Just before Spring Break I went to the CUE conference (CUE = Computer Using Educators). I have been to this conference before, but had taken some time off. I was so glad to be back. At CUE you learn a lot about what other teachers and schools are doing with technology in their classrooms.
Part of my time at CUE experience was spent in an iPad Academy, where we learned about some great apps to use with students. I introduced the class to two of those today.
One of the apps I shared was Tellegami. It has free and paid ($4.99) versions. The paid version gets you the full app with a few more backgrounds to choose from. Tellegami is a fun way to share stories and messages. Essentially the user customizes an avatar, selects a background (or uses one of their own) and can record their own voice or use one of the voices included in the app. I am having the class share their Spring Break stories this way and will share some of them when they are done. I encouraged the class to try this app at home if they have a tablet. Tellegami works on both Apple and Android tablets.
The other app I shared was Word Clouds (Apple only, though if you search “Word Cloud” in the Google Play store, the first app that comes up is very much like Word Clouds). With Word Clouds, students can make word art out of their writing. I will be having students type their stories into Word Cloud and creating word art to display in the classroom. I will share some of their work here as well as soon as they are done. Word Cloud is a free app.
The class was VERY excited to try these new apps and I did encourage them to try them at home if possible, as well as to email me what they create. As a reminder my email is ruizmy@fusd.net.
Enjoy!
21st Century Educator 