Three Free Apps You Can Use in Your Classroom Today: Writing

The writing process has three key steps: prewriting, drafting, and reviewing. Educators can check out PUWW resources in our content area sections for tips on instructional practices. To help students practice all aspects of writing, check out these apps:

• Red Stamp: Let students practice writing letters by sending creative greeting cards! Writing for an audience can be a great way to motivate struggling writers. (iPad, iPhone, iPod, Android)
• Puppet Pals: Students can create videos by choosing characters, audio, animation, and more to tell a virtual story. (iPad)
• Moleskine: Like its namesake notebook, it allows users to write and draw in four different types of notebooks, including a ruled composition and a storyboard notebook. The app includes various tools to add colored text along with images, as well as a feature to export notebooks via email, Evernote, Facebook, and Twitter! 
• Tip: After students have drafted and reviewed a story, have them create a final “book” with the storyboard complete with images, and export for grading! (iPad, iPhone, iPod, Windows Phone 7.5/8, Samsung Galaxy Note)

Need more free writing apps? Try Lino to take notes, including videos and pictures (iPad or smartphone). Have writers block? Try Name Dice if students need assistance in creating character names in the early stages of writing (iPhone, iPad, iPod) or try WordDot: a random name and phrase generator to get those creative juices flowing.

Meeting the Common Core with President’s Day Activities: From our Forefathers to Obama

President’s Day, is an “inclusive” celebration of all our nation’s presidents.  Teach students about our nation’s leaders this month by incorporating history into all aspects of your classroom.  Get your class interested with an introduction by sharing brief videos; try one on George Washington or Presidential Fun Facts.

Depending on grade level, read with students about the Seven Roles for One President. Make a class chart to summarize the roles, or even try a class wiki post. Using online interactives like the If You Were President: A Scholastic Online News Activity in reading instruction can help further student understanding. With the Scholastic interactive, students get to imagine as if they are president, choose their advisors, learn about the responsibilities of the president, and get to make (and defend!) virtual decisions.

Also mingle history and math with U.S. Presidents: A Math Hunt Activity. Students will learn about U.S. presidents while solving math problems. Math problems focus on fractions, multiplication, and division. If students are stumped by a question posed by a history-based word problem, they get to “Hunt for the Answer” on a linked educational website.

Washington's Inauguration, 1789, Architect of the Capitol

Let’s not forget the significance of George Washington, which is—of course—the goal of this next activity.  Plays about the President: George Washington asks students to remember more than just a few facts about our country’s former leader by acting out a class play. It also includes a Bibliography and three class activities; vocabulary discussion, a writing prompt, and researching/reporting on another related subject.

Read President Obama’s Second Inaugural Address. Students can learn more about President Obama staring his second term by reading an article on their own or by following the account of a student who was in attendance for the ceremony.

President Barack Obama holds a conference call with advisors to discuss the Aurora, Colorado shootings, during the motorcade ride to Palm Beach International Airport in Palm Beach, Fla., July 20, 2012. White House photostream

Also use the free Brain Dip Magazine app to help students analyze the President’s speech in multiple subjects, by grade level according to Common Core Standards. By combining reading, writing, and math with history, students are provided with a comprehensive lesson that will enhance their understanding.

Celebrate Digital Learning Day February 6th!

February 6th is the 2nd Annual Digital Learning Day! 

From the Digital Learning Day website:

Digital Learning Day, February 6, 2013, is a national celebration of educators that shines a spotlight on successful instructional technology practice in classrooms across the country.
http://www.digitallearningday.org/

A number of activities are planned, culminating in a live webcast Digital Townhall from Washington, DC. 

In preparation for Digital Learning Day, why not plan a lesson using a new-to-you technology tool or resource? Search our PowerUp resource database to find lesson plan ideas and interactives, or browse our collection of strategies and technology articles. Then use our Lesson Planner tool to create and share your lesson with the PowerUp community!

Creative Solutions to Technology Funding

Suppose you’ve found a specific technology resource for your classroom but you lack the funds to make a desired purchase. ? When confronted with a cost barrier, there are helpful resources you can use to still access available funds:

• DonorsChoose.org allows teachers to create a profile for their classroom, stating what they need, the cost, and enables other users (i.e. other teachers, parents, members of the community) to make donations. Partner funding is also available.
• For Leadership Teams, ASCD has steps to cost-effectively strategize ideas like integrating technology into the schools mission.
• PowerUp WHAT WORKS has resources for how to implement technology in schools, including specific resources on how to do so while watching your budget.
• You can also visit the TechMatrix and download our Consumer Guides – decision-making tools to help schools make informed technology purchases.

Lesson to Learn: Lesson Plan Resources Online

The internet continues to be an increasingly invaluable resource for educators – from online PD opportunities, free lesson plans, interactives, and downloadable/printable classroom materials, there are a wealth of free resources available to you.

Planning a lesson on PowerUp WHAT WORKS and looking for some inspiration?

• PBS LearningMedia has lesson plans searchable by grade and subject; with free sign up, lesson plans can also be organized according to Common Core standards.

• DiscoveryEducation allows educators to download lesson plans in PDF form, which list core standards and are searchable by grade and subject. Lessons can also be previewed by most popular.

• Federal Resources for Educational Excellence has various lesson plans broken down by subject and specific sub-category, with topics ranging from math to state history to music.

• Scholastic's lesson plans are searchable by keyword, content area, and grade. Resources include lesson plans, teacher guides, unit guides, and printable lesson worksheets for class use.

Utilize these great resources and build upon the PowerUp Classroom model:

to create strong, effective, technology-supported lessons that address the needs of all your learners!

Resource Roundup: Common Core Standards

Each month, we'll feature a Resource Roundup on a key topic in technology integration and teaching and learning with digital materials. This month's topic: Common Core Standards! 

As states shift towards full integration of the Common Core Standards, educational resources and lesson plans aligned to the Common Core have sprung up around the web. A quick online search for Common Core lesson plans yields an overwhelming number of results, so we’ve waded through them and put together a few of our favorites:

• The Teaching Channel Common Core videos
• Core Commons – resources for states, policymakers and the public on the implementation of the Common Core Standards.
• North Carolina Common Core Instructional Support Tools
• Videos from the Hunt Institute explaining the various elements of the Common Core Standards.
• New York Times Common Core Lesson Plans
• Free iPhone app for the Common Core Standards!

Be sure to check out PowerUp WHAT WORKS for more lesson, strategy, and teaching ideas aligned with the Common Core Standards!

Write Your Own Textbook!

A good first step in Powering Up your classroom is to make reading and writing more accessible for all students. Bring UDL principles into your lesson planning to ensure students are using technology tools to

• Represent information in multiple formats and media
• Show and express what they know in multiple ways
• Engage interest and motivation in multiple ways

Digitized textbooks and other accessible media are a great use of technology to meet the needs of a diverse range of students. Many teachers know that accessible textbooks are available for the iPad, but they may not know that they can go one step further by creating their own textbooks! Using iBooks Author educators can write and create their own textbook, picture book, or storybook on the iPad. In doing this, teachers can support reading comprehension and vocabulary development.

The iteach Lounge Blog even suggests alternate uses for the app, such as allowing students to create their own book in lieu of a report. This technology may not far off from all public schools; according to THE Journal, the federal government is aiming to place digital textbooks in all public schools within the next five years. California is a step ahead, according to the Center for Digital Education, who has plans to make core subject digital textbooks readily available (for free) to college students, beginning in 2013.