7th Grade Math Survey

Attention 7th Graders:  

Please take the following survey.  This will allow me to once again get to know you and better serve you this school year.  Be truthful and thorough with your answers.

7th Grade Math Survey

Technology in the Classroom (free) iBook

Here is a link for an awesome (free) iBook that one of my co-teachers created. She put some great apps that I strongly recommend in it!  It's worth checking out.  Just click on the link below to get the free download.

Technology iBook

IPAD Presentation - App Recommendations

App Recommendations

Don’t overwhelm yourself with this list.

“Try one idea, per month, for three years.” – Rick Wormeli

Notice:

To see a list of subject specific apps visit www.tcea.org/ipad 

All of the apps listed below are ones that I have found valuable and I have personally used on my own IPAD.

All app descriptions are courtesy of http://itunes.apple.com

Discovering Apps

App Shopper   Keeps you up to date on the newest App Store apps, sales and freebies. Organize apps in your own customized Wish List and automatically get notified when there is a sale or update. 

               

App Miner      Why pay full price for apps? We have HUNDREDS of apps ON SALE, NEW and FREE every day!

Honor Roll     An annotated and expertly curated catalog of educational and family-friendly apps. It offers parents and educators an improved way to identify apps tailored to a student's specific needs.

                Website:      appitic.com

                                    iear.org

               

Organizational and Professional Development Apps

Pocket             When you find something on the web that you want to view later, put it in Pocket. It automatically syncs to your phone, tablet, or computer so you can view it any time, even without an internet connection.

Flipboard       Creates a personalized magazine out of everything being shared with you. Flip through your Facebook newsfeed and Google+ Circles, tweets from your Twitter timeline, photos from Instagram friends, videos from YouTube, and much more. 

Zite                 A free personalized magazine for your iPad that automatically learns what you like and gets smarter every time you use it. Zite delivers all the great news, articles, blogs, and videos you want – and helps you discover new stuff that you'll love.

Dropbox         A free service that lets you bring all your photos, docs, and videos anywhere. Any file you save to your Dropbox is accessible from all your computers, iPhone, iPad and even the Dropbox website!

Evernote         An easy-to-use, free app that helps you remember everything across all of the devices you use. Stay organized, save your ideas and improve productivity. Evernote lets you take notes, capture photos, create to-do lists, record voice reminders--and makes these notes completely searchable, whether you are at home, at work, or on the go. 

LessonNote    Supports effective classroom observation. It is the best tool for documenting what matters most in a lesson: the flow of the lesson and its impact on students. LessonNote lets you track who is talking to whom, when, and for how long, and lets you jot handwritten notes about what is being said and what students are doing. iPad 2 users can also record photos of student work.

Twitter            Follow your interests: instant updates from your friends, industry experts, favorite celebrities, and what’s happening around the world. Get short bursts of timely information on the official Twitter app.

Edmodo          Award-winning Edmodo for iPod touch, iPhone, and iPad makes it easy for teachers and students to stay connected and share information. Use your iOS device to send notes, submit assignments, post replies, and check messages and upcoming events while away from the classroom. 

iTunes U         Gives you access to complete courses from leading universities and other schools — plus the world’s largest digital catalog of free education content — right on your iPad.

Pages ($9.99)  The most beautiful word processor you’ve ever seen on a mobile device. This powerful app has been exclusively designed for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Create, edit, and view documents wherever you are. Pages works with iCloud, so your documents stay up to date on all your devices — automatically. 

Communication and Exploration Apps

               

Skype               Call, video call and instant message anyone else on Skype for free with Skype for your iPhone or iPod touch.

               

TourWrist       TELEPORTATION IS HERE! With TourWrist®, iOS devices become portals. So when you point your device up, you’ll truly appreciate a new property’s grand staircase. Turning around will give you the full stadium seating experience. And looking down will reveal just how much leg space a vehicle has to offer. You can also view "tours" through our intuitive, touch-based controls.

Creative Creation Apps

Show Me         Allows you to record voice-over whiteboard tutorials and share them online. It’s a radically intuitive app that anyone will find extremely easy to use, regardless of age or background.

Puppet Pals    Create your own unique shows with animation and audio in real time! Simply pick out your actors and backdrops, drag them on to the stage, and tap record. Your movements and audio will be recorded in real time for playback later.               

Sock Puppets  Lets you create your own lip-synched videos and share them on Facebook and YouTube. Add Puppets, props, scenery, and backgrounds and start creating. Hit the record button and the puppets automatically lip-synch to your voice.

               

Toontastic      Lights, Camera, Play! Toontastic is a Creative Learning tool that empowers kids to draw, animate, and share their own cartoons through imaginative play.

               

Subject Specific Apps

Math Apps

Number Line  An educational game app to help students learn about fractions, decimals, and percents by ordering equivalent fractions, decimals, and percents on a number line. The app features multiple levels where the player must drag circles with either a percent, decimal or fraction onto a number line in the correct sequence.

              Fraction Factory Enter the Fraction Factory and use your math skills to place fractions into their correct positions on a number line. When the game begins, fraction gears will move across the screen on a conveyor belt. Use your finger and drag the fraction gear to where you think they should go on the number line at the top of the screen.                    

Oh No! Fractions Explore and learn about fractions with a simple and intuitive interface.
Compare and visualize two fractions and guess which one is greater.

Slice It!           Fast Fun with a Geometric Flair!  "Slice It!" is all about slicing shapes into pieces that are equal in size.  Sound easy? It may start out that way, but soon you'll be cutting shapes that will puzzle you like never before. Brainteasing puzzles: over 200 Basic Stages and a five-star rating system so you can play until you get it right! 

Mad Math       Mad Math is perfect for kids to practice their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and Division Facts. Students can even draw right on the flashcard!

Social Studies Apps

               

iTeachStates   A fun and easy way to learn the United States of America. iteachStates includes game modes such as Pop Quiz, Study Hall and Detention. With a unique design and multiple question formats, you and your family will have a blast learning the US state names. 

English Apps

Shake a Phrase ($1.99) Shake-a-Phrase is a fun language app that teaches vocabulary and parts of speech for ages 8+. Perfect for learning and laughing in the classroom or on-the-go, this lightweight app features over 2,000 words and definitions in 5 colorful and engaging themes.

Whirly Word  How many words can you discover from six letters? Solve the puzzle instantly by finding the six-letter word or step up to the challenge of finding all possible words with the letters given. 

Science Apps

Science 360    The National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Science360 for iPad provides easy access to engaging science and engineering images and video from around the globe and a news feed featuring breaking news from NSF-funded institutions. Content is either produced by NSF or gathered from scientists, colleges and universities, and NSF science 

Star Walk ($4.99)Do you like stars? Star Walk is a stellar augmented reality app that labels all the stars, constellations, and satellites you point your iPad at. You can track the ISS, find out what constellation you’ve been looking at from your bedroom window and get a lot of exciting and educative information. Combine that with the amazing Apple Design Award winning graphics and highest quality content, you get the magic so highly praised by our customers:

Music Apps

My Note Game 'My Note Games!' comprises a suite of simple games to teach music theory and instrument mastery. 

Every Subject

NearPod         This iPad/iPhone/iPod touch app allows students to participate in any class where the teacher uses Nearpod as a presentation, assessment and collaboration tool.

               

Kindle             The Kindle app is optimized for the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch, giving users the ability to read Kindle books, newspapers, magazines, textbooks and PDFs on a beautiful, easy-to-use interface. You’ll have access to over 1,000,000* books in the Kindle Store plus hundreds* of newspapers and magazines.

PicCollage     The best way to create awesome collages of your friends and favorite stars using stickers, text, web images and freeform cutouts! 

Dragon Dictation An easy-to-use voice recognition application powered by Dragon® NaturallySpeaking® that allows you to easily speak and instantly see your text or email messages. In fact, it’s up to five (5) times faster than typing on the keyboard.

               

Qwiki             Curious? Explore 3,000,000 topics in a format perfect for the iPad: learn about what's near you, across the world - and everything in between. Labeled "a seed that will blossom into an Internet wonder" by the NY Times, Qwiki combines thousands of sources to present concise, interactive summaries of millions of people, places and things in an experience optimized for the iPad.

QR Reader      A QR Code is a matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by QR scanners, mobiles phones with cameras and smartphones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data. 

                               

iBooks            an amazing way to download and read books. iBooks includes the iBookstore, where you can download the latest bestselling books or your favorite classics – day or night. Browse your library on a beautiful bookshelf, tap a book to open it, flip through pages with a swipe or a tap, and bookmark or add notes to your favorite passages.

Fun Team Building Apps

VidRhythm     Remix your world! Welcome to VidRhythm, the fun and easy way to MAKE VIDEO MUSIC! 

Ipad Presentation Survey - Gates Elementary Staff

Here is the link for my Ipad Presentation feedback survey.  Thank you for taking time to answer the questions!

Ipad Survey

Free Math App - Oops Order of Operations

Free Math App - Oops Order of Operations

Free Math App of the Day!

This app is titled number line.  It's free and fits a variety of age levels.  

My Tomorrow or Their Tomorrow?

"It's important for them to learn this"

The philosophy that I have learned quickly with teaching is that we, as educators, need to determine what is important for our students to learn and gain from our class. Earlier in the previous school year I was getting ready to have my students make bar graphs based off data we collected as a class. We used Google Survey and Edmodo to collect all of the data and the grand finale was to create bar graphs with rulers, graph paper, and colored pencils.

When I was grading the graphs I couldn't believe how some of the students couldn't draw a neat line or use colored pencils correctly. I was talking to my wife about how I thought it was an important skill that my students could draw straight lines and keep their graphs looking neat, organized, and nice. The moment I said that out loud I realized how strange it sounded.

It didn't sound strange because I didn't think they should be neat and organized, but it sounded strange because I thought it was an important skill that they could draw straight lines. What future job, for this generation, will require their employees to hand in a final copy that is written in pencil and paper? (Granted their are few jobs out their that would still require this trait, but not many) Does an architect walk up to a potential client and say "here is your final draft of your house sorry about the eraser marks"; Does a doctor take an X-Ray and give you all of the results on his handwritten notepad (not that you would be able to read it anyway).

After I pondered this thought for a while I found myself wondering (Am I teaching the students for their tomorrow or am I teaching them for my tomorrow [when I was their age]?) Even though I am only 25 years old (soon to be 26) and I am about to begin my 3rd year of teaching I found myself already teaching the students incorrectly. I must always remember, and continue to reflect, on what my students will need to be prepared for in THEIR future.

What skills will they need to sharpen before they graduate high school. Will they need to draw straight lines or create through technology? Will they need to learn how to write an appropriate hand written letter or how to send an appropriate and professional email? Will they need to know that we disapprove of social networking and that it's taboo, or that it can be a great developing tool if used appropriately? Don't be afraid to take risks and meet students where they are at. We need to continue to create and challenge ourselves to prepare the next generation! "If we teach the same as we taught yesterday we are robbing our students of their tomorrows."

Middle School Math Apps for Ipad

Free Math Apps 

http://goo.gl/ZKUEJ (Burn Your Brain Math)

http://goo.gl/umRPH (Ooops)

http://goo.gl/s4D96 (Number Line)

http://goo.gl/EWJiM (Fraction Factory)

http://tinyurl.com/7twpvw2 (Solids Elementary - only free for 2 weeks)

http://goo.gl/aRf0k (Geometry Pad)


This link also has two pages of Secondary Math Apps that are Awesome! http://goo.gl/NFPEC


App Just for Fun (maybe a good team building activity)


http://goo.gl/wk9r1 (VidRhythm)


Disclaimer: 
I am aware that everyone and their cat is posting different Apps that you should download, but I know these apps are age appropriate for 7th Graders and will work on much needed categories to improve their skills.

Give Chrome a Shot!

Why Chrome?

Through high school, college, and my first year of teaching I only used Firefox (and Explorer) as my internet browser.  The idea I had about browsing platforms was that their main purpose was to open internet sites and surf the web.  After being shown the capabilities of the Chrome browser it is going to be difficult to browse anything other than Chrome.

The Apps

Whenever I think of Apps I automatically think of mobile devices.  But, Chrome proves this theory wrong with the accessibility to (free) apps that you can apply to your chrome page and access from any device.  Some of the best apps also revolve around well known sites like facebook, twitter, and pinterest.

Most of the apps that I really like make my web experience an easier one to navigate and manage.

The Apps that will Ease your Experience

goo.gl URL Shortener
Shorten any lengthy URL at a touch of a button and automatically paste it.  Great for use in twitter to limit the amount of characters you use in a tweet.

Clearly
Clean up a page and eliminate all of the adds and extra eye drawing features.  Makes it simple and easy on the eyes to read Clearly.

Pocket Extension 
Any easy one click extension that adds articles, videos, and images to your"Pocket" account immediately.  (check out my last post to read about "Pocket")

QR Code Generator 
Education has been increasingly using QR codes within schools.  These app allows you to generate them easily and quickly.

Picasa
Create photo web albums from your Picasa app and access your photos from anywhere.

The list goes on and everyday I'm discovering more free apps that make the Chrome experience more than just web browsing.

Give it a shot and switch to Chrome you will not regret it!

5 + Apps that changed my IPAD Experience

Meant to Be

Originally this week I was supposed to take a masters class entitled Middle School Math, but almost a week before the class was supposed to start I received an email notifying me that the class was canceled due to low enrollment.  To say the least I was extremely discouraged.

I frantically began looking for another class to take and I ran across a class entitled Mobile Devices and Apps, which took place at Norris High School.  I figured this class would work and that I may learn a couple things about my Ipad in the process.  To say that I have learned a couple things is an understatement.

The Apps
(I Can't Believe I Didn't Know About)

WARNING! Downloading all of these free apps will change your Ipad Experience Completely


AppShopper, AppMiner, and Honor Roll (Previously Moms with Apps) 


To explain these app's I first need to explain my previous app discovering process.  Normally I would log into the App Store and type in a keyword like "math".  I would swipe and swipe till my heart's content looking for free apps that were age appropriate for my students.  After an hour of unsuccessful searching and 12 apps that only require my students add 2 +2, I would put my Ipad asleep discouraged.

All three of these apps allow the user the opportunity to search for apps that fit the desired need of what you are looking for.  For Example:  If I am looking for a Math App > That deals with Geometry > That includes working with Triangles, I can now find it easily with these searching apps.  They are user friendly and the moment you download them you will be a pro.

Flipboard

This app officially changed the way I find and read my news. When you get it set up and tailored to your interests it organizes multiple sites into different headlines, photos, and snip-its. It instantly makes it look like a magazine that allows you to flip pages, click on links, and watch videos.  Your standard news paper and magazine (with multiple fragrance adds and adds proclaiming you can loose 30 pounds in 20 minutes) is no longer relevant with the Flipboard.  I have also been told that Zite is a good personalized magazine app, but I prefer the layout of Flipboard in comparison.

Side Note: It has also made twitter more exciting to browse.  It puts pictures from articles with tweets and   allows you to add # categories that you can browse. (I would recommend adding #edchat, #edtech, TCEA, and Apps Gone Free)

Pocket

Back-story: I have always had a bad habit of reading too many books at once.  I am currently reading Mockingjay, Wooden, Resolution for Men, and End of Molasses Classes all at the same time.  This bad (maybe good) habit is the same with my websites, videos, and news articles.  While I'm web-searching I find myself on a wild goose chase clicking on a article, a video, and picture and never having time to explore all of them.

This app helps me cope with my problems (at least my website overload problems).  Pocket is an organizational tool that allows you to download articles, videos, and images (to your pocket page) with just one click to go back and visit them later.  I like Pocket because all of the articles and stories you put into pocket are cleaned up to have limited pictures and no adds.  This is one of those apps that takes time to realize the true potential, but I love it.  You can also access your pocket articles and images at home, or anywhere, without internet connection and without an Ipad.  I feel 100 percent more organized because of this handy app.

OnLive Desktop

One of the major adjustments I made switching over to my IPAD was the absence of word processing.  OnLive Desktop gives you a PC look and allows you to work with Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe Reader and Internet Explorer straight from your IPAD.  If you are classic PC user and switching over to an IPAD is too scary (or just too overwhelming) this app can help ease your anxiety.  Once you get set up and started it's easy, familiar, and user friendly.  A wonderful app and even more surprising because it's free.

Talkatone and Google Voice

This app is easy, once you get it set up.  You can find various different resources on the internet to walk you through setting up your Talkatone and Google Voice Account.  In basic, and short terms, this app allows you to text and make phone calls from your IPAD.  After you get it set up your IPAD becomes an Iphone!  (I have found that holding the Ipad up to your ear looks kinda goofy, somewhat like the old shoe phone)

Why is Talkatone useful? (Talkatone runs through wi-fi.  If you are in a room or place with poor reception, and great internet connection, you can now call with ease)  You may also manage your Google Voice account to personalize your voice mails for different people, have all voice mails sent to your email, and check your message history.  This app would be more for personal use and not necessarily one you could use too much in the classroom.

Don't go forward without at least trying these apps out, I know I don't regret it!

goo.gl/0sju (App Shopper)
goo.gl/vZYUb (App Miner) 
goo.gl/y2RUz (Honor Roll)
goo.gl/aUDY2 (Flipboard)
goo.gl/uv36Y (Pocket App)
getpocket.com/ (Pocket Website) 
desktop.onlive.com/ (Onlive Desktop) 
goo.gl/o4HyU (Talkatone)

A Whole New World

My name is Scott Phillips and I am a 2nd year teacher at Aurora Middle School.  I teach 7th Grade Math and also have the opportunity to coach 9th Grade Boys Basketball.  It would be an understatement to say that I have learned a bunch within my first two years of teaching.  I hope to use this blog as a reflection tool throughout my teaching experience.