Rose S.

Mazar
LITR 630/Dr. Thomas
Assignment 5: Apps (Tablet)
July 7, 2014

App 1: Story Kit
Story Kit is an app that is easily adaptable to any content. It allows
students to create and publish their own books using a multimedia platform.
Pictures, sounds, and text combine to create a polished-looking final
product. This app is appropriate for K-12. Students in grades K-5 can use it to present stories or
finished research. For students in grades 6-12, it would be more suitable for second language
learners who are not yet fluent in English, or for special education students who may struggle to
write. I would use it with my English learners in writing biographies or reports for their regular
education classrooms.


App IRA NETS*S KTS6
Story Kit creates
electronic
storybooks using
pictures, sounds,
and text. These
books can then be
shared online.
5.1
This app modifies
instruction to meet
the changing needs
of the students.
Students are
enmeshed in the
digital world and
this app allows them
to take their reading
and writing and
publish it online.
3.
This meets NETS*S
3 because students
need to gather and
ethically synthesize
information that
they will present
using this digital
format.
This app
incorporates
technology into the
curriculum in a
meaningful way that
cannot simply
replace pencil and
paper.



App 2: Bitsboard
Bitsboard is an app that has digital flashcards with images, texts, and
recorded audio. It is fully customizable with hundreds of Bitsboards online
flashcards that can be downloaded and customized. I would use this app
with my English learners, grades K-5, to help reinforce concepts and vocabulary they are
learning in class. For my newcomer students I would give them 10-15 minutes per day of
practicing English to help them learn basic academic and social vocabulary. I would also use it
to build my students background knowledge in preparation for units taught by the regular
classroom teacher. Finally, as a culminating project, students would be asked to create their own
Bitsboard to reflect their learning of the English language arts units their teachers present in
class.


App IRA NETS*S KTS6
Bitsboard uses
electronic flashcards
to teach language,
vocabulary, and
concepts. It
incorporates sound,
images and text.
This app meets IRA
2.2 because students
are using a very
different
instructional
approach that
develops word
recognition,
language
comprehension and
the reading-writing
connection.
This app meets
NETS*S 2 because
students would be
using this digital
media to
communicate their
learning and
collaborate with
others, in this way
supporting their
individual learning
as well as
contributing to the
learning of others.
Standard 6.2 is met
by this app as
students are using
research-based,
technology infused
instructional
strategies both to
build background
and to communicate
their learning to
support the learning
of their peers.





App 3: Popplet Lite
Popplet is a visual way for students to organize their thinking. Unlike a static hard copy
of a graphic organizer, students can organize content in ways that make
sense to them. They can import images or draw pictures to explain or
illustrate the concepts they are analyzing. Popplet is not a content-specific
app but instead lends itself to any content task that requires reading, writing, or the organization
of independent thinking. It can be used K-5 or even at the middle school level due to its
versatility. One example of how I would use this software with my students is assigning them to
help explain concepts or vocabulary that we are working on as a class. Students would be able to
add to each others popplets images, synonyms, antonyms, analogies or other content to help
define the content on which the class is working.

App IRA NETS*S KTS6
Popplet Lite is
interactive mapping
software that allows
students to
graphically
represent their
thinking with text
and pictures.
This app meets IRA
standard 4.2 because
it supports teachers
in providing
differentiated
instruction by
empowering
students to control
their own learning
and thinking with
dynamic mind
mapping and
organizational
strategies.
Popplet Lite
addresses NETS*S
4 because they have
to use critical
thinking skills to
plan and manage
their projects, and
collect and analyze
their data in an
organized way.
6.3 Popplet gives
varied yet authentic
opportunity for
students to use the
technology to
further their
learning by offering
a platform for open-
ended graphic
organizers and mind
maps.


App 4: ABC Magnetic Alphabet Lite
This magnetic letter alphabet would be available to all of my English learners, grades K5.
This app would especially be helpful to my 4
th
and 5
th
grade students who are terrified of making
spelling errors and being made fun of by their peers. As I work in an
inclusion capacity with upper grade students, they really want to blend
in with their peers but dont yet have the skills to do so. An iPad is a cool
way for them to get private help with multisyllabic content vocabulary that allows them to
manipulate letters without fear of making mistakes.


App IRA NETS*S KTS6
This digital
Magnetic Alphabet
gives students the
advantage of a full
set of magnetic
letters in a portable,
safe, and interactive
manner.
ABC Magnetic
Alphabet Lite meets
standard 2.2 because
it supports concepts
of print, phonemic
awareness, phonics,
language
comprehension, and
reading-writing
connections.
This app meets
standard 1 because
it allows students to
apply existing
knowledge of
spelling patterns and
letter sound
correspondences to
generate new words
they may have heard
but dont know how
to spell.
6.5 As an itinerant
English learners
teacher it is not
practical for me to
carry around boxes
of real magnetic
letters that our
students so
desperately need.
This app provides a
safe, equitable and
secure access to this
instructional tool for
student use.



App 5: ABC Spelling Magic
This app is mostly applicable to K2 students. It is good for all kindergarten students and
more of an extra assistance or scaffold for 1
st
and 2
nd
graders. This app is
ideal for working within a K2 classroom with a small group of students who
need to practice sound-symbol correspondence. With my traveling teacher
bin, I could take 2-5 iPads with the app pre-loaded. Students would be highly motivated to sound
out the words and spell them with the help of this well-designed app.


App IRA NETS*S KTS6
ABC Spelling
Magic 1 leads
students to build
words or move
letters to spell
simple cvc, short-
vowel words. They
also have the option
to choose double
letter ending words
to spell.
This app meets
standard 4.2 because
it supports
classroom teachers
in providing
differentiated
instruction. It also
puts the student in
charge of their own
literacy learning as
they manipulate
vowel and
consonant sounds to
make words.
ABC Spelling
Magic helps the
young reader apply
NETS*S standard
4.d by using
multiple digital
processes and
diverse solutions to
spelling and
blending words.
6.1 Spelling magic
uses appropriate
technology to teach
blending of sounds,
cvc patterns, and
supports instruction
for all students.



All of these apps incorporate best practices in pedagogy, the p in TPACK. One of them,
ABC Spelling Magic, targets younger students who still need practice in sound-symbol
correspondence. Spelling Magic uses an instructional practice similar to paper-pencil Elkonin
boxes, but it differentiates it further by tracking progress and also by providing audio for all
words. Teachers are not always able to work one on one with all students. This app makes
individualized attention a little easier to manage. Using this app instructionally according to the
TPACK framework helps teachers meet the literacy goals that are focused on print sources while
incorporating 21
st
century skills (Hutchison, Beschorner & Schmidt-Crawford, 2012). The other
apps all incorporate creative thinking, synthesizing, learning, analyzing and many other skills as
the technology puts the student in charge of his or her own thinking, the t in TPACK. In this
instance, the technology cannot be replaced by traditional paper and pencil methods. In
traditional methods, the dimensions of the paper and the constraints of the pencil limit creative
thinking. The pencil cannot provide sharp, realistic images or audio. Similarly, the paper cannot
extend off in all directions without limits. The technology of these apps is crucial to the learning
goals. Content knowledge, the c in TPACK, in each of these apps is flexible and lends itself to
the demands of different subject areas. For example, reading and writing skills, science process
skills, or social studies contents and concepts can all be woven into the use of these apps as long
as the teacher keeps in mind the TPACK framework, making sure pedagogy, technology and
content are integrated successfully.
An important part of incorporating 21
st
century skills into literacy instruction is the level
of engagement that is made possible by tablet use. Students love to work with digital
technologies and manipulating their learning on iPads and tablets. Their level of engagement
with the digital literacies promotes a greater understanding and connection between reading and
writing (Larson, 2010). Another instructional advantage to tablet and iPad usage is that it
engages various learning modalities, not just one or two, such as visual or kinesthetic
(McClanahan et al, 2012). Children who use these devices for instruction are able to see, hear,
touch, record, and otherwise construct or deconstruct meaning at a level not comparable to
traditional print resources. This multimodal advantage targets all students, in this way
differentiating their learning to an even deeper level than working with a teacher who has
preplanned, differentiated lessons. Teachers do their best to differentiate lessons ahead of time.
However, there is almost no way to be responsive to student needs that change during a lesson,
especially when materials and realia is prepared ahead of time.
Furthermore, the ease of tablet or iPad use allows for even very young children to be
successful in selecting and using apps for literacy work. Dobler (2012) reports children as young
as grade 1 making literacy app selections, using them independently, and sharing newfound
problem-solving abilities with classmates. Likewise, other studies have found increases in sight
word recognition, fluency, vocabulary acquisition and comprehension, even with users as young
as grade 1 (Getting and Swainey, 2012). Tablet and iPad technology represents a 21
st
century
skill for increasing student achievement, as long as educators can keep the pedagogical, content,
and technology knowledge all working with the TPACK framework.


References

Dobler, E. (2012). Using iPads to promote literacy in the primary grades. Reading Today, 18-19.
Getting, S., & Swainey, K. (2012). First graders with iPads? Learning & Leading With
Technology, 24-27.
Hutchison, A., Beschorner, B., & Schmidt-Crawford, D. (2012). Exploring the use of the iPad
for literacy learning. The Reading Teacher, 66(1), 15-23.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/TRTR.01090
Larson, L. (2010). Digital readers: The next chapter in ebook reading and response. The Reading
Teacher, 64(1), 15-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1598/RT.64.1.2
McClanahan, B., Williams, K., Kennedy, E., & Tate, S. (2012). A breakthrough for Josh: How
the use of an iPad facilitated reading improvement. TechTrends, 56(3), 20-28.