10 Apps to check out for 2014-2015

 Are these apps on your radar? 

* Indicates platform agnostic

Lino is an inline stickies service that offeres stickies and canvases. you can post, sharea, see and peel off stickies on vaceasas freely. Stickies posted fron iPone/iPad App can be cacessed with PC browsers at any time.

How can it be used in education?

• Paperless assignment posting
• Group work ideas
• Comments on projects from students in class to other teachers to other schools!
• Graphic organizer
• Proofs to a geomerty problem
• Traits of a literary antagonist
• Defining events in the Industrial Age

Haiku Deck is a free app that allows users to make presentations with over 35 million images and 6 free themes

How can it be used in education?

• Digital portfolios
• Presentations
• Proposed solutions to authentic learning
• Persuasion Topics

If you are looking for a quick automated video editior, Magisto is the app of choice. This app allows users to input videos, photos and music. The user then chooses the style and Magisto works its magic..

How can it be used in education?

• Presentations
• Persuasive Commerical
• Chronicling Project Based Learning
• Archive of progress

Note: this is one of my favorite apps to use. Students can focus more on the content and not get bogged down with editing the film. Caveat: videos for the free version can be no longer than about 1.25 minutes and the music library should be previewed first. If students chose to use Magisto, I made a list of music they could choose from in the app library or allowed them to upload their own.

The Plus plan is $4.99 a month (this price is less than what I paid for my daughter's ELA binder) for some additional features. Should a student choose this option for a project, you can subscribe one month at a time.

Thinglink (iOS and Android) is a free and user friendly digital tool that provides users with the ability to turn any image into an interactive graphic. Create multiple “hot spots” on specific parts of an image and turn that image into a multimedia launcher. Include video, record audio or provide a link to any website with the click of a button. (gettingsmart.com)

How can it be used in education?

• Parts of a map
• Parts of a diagram
• Traits of a person in a book or time era
• An "All about Me" at the beginning of the school year 
• Parts of a cubic function

Google Drive is one safe place for all your stuff. Upload photos, videos, documents, and other files that are important to you, then access what you need wherever you go, on any device. Get going with up to 15GB of storage. Free.

How can it be used in education?

• Makes anything on a computer/tablet/phone paperless by uploading and generating a link
• Collaboration with group members 
• Collaboration with teacher
• Access to projects anytime, anywhere

Note: Google Apps for Education (GAFE) has revolutionized teaching. I continue to be amazed at how creative teachers are with this suite of programs. To top it off, it's offered to anyone for free! Students can keep their files once they graduate.

Create and share a quick animated video called a Gami. (Apple and Android friendly) Easy to use and a nice gateway for using technology in the classroom

How can this be used in education?

• Persuasive techniques
• Explaining how to solve systems of equations
• Student view of a concept
• Presenation of Learning

Note: This app is great if the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) program is just beginning to roll out. There is not a login so students do not have to worry about rememering passwords, it's available  at Google Play and App Store so it's accessible to a variety of phones and tablets. 

Caveat: Time Length 30 seconds

Make anything talk -- pets, friends, doodles, with Chatterpix
Simply take any photo, draw a line to make a mouth, and record your voice. Then share your Pix with friends and family as silly greetings, playful messages, or creative cards.
Save to Camera roll by pressing


How can this be used in education?

• Point of View from person in history
• Explaining a concept
• Augmented Reality
• App Smashing

Comics Head Lite is an easy to use self publishing tool and can be used to create storyboards. If you have an idea you can instantly create visually interesting content on the go. Get started quickly by choosing from our many templates and inbuilt art assets. Go viral with your ideas by sharing on facebook and email.

How to use in education?

• Story boards
• Problem Solving
• Thought process
• Story Plots

Aurasma is an augmented reality app that’s one of the main apps used for augmented reality.
· Bring tagged images, objects and even physical locations to life with interactive digital content, such as video, animations and 3D scenes, we call Auras (description from iTunes)
If using with students, set a up a channel at https://studio.aurasma.com/login
Important terms:
Overlay - what will be seen when image is scanned
Trigger Image - scanned image to prompt video

How to use in education?

• homework help
• explanation of a events in a timeline
• explanation of cultures on a map
• solution to adding fractions

eduClipper is a free educational social platform for educators and students. We make it easy for educators and students to explore, share, and create awesome content!

Like Pinterest? Then check out EduClipper and clip away!

Who is that strange lady creeping outside my classroom door? Security!!

     Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my job. There are so many neat instructional technology opportunities for the classroom, it would be impossible to list my favorites! I wish I would have known some when I was still in the classroom. I still get to do some teaching, on a different level since I work mainly with teachers by showcasing and training on the latest trends. But, I don't get to rationalize a denominator.... I also don't get to write the equation of a hyperbola given, the vertex, foci, and asymptotes.

     So, lately I find myself walking down the math halls at campuses. I slow down as I pass their doors and get a glimpse of what they are teaching, just to get a little fix. On my way to the car after work, I hear discussions in after school tutorials and I must focus on walking to the door instead of popping in and reteaching the questions asked. Sometimes when I get home, I will graph rational functions, just for fun. I even asked the district for a calculator! Just in case I needed to do a demo...

      The other day in a school parking lot, I found a worksheet over Linear Programming. My heart ached a little... I wanted to keep it and work it out when I got home that night, but I wasn't alone. I didn't want to come out and be that nerd, not just yet... By the way - did you know that Linear Programming is the most applicable concept in Algebra 2? No really - it is. I'd love to show you sometime...oh man, I digress!


I'm good though, no like for real. I've already planned my Christmas vacation, it's going to be a freaking BLAST! It will be a nice distraction from Algebra 2 withdrawals. Wait for it - the idea is going to blow your mind.... I AM going to learn Pre Calculus! Yes, yes I know - I can hardly wait too! Think about it. It's cold outside and it gets dark at like 2:30 pm. While the little birds and rabbits are shivering watching the Christmas lights come on around the neighborhood, I'll be all curled up with my Pre Cal with Limits textbook, a fresh college ruled spiral, and a brand new 0.9 Bic mechanical pencil. Jealous yet?


I've decided to become a part time tutor so that I can do math problems. Of course helping out kids isn't so bad either. Plus - I will see what's going on in another school district since my neighborhood is zoned to a different one than the one I work for.


Doing math problems is fun, teaching math problems is funner, not worrying about grammar because of being a math teacher is funnest!

If you catch my humor, like Nacho Libre humor, then you get it. No - I haven't stalked your classroom, not yet, well maybe. But I do love math! And if you are teacher that love's your content, consider yourself lucky! there aren't that many of us around anymore. Yay for TEACHERS! Yay for PASSION! Yay for LOGARITHMS  (oops... my bad) Now go have fun and quit counting down to Thanksgiving Break :)