The second app that I have interest in is this ESL app, since ESL is what I teach. I like the description of this app because it contains so many videos (visual/audio) that include formal/informal speaking situations, grammar, pronunciation, common expressions, and assessments. Some features that I like about English Central that I found on their website, are that it includes resources and portals for teachers, and teachers can create video lessons, as well. When I further explored the website, I discovered an interesting page with something that I wanted to share: “Whether EnglishCentral is used as a purely homework supplement, an extension of textbook and class curriculum or as a blended solution, integrated with a coursebook – it truly gets students practicing and making quick progress faster than other online tool can match” (“Why English Central, 2017, para. 2). The best practices section includes all the steps for a teacher to create lessons, and also how to use the videos. There are 3 ideas for using the videos: blending them into the curriculum, using videos as a flipped classroom approach and also as supplements for engagement or reinforcement. Thus, a teacher can choose a video that best suits a chapter and the goals of a lesson, review time can be performed during class, and objectives can be reinforced. When I opened the course catalog, I saw that adults and young students can study. There are so many kinds of English courses such as media, business, or social English. The entire website is full of a lot of information about what can be done and learned with this app. I will definitely want to try this one out!

 

In short, this is a science – based application that provides information to students of all grade levels.  This app takes into account the fact that not all students learn at the same pace, and reading levels differ especially person to person.  Taking this into account, the application provides articles and questions that ‘increase linguistically’ as a user moves up.  It can help bridge the gap between students in a classroom where a singular text book may not be able to reach every student the same way.  The texts within the application also are interactive, and the student can highlight, underline, and circle anything as well as take notes and add annotations which the teacher can see if it is shared.  As a teacher, it comes with features such as exportable gradebooks, feedback on parts of readings that students struggled with the most, and printable PDF’s of each reading on the application.  

 

 

 

I like using Quizlet on the computer enough that having it in the form of a portable application sounds very useful.  This application works like a game, so a set of questions can be picked or made by the teacher or students, and the students will have a certain amount of time to answer.  Immediate results are posted for the teacher to see.  I think that a game like this would make a competitive collaborative atmosphere that would encourage student learning, as well as team work and enthusiasm for a subject.  

 

This app, as rated by Common Sense Media, is appropriate for kids ages five and up. The Writing Wizard allows kids to practice tracing letters, numbers, and words. It also offers opportunities to practice phonemic awareness and to learn letter names and sounds. The app is customizable and offers different options like a left-handed mode and time limits for games. It's pretty affordable, only costing about $5. That might be expensive for an average app, but when you consider you also get worksheets with this app, it's not so bad. That's one of my favorite things about Writing Wizard. Tracing on the app can help learning letters and spelling, but something kids in this technology age struggle with is dexterity in things like holding pencils and scissors because they're on screens all the time. With this app, you can print out worksheets, so students can practice fine motor skills while still being able to practice things from an app that is already familiar to them. 

This app is for students ages seven and up. Mystery Math Town is an interactive game app that allows students to explore and discover secrets within a fictional town, all while practicing their math skills. It's a mystery game where students will encounter talking portraits, hidden fireflies, and funny, witty comments from the town's residents. All of this happens while students are practicing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Kids will really enjoy this game because of its air of mystery and funny encounters with the characters of the game and educators will enjoy it because it gives students really good math practice. It's a great balance of both a fun game and a good educational experience. 

Hopscotch is an app which introduces students to the idea of programming and coding in a fashion that is similar to kids who later became architects or engineers playing with legos when they were growing up. Hopscotch does this by allowing students to use their mobile device to create anything from art to games to funny videos. This is a very basic tool, but when used at the middle school or elementary school it can prove useful as students use their creative intuition and determine if coding and programming is something which is interesting to them - maybe they would want to follow this through secondary education or even for a degree.
2. Instructables

Instructables is a really cool website. I think instructables is useful for any creative class, math class, or science class. For any mechanical, electrical,  or wood working class it is very obvious why this site could be a benefit to students. In a physics class it could be even more particularly useful as a means of allowing students to do their own experiments in a fun way. Suppose a physics teacher wanted their students to make a car using mouse traps - something I did in high school. Instructables is an easy way for students to get ideas or even instructions. If an instructor wants to make it so that their students have to be creative, they could mandate revisions to the designs. Either way instructables can provide blueprints for students to find the most effective principles to meet their goals (speed, distance, time, etc.) and apply those to real principles such as friction.

 

Quizlet Live, from Quizlet, is a program for group work.  Students work in groups to answer questions.  Each student sees a group of possible answers, but not always the same choices that are presented on their teammates computer.  So basically one group has multiple answers to chose from among each others computers.  I like that in addition to the subject being tested, the students learn how to collaborate together for a common goal. For those who already use Quizlet, the material can be pulled into Quizlet Live.  One of the biggest benefits?  It’s free!

https://quizlet.com/

Flocabulary is a fun video based learning app for students K-12.  There are a wide variety of hip-hop, rap videos to serve as learning tools.  The raps, although slightly corny, act as earworms and help students retain the information.  There are videos in multiple subjects for all levels.  I like that the videos all meet Common Core standards.  A negative to Flocab is that it is not free, not overly expensive, but still a cost for the teacher to have to pay out of pocket.