A summary of our first Appy Hour meeting

1. Thank you for
joining us
Next Appy Hour will be in January!
For those who couldn’t join, here is what you missed…

2. Reason behind Appy Hour – if we
as teachers get used to using apps
in and out of the classroom, then
the technology will disappear for
our students and it will become all
about the learning.

3. Bloomz – a classroom/parent app that
resembles a facebook like settting. You
can schedule conferences, ask for
volunteers, keep a calendar, post pictures,
and share links to videos. This could be
used in a flipped classroom setting easily.
Takes many of the questions, emails, and
phone calls away by sharing information.
https://app.bloomz.net

4. Powtoon – a computer based program that allows
you to make media presentations on any subject you
would like to teach. The free version allows basic
slides, 5 minutes of playing, and some music. Here
is a link to one I did for my classroom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkFfdTB7N0Y
This is a great tool to help you teach and it is fairly
simple to use.

5. Kahoot – a online tool to create formative assessments on any
subject you want. You can also take any of the thousands
created by other teachers, save a copy, and make changes to
make it your own. You have to save the site to the
homescreen of your device from https://kahoot.it/#/. Then
you have to create the assessment at https://getkahoot.com/.
Afterwards, you play the quiz on your whiteboard and have the
students answer the question using the devices. You can print
reports for assessment information. This video is a short
tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFFv6_6was4.

6. Declara – app to store articles that you want to
read but don’t have time. You just hit the save
arrow when the article is up on your device and
save to it (must enable the app in settings). You
can also create categories in the app such as
recipes, school articles, etc…
You can also go online at https://declara.com/ to
load content. This is a lifesaver for someone who
is reading articles for school or having to use
them in research.

7. Class dojo – An app and computer based program
to keep track of discipline in the classroom. The
parents can see instantly how their children are
doing and any notes that you input throughout
the day. It is great for intervention
documentation and they have added a class story
feature where you can share happenings in your
classroom throughout the year! See
https://www.classdojo.com/ to set up class.
There are also some how to videos on their site.

8. We also discussed using Twitter to get out there and
learn from people all over the world by engaging in
Twitter chat discussion. Some of the most
innovative people in education are out there leading
these chats. The next page is a list of hashtags that
will help you find some interesting chats going on.

10. Then the group shared apps that they use both at home and school
to make their lives easier.
• Dora uses and app called My Binder to keep track of her shopping
and to input spiritual readings for her days. This seems like an
invaluable tool for the person on the go to stay organized.
• Patti uses the app Lose It to aid in weight loss and keeping track
of eating. Several of us also use My Fitness Pal for the same
purposes.
• Dora also uses an app called Just Remind to stay on top of “Life”.
• Several teachers use My Running Record Toolbox to help figure
out guided reading ratios and percentages.
• Angelica has used Speak and Translate app to various degrees of
success to translate for the monolinguals that some of us may
have. They do have to speak clearly to use this.

11. Next month, Ana and Shelby are going to attempt to
get into the Plickers features. We are also planning
to Blab or Periscope our next Appy Hour. If you have
any great apps for home or school and you would like
to participate in our awesome discussion (with snacks
of course), please join us in January (date TBA).