TGIF. . . hAPPy Friday!

30 days hath September and they have already passed! I am now in my third year of iPads in my classroom.  It is amazing how much I continue to learn daily about using these devices to enhance my instruction and student learning.  I decided in lieu of my 20% time fall project to do something I call hAPPy Friday!  Every week, we review the content of the week with introducing a new app or website.  This keeps the weekly challenges fresh and wraps up the week's material in a nice little package.  Here is a glimpse of what we have done so far!


Week 1: Use Explain Everything to create a one slide representation of the characteristics of life.  Save to camera roll and add to Biology folder in Drive. Share with me using proper assignment heading.

Week 2: Use the iBooks app of our text to create a study guide for your partner.  Swap and check.

Week 3: Use Today's Meet to submit an article about water in society. Cut and paste the url to the class discussion and comment on two other articles submitted.

Week 4: Use Explain Everything to illustrate dehydration synthesis and hydrolysis.  Use the picture you created as the background in Tellagami. Narrate your illustration. Save to Drive and submit by sharing.

Hydrolysis and Dehydration Synthesis Tellagami/Explain Everything Video from Elizabeth Glassman on Vimeo.

Week 5: Alcohol Edu web course completed to learn the physiological effects of alcohol consumption. This is a program our school uses every year with our 9th graders. There is also a parent component.

Week 6: Use iCell app to complete chart in notes about organelles and functions.  Then use Explain Everything to draw plant and animal cell drawings.  Save both to camera roll.  Using the Thing Link app, add targets/hot spots to your pictures with name labels and detailed descriptions.  Save in Thing Link.  Copy both pictures' urls and paste them into a Google doc that students share with me.


This has greatly improved the fluidity with "app-smashing" in class. The kids have quickly learned that hardly ever do we use just one app to complete a project or task.  They are learning the variety of project based apps to hopefully get us to a place that they can just decide what they want to make without as much direction from me on specific apps to choose.

I am also having them save as much as possible to Drive for future review and reference. It will also be helpful for creating our exam review books in December.

To learn more ways in which I am using technology in my classroom, follow me on Twitter @eglassman757.