Literacy for Education/ Discplines in Education

Literacy for Education

Preparation:
I reviewed the My Spelling Test app and I think it is very beneficial and useful for lower level grades, like elementary school. I know from experience that spelling tests were rather dull and monotonous. The teacher calls out a word, maybe uses it in a sentence, and you write it down. Then the next word, so on and so forth. With the My Spelling Test app, it spices things up a little. It still has a voice calling the word pout and using it in a sentence, but being able to see the letters on a screen rather than in one's own handwriting is helpful, in my opinion. I know a lot of times I will write a word and it doesn't look like I wrote it correctly. With the Spelling app, the letters and words will be clearer and more understandable. It is also easy to follow and understand, which is another benefit to having it implemented in younger educational systems.

Presentation:
I reviewed the Drawing Pad app. While I think it would be most successful for early-middle school education, I can see the app being used in secondary education as well. When I watched the tutorial, the first thing that popped into my mind was playing Pictionary with students. Instead of just back-and-forth, asking questions and getting answers, students could draw their answers. This helps the students build creativity while still learning their material. The Drawing Pad can be used in any subject too, which is another advantage to it. Despite it being a little too "cartooney" for my liking, I do think all levels of education could use the app and find benefits from it.

Stories:
I chose to review the Strip Designer app, simply because I had never thought of applying comic strips to education. It was actually a lot simpler than I imagined. It is almost like a visual My Docs or Microsoft Word. You start with an untitled document and add pictures and words to it. I know in English classes, students are asked to create short stories and write in-class essays. I think that the Strip Designer is a great way to do these kind of assignments. Instead of making students jot their words onto paper with a pencil, they can creatively, visually, and comically create their stories and add a flare of their own personalities to it. I am the least creative person ever, but after playing with the app, I found that if I can use it, anyone can. Students will be able to follow along, and create stories and work problems in the unique way of comic strips, which is a new idea to education for me.

Disciplines in Education
If I could choose what subject I will be teaching in middle school, I would want to teach math. Consequently, I chose to look at the three math apps. The first app I reviewed is Mathboard. I like how Mathboard is presented in a quiz-like formula. I like how the app has a settings where you can choose what kind of problems to have, along with the difficulty of the numbers (negative numbers, fractions, etc.) A big thing in math is being able to workout your problems, and below each problem, Mathboard gives you a spot to jot down numbers and notes and work the problems out. I do agree with the person on the channel, though, in the sense that the limited room to write stuff down in this section could be a problem for students. It helps to see the flow of the problem, and with the small window to work problems out, this flow is interrupted and could be confusing. I like that on the side of the screen, the app keeps track of the problems you got correct and incorrect. That way, you can go back and focus on areas that you are still struggling with.

The second math app is iMathematics. Like with Mathboard, I like how you can choose what subject and what kind of numbers you want to work with. I also like that it gives you resources within the app. The example in the tutorial was looking up prime numbers in Wikipedia. This is a very beneficial tool for students using the app. Instead of having to leave the app and go online to look something up, you can find help within the app. The biggest negative to the app is that many of the subject contents within the app are locked, which you can unlock by buying pro version of app. If a school system is fortunate enough to have funds to purchase the pro versions, than I think this is the best app out of the three. However, it is probable that this is not the case, so that is a big negative for the app in my opinion.

The third app I looked at is Sketchpad Explorer. I like how the tutorial is from a math teacher. I trust his opinions because he uses it on a daily basis. I think that because the iMath app potentially costs money, Sketchpad is the best app of the three. Its subject settings are more concise and specific compared to the other two. I like how you can put lesson plans and chapter notes into the math, so teachers can teach straight from the app. Its also very beneficial that the app has charts and graphs that students can do. While the app seems a tad bit complicated compared to the other three, I feel like this app is the perfect app for upper level math courses, and overall is the better app of the three.