Music to my ears!

Including students with a variety of physical and cognitive challenges into a band or a music class can pose a challenge at times.  iPad technology and apps can be a great way to introduce the creation of music with students. Reg Swanson has compiled a great list of music apps that you may consider using with students. You can view the app icons and descriptions here.

Accessible Books

I'm always on the hunt for accessible books that can be used in the classroom with a variety of learners.  In one of my other posts, I spoke of the books contained at www.tarheelreader.org.  This is one of the most extensive collections of accessible books on the internet. It is continually growing, with additions by individuals all over the world.  If you are using books on found on the tar heel reader website, please take note that if you are using the iPad to access these books, the new iOS7 update has not been very compatible with viewing and reading these books.  Holding off on the iOS7 download until some bugs are worked out with the Safari browser may just save you some headaches.
If you haven't already visited the Special Education Technology British Columbia website for a variety of resources, see www.setbc.org. You can download books for the IntelliTools Classroom Suite, Clicker, and BoardMaker software.  There are also a large number of PowerPoint books available to for listening and viewing purposes.
Another great resource for students and teachers to check out is smories.com. This website contains videos of kids reading popular books.  It could be used to demonstrate how readers use expression and intonation in their voice to engage their audience.
The Winnipeg Public Library has a licence for Tumble Books, which are animated, narrated story books from popular authors such as Robert Munsch. Peruse the Tumble Books library here. The Tumble Books are meant for younger students, but there is a whole library of interactive content on the Tumble Books Jr., including videos, graphic novels, and chapter books. You can access the books for free through the library website.  Because I know that many of you are already wondering, "Is there an app for that?", I'll address that question. Yes, you can get the Tumble Books app in the App Store, but books much be purchased in sets through an in-app purchase.

Check out these accessible options for students in your classroom!

Digital Pictures Resources

I've had a couple of requests come in for iPad apps that can be used in high school Digital Pictures courses. I've done some searching, through my devices and other online sources, and have come up with a list of some good apps to try:

1- Photo Grid Pro (photo display)
Allows you to easily select photos from your photo library and insert them into a photo collage.  You have editing capabilities such as enhancing the picture, adding effects and stickers, as well as cropping the photo. Very user friendly and allows you to email or share through social media forums such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

2- SnapSeed (photo editing)
A highly rated photo editing app that includes some very intuitive, touch-based editing all for the great price of free.

3- ComicStrip (photo display)
This app allows you to create comic strips using digital pictures.  More fun than a serious photography app.

4- Lego SuperHeroes Movie Maker (stop motion animation)
This app is meant for kids- it's so easy to use- as it allows the user to take photos, moving the feature character slightly in each shot. In minutes, you can plug them into a stop motion animated film with effects, music, and slides.

5- Halftone
Similar to ComicStrip, this app allows the user to take images and add comic strip effects to the photo.

6-InstaFrame
Allows some pretty fun frames to photos that can then be shared on all kinds of social media websites.

7- Cycloramic Studio 360 Panorama
This app came up on Apps Gone Free a couple of weeks ago and actually allows you to use your iPhone or iPad to capture panoramic shots.  Should have remembered to use this on Vancouver Island this summer!


Every Stock Photo- I thought I would make mention a search domain that has Creative Commons licensed pictures.  What that means is that you can find copyright free images on this website. If you click on an image in your search results, you will be taken to a larger version of the image, a link to the source, and the attribution requirements for using that picture.  Alternatively, you are welcome to visit search.creativecommons.org for images free of copyright.  Teaching students to use these alternatives to Google Images will help promote a more responsible user of digital content.

Applications of Applications

The majority of my year thus far has been focused on finding the 'right' applications.  Quality apps for the iPad that don't contain adds or in-app purchases and that offer high quality educational experiences for students of varying ability levels.  I'm moving on.  It's time to start looking at how to apply the applications that I've searched out (and some new and exciting ones) in the classroom and through the course of the school day.  To start my journey, I've uncovered an excellent resource maintained by clinicians in the United States who have worked hard to compile information into an invaluable wikispace.  Spedapps2 is a great source of information to figure out how to appropriately and effectively use many of the great apps that we've used in Student Services this year in ISD.  This is a great resource for RTs as well as classroom teachers with students using iPads in the classroom.  It is definitely worth spreading the word about this site, so please take a moment to forward this information to colleagues.

Making Connections using Skype

I sat down a few weeks ago to meet with a couple of teachers to discuss ways to use the iPad in the senior years classroom setting.  After we had discussed a variety of applications for both the iPad and a couple of web 2.0 tools, the discussion turned to connecting to classrooms in other countries.  The classroom teachers I had met with have been working on sustainable development goals, fundraising for distant communities in need and making cross cultural-connections with those communities through letter writing.  Part of what they were interested in doing was using the iPad to make video contact with individuals living in the communities with which they had already made connections.
I stumbled across this blog post about Mystery Skype-ing that reminded me of this conversation.  Apparently, a whole host of classrooms in the United States are using Skype, a free video conferencing web and iPad application, to connect with each other.  There are wikispaces that you can visit and sign up to make connections with other classrooms. You set a date and time, keeping in mind time zones, and call each other using Skype.  The particular blog post I read laid out some 'how to' guidelines for new teachers and suggested that each student be assigned a role in the digital conversation to provide opportunities for class-wide participation.  If you are interested in participating in a Mystery Skype with your classroom, it might be worthwhile to check out this blog post and follow the links to sign up.  If you've tried something like this with your classroom- share by commenting on this post.  It would be great to hear from an ISD rep. who has been through this experience with their students!