchasing plan.  But for $0.99 Explain a Website is a must have teacher tool!  This app acts as an internet browser and allows you to record your actions and voice as you navigate a website.  You can write all over the screen, discuss features of the website, and save your recording to your iPads Camera Roll. Check out the clip I uploaded onto YouTube that gives a quick introduction to ClassTechTips.com!

Use Explain a Website to help show students how to navigate the websites they’ll visit in one of my common core aligned QR Code Scavenger Hunts!

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Record Your Work Using Doceri

10 Dec

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You may have read my post on using ScreenChomp in the classroom.  Another screencasting app I love is Doceri.  Although Doceri is not as user friendly as the simple layout of ScreenChomp, my fifth graders had no trouble getting over the learning curve.  There are some great features Doceri has to offer that set it apart.  Doceri has lots of choices for colors, shapes, and lines, but the best part has to be the option to save your screencast to your iPad’s camera roll.  This makes it easy to save, send and share your Doceri video.

Try out the Common Core aligned lesson plan I created for ScreenChomp with Doceri in your classroom!

Check out my guide -> Screencasting Teacher Tools: Tasks, Procedures, Checklists and Rubric

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Free Assessment Tools for Classrooms Using One-To-One Technology

8 Dec

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If you weren’t one of the 200+ attendees of my live webinar, you can still check out my presentation:

View on SlideShare

Download the Presentation

 

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Famous Faces: Funny Movie Maker

7 Dec

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This app might seem silly but there are lots of ways to use Funny Movie Maker in you classroom. Use a picture from your camera roll and insert your mouth or entire face to make the image come to life. Try reading the Emancipation Prolamation using Abraham Lincoln’s picture.  Have students replace the face of Susan B. Anthony with their own and read a journal entry they’ve written from the perspective of a suffragette. Students can email their videos to you or save them to their camera roll. Try it out in math or science as a fun way to record steps for problem solving or documenting an experiment.

Check out my common core aligned lesson plan using this app!

Here’s another common core aligned lesson plan using this app!

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Toontastic for Story Telling

3 Dec

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Toontastic is a fantastic app you can use in your classroom.  Don’t be fooled by the cartoon graphics, this app can be used with all ages.

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Students create their own short stories or retell a story that they’ve read.  Each scene in the story arc requires that students draw their own setting and characters or use one of the templates included in the app. Music can be added to change the tone of the story and all cartoons can be shared with families and peers through Toontastic’s own website.

Check out my Common Core aligned lesson plan using this app!

Here’s another Common Core aligned lesson plan using this app!

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What’s Trending? Try a Wordle

26 Nov

Lots of websites display images of popular search terms, tags, or keywords to show what’s trending on their site.  I love using Wordle, an online tool that takes the most popular words from a text and displays them according to how frequently they appear.  You can copy and past text from an article your class is reading or an encyclopedia entry.

After students in my class emailed their essays on deforestation in South America, I copy and pasted the text into Wordle.  Now I can display what’s trending next to a bulletin board of student work!

Wordsalad is an app that let’s you do the same thing straight from your iPad!

Try Wordle using speeches!

Try Wordle using current events!

 

 

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Social Studies Slogans: Make Your Own Memes

14 Nov

I chose this slogan because it contains domain specific vocabulary and demonstrates the courage of George Washington and the faith he had in his troops.

You’ve seen them in emails, on Facebook, even the Today Show features memes that have gone viral.  Students can create their own memes using Haiku Deck on their iPads.

Follow these steps:

  • Create a new presentation and choose a theme
  • Add an image from your camera roll to set as the background
  • Add your slogan and format the text so it works with your image

Check out my common core aligned lesson plan using this app in the classroom!

Here’s another common core aligned lesson plan using this app!

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Student Created Podcasts

29 Oct

I love using Khan Academy and Math Train to support lessons, but ScreenChomp has taken my use of podcasts to a new level. It’s important that students in my classroom feel successful and this app turns them into superstars.
ScreenChomp allows users to record their writing and voice as they work through a problem on the screen. It captures the action taking place as students write on ScreenChomp’s whiteboard as well as the sound of the student speaking while they write.

Students in my classroom work independently and in peers to record the steps they take to solve a math problem. Not only is this a great form of assessment (students can email you a link to their video) but it makes students feel like they have a become a master of a skill. Use ScreenChomp to achieve higher level thinking in your classroom.

Check out my lesson plan using ScreenChomp in the classroom!

Check out my guide -> Screencasting Teacher Tools: Tasks, Procedures, Checklists and Rubric

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Film Your Own Persuasive PSAs

26 Oct

20121026-114347.jpgPublic service announcements are a great way to turn a traditional persuasive essay writing piece into a multimedia presentation. There are lots of ways I like to use the iPad camera in my classroom and this is one of them!

Check out my lesson plan on creating public service announcements in your classroom!

 

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Fluency and Presentation Practice: Teleprompter

4 Oct
We’ve all watched news anchors deliver top stories and presidential candidates give speeches, but have you ever used a teleprompter?
iPrompt is a free app that turns your iPad into a teleprompter! Add text that you’ve written yourself or copy and paste a famous speech from the web. Customize the size of the text and the speed it moves on the screen.
Whether you want your students to practice a speech or to practice their reading fluency, this app isn’t just cool it’s an effective teaching tool.
Check out my lesson plan on using iPrompt Pro in the classroom!

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Haiku Deck for Small Presentations

13 Sep

I love Keynote and use it to present information to students across the content areas.  Haiku Deck is a great alternative platform for presentations. The best part:  it’s free and student friendly!

This app allows you to create swipeable slides with a photo background and a small amount of text (…think haiku).  It has a gallery of photos to choose from, and uses words on your slide to help you find the perfect background image – you also have the option to upload your own photos.



I’ve used Haiku Deck to share KBADs, give short writing prompts and just switch it up from my usual Keynote presentations.

It doesn’t take long to make one and students can use it to create their own presentations too!

Check out my common core aligned lesson plan using Haiku Deck!

Here’s another common core aligned lesson plan using this app!

UPDATE: There are new features that have been added to Haiku Deck that are worth checking out!  My favorite has to be the ability to add bulleted list and more text to your presentation slides – a fantastic update to one of my go-to apps!

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DiigoBrowser

11 Sep

There are lots of ways to browse the Internet on your iPad.  Besides the Apple Internet browser Safari (that comes built in with your iPad) one option is DiigoBrowser.  Although Safari is my go-to when using the Internet, DiigoBrowser has one feature that I find particularly helpful in the classroom.

You might have noticed the annotated screenshot included on my post about accessing archived content on ClassTechTips.  I followed a few easy steps to annotate an Internet page:
1. Bring up a website in DiigoBrowser
2. Press the gray and white starburst on the right side of the screen to access different features in DiigoBrowser
3. Choose the camera/crop icon (this allows you to drag a box on the screen to crop the part of the website you’d like to annotate)
4. Use the toolbar at the top of your screen to draw shapes, arrows, or add text
5. Decide whether you’d like to save this picture to your iPad’s camera roll or send it as an attachment in an email

1. Bring up a website in DingoBrowser
2. Press the gray and white starburst
3. Choose the camera/crop icon

4. Use the toolbar at the top of your screen to draw shapes, arrows, or add text

5. Decide whether you’d like to save this picture to your iPad’s camera roll or send it as an attachment in an email

Instead of just taking a screenshot of your iPad – which I do all the time. This tool could be used to show students where to look on a website to make directions specific and easy to follow.  Try it when guiding students through the research process, or demonstrating how to access content on a new website.

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