LITERACY FOR EDUCATION

PREPARATIONS

MY SPELLING TEST
I found that this program was rather useful for students in a repetition learning way.  One of the biggest problems with paper is that you can run out of space on it or just run out of it entirely.  With this digital version of simple spelling tests it can be administered over and over without any worry for needing to carry pencil and paper.  Review can be done in the car, in bed, or at the park.  There is no need for a hard writing surface or anything other than your digital device.  The instructor is able to also record their own voice and sentences so a student can be prepared for that word and sentence when it appears on a real test in the classroom.  While I was not able to interact with the electronic whiteboard, the tutorial video showed that it had the ability to be used in conjunction with it.  I'm not sure if the child was just listening to the recording and using the whiteboard to spell it or if the program actually connected to the whiteboard.  Either way, it is a good example of using multiple sources of technology.

DICTIONARY.COM
The application Dictionary by Dictionary.com is a great and easy tool for simple dictionary use.  I found this program to be laid out better than Merriam-Webster's app.  It allowed for the definition to be displayed and a number of different words that can be used in its place which allowed for greater discovery and a broader vocabulary.  Also, it has Thesaurus.com built into it as well.  The two are easy to toggle between and give a student everything they need for choosing the proper words, or even more creative words, for their writing.

PRESENTATIONS

SHOW ME INTERACTIVE WHITEBOARD
This free application allows both students and teachers to collaborate in a way that is pretty unique.  The application lets a teacher create a lesson or brief tutorial by adding images, annotations, and recordings to give the feeling of a YouTube tutorial but in an educational setting and directly from their own teacher.  Students can log in with their username and search for relevant content and also for their teacher.  Teachers can keep their lessons private or allow them to be public for other users to stumble upon freely.  I feel like this could be an amazing tool for quick tutorials for math or science and allow for creativity in English and history.  I am really impressed and am excited to be able to let my future students be able to experience my personal black/whiteboard from their homes.

COMIC LIFE
The ease of use for this application is outstanding.  It not only gives the teacher the ability to create fun and exciting images for students to use but it also is easy enough for students to illustrate their own comic strips.  This could be easily used in many situations with English classes and even history.  Allowing students to recreate scenes from books they are reading or allowing them to recite lines from history while using the camera to depict what they think it may have looked like is incredibly useful to helping this generation of students have a visual representation to remember concepts or facts.