August Rush! Apps & More

No no… not the tear-jerker movie!  For me “August Rush” is something that begins happening in my brain, truthfully in July, as the new school year quickly approaches.  It’s that feeling that my brain never turns off.  I’m not a procrastinator by nature AT ALL, but there is something about August that makes the upcoming school year so real.  😉

Twitter has only added to the whirlwind that is my brain, as SO MANY Tweeps who went to #TMC13 (Twitter Math Camp) are blogging about amazing classroom ideas, and I am sitting here, A-ha-ing all over myself.  Like this post by Heather Kohn for instance.  Pure August Rush happening.  As soon as I saw it (I am a sucker for graphic organizers and templates) I made this Keynote slide to facilitate the type of review activity Heather mentions on her blog, compliments of Jenn Crase.  I plan to have students annotate and “zoom” in and out of a PDF file on their iPads.  Love.

Review Template iPad 4 to 1

Not to mention my daily bloglovin’ e-mails.  Following blogs is a blessing and a curse.  I just can’t look away… I have to read what these folks are up to, because they are always up to something inspiring and relevant!

It’s also fun to hear from readers of this blog.  I had a laugh this morning when a reader, who is about to embark on Year One of 1:1 iPads himself, posed this question to me:

Your students are alone on a deserted island. All they have are the clothes on their back and iPads.  Miraculously, your kids set aside desires to endlessly text each other and choose to learn math. What apps should they have downloaded in order to survive?

Thanks Vic – your survivor scenario is not far fetched… for the teacher anyway!  Year One of implementing 1:1 iPads felt quite like survivor-mode for me last year!  Through a year of experience (I survived!) I’d suggest that students have:

*At least one app for annotating PDFs

*Apps for formative assessment

*Apps for screencasting

*A QR-code reader

*A calculator app (Test them! I found one that didn’t follow the correct order of ops!)

*Math apps that make sense (there are some really crappy ones out there!)

*Creative apps to repurpose for math

Want specifics?  Check out my Must-Have-Apps List that will surely evolve throughout the school year.   If I have missed a must-have-app, I welcome your suggestions!  This list is another result of my perpetual August Rush state-of-mind.  Stay tuned, as I will surely have more to share… since it’s only August 3…!