5 Fabulous Last-minute Gifts

I talked to a lot of people to prepare this article. Sure, I have my 5 Fabulous List, but is it representative of what YOU might want? To determine that, I asked the faculty at my school, the members of my Personal Learning Network, and a bunch of efriends I’ve met while blogging. Here’s the list we came up with:

Old-style Kindle

They’re on sale for $59! What do you get? A screen that shows you the book you want to read, no matter the glaring sunlight, the internet outage, the fact that you’re on a flight and finished your book and now what do you do (hint: if you have the Kindle, you open the next one). The new Kindle Fire is morphing into a tablet. That’s OK if that’s what you want. But if you want to read a book without the battery expiring, in a dead wifi zone, get Old Kindle.

iPad

I love my iPad, but truth, any pad computer is a great way to stay on top of the most important things you need every day:

Check Out My Post at TeachHUB

I write a column for TeachHUB, about twice a month. If you’d like to check out my article, Friday Five: 5 Fabulous Last-Minute Gifts, click and visit. There are some other interesting articles over there, so plan on staying a while.

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Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-8 technology for 15 years. She is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, creator of two technology training books for middle school and six ebooks on technology in education. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, a columnist for Examiner.com, Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-weekly contributor to TeachHUB and Write Anything. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.

Check Out My Post at TeachHUB

I’m going to be writing a column for TeachHUB, about twice a month. If you’d like to check out my first article, Friday Five: Top Five iPad Apps for Your Classroom, click and visit. There are some other interesting articles over there, so plan on staying a while.

Follow me

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Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-8 technology for 15 years. She is the editor of a K-6 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, creator of two technology training books for middle school and six ebooks on technology in education. She is the author of Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. She is webmaster for six blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice book reviewer, Editorial Review Board member for Journal for Computing Teachers, Cisco guest blogger, a columnist for Examiner.com, Technology in Education featured blogger, IMS tech expert, and a bi-weekly contributor to TeachdHUB and Write Anything. Currently, she’s editing a thriller that should be out to publishers next summer. Contact Jacqui at her writing office or her tech lab, Ask a Tech Teacher.

Tech Tip #104: Need a File on Your iPad? Here’s an Easy Way

As a working technology teacher, I get hundreds of questions from parents about their home computers, how to do stuff, how to solve problems. Each Tuesday, I’ll share one of those with you. They’re always brief and always focused. Enjoy!

Q: I have a video on my classroom computer I want to use on my iPad. How do I do that?

A: There are ways to do that–email it to your iPad, open through DropBox–but those have issues:

• emailing requires extra steps and time you may not have
• many email accounts limit you to <10MB. What if a video file is larger?
• DropBox has limited space
• like email, you must put materials in DropBox to access them from there (In know–Duh, but that requires planning. What if your inquiry-driven class popped onto this topic on the fly?)

If you’re like me, anything to make your worker faster, easier, less steps is a good thing.

107 Favorite iPad Apps for K-8–Plus 1

Click for more information

OK–I left one app off the list of 107 Favorite iPad Apps published earlier this week. It’s called Murky Reef. It’s advertised as ‘a series of thematic educational apps that encourages critical thinking through contextual game play’ and includes specific apps for language, science, and different grade levels.

One thing I particularly like about this app is that it’s designed with Bloom’s Taxonomy in mind–those quintessential characteristics of effective learning.

There are 7 apps in the Murky Reef series. Here are the more relevant links:

Full cross-curricular app:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/murky-reef-1st-2nd-grade-reading/id465112920?mt=8

Science & Reading Comprehension :
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/murky-reef-science-reading/id501426947?mt=8

Product Review: Just Air Case for Ipad

The Just Air Case does exactly as advertised. My iPad2 fit snugly inside and provided me with a sense of safety that if I dropped it, all mechanical parts would continue to work. There’s plenty of padding on all sides–including the zippered top. I was a bit worried when I ordered the Just Air because I always use my iPad with a Snugg around it. I’m a teacher and walk around my classroom while using the iPad. The Snugg has a handhold so I can poke the screen one-handed (maybe link to my desktop) or perch it for video viewing. I also allow students to use it–3rd grade and up–so I want that extra protection from scratches or bumps. I worried the snugged iPad wouldn’t fit inside the Just Air Case, but I needn’t have. In fact, if you don’t have this sort of extra case, the iPad is a bit loose inside the Just Air. No worries, though, because it is well padded.

The case has no extra pockets or slots, though you could carry a credit card or license inside–maybe a phone if you didn’t worry about pocket dialing. You might even fit a portable keyboard, though I didn’t try that. It is not designed to protect the iPad during use (there are no slots for the screen, power buttons, etc., like other more expensive cases have). Overall, a good value for the money.

Note: This review written as part of my Amazon Vine Voice series

Dear Otto: What iPad Apps Do You Recommend?

Do you have a tech question?

Dear Otto is an occasional column where I answer questions I get from readers

about teaching tech. If you have a question, please complete the form below and I’ll answer it here. I use only first names.

Here’s a great question I got from Christine:

Q: Hi,  I teach 8th grade Physical science and next year all of my students will be issued their own ipad.  Any tips on how to find good apps and examples of lessons that use the ipad? Thanks!

A: There are any number of websites that promise a list of iPad apps for education. Some are free, some not and in my experience, they’re particular to a teacher’s interests. Instead of those, I’d recommend going to the Twitter hashtag #ipaded. This stream highlights realtime iPad apps that are recommended by active educators. For example, there’s one called SimplePhysicsyou might enjoy.

Here are some more from my e-colleague Tony:

• Quixey: a search engine of all apps – for Android as well as iPhone & iPad
• Appitic: one of my favourites – collections of apps by theme
• Appolicious: probably the largest collection of reviewed apps – well worth a look!
• iPad apps perfect for ES: a selection of apps that come highly recommended by ‘experts’
• iKidApps: you can search by age or subject and you’ll find great reviews on a load of different apps
• iPad Apps used in school–the list Tony uses. I love it.
• iPad Apps for Education--a comprehensive list from Kathy Shrock

What iPad apps do you recommend?