Final Reflection

I have to say that I had so much fun doing this training and learning so much about my new iPad device! Without this training I would have been lost trying to figure out my device on my own! I have used Mac computers so I was familiar with the set up but I know so much more now. I cannot thank you enough for this wonderful opportunity! What's really exciting is knowing I can go home and teach my own kids a thing or two about the iPad! Thanks for making me look good! I had no idea the amount of features available to me with this device. I have found some new ways to utilize this at home, work, and with my special education students! Plus, now I have a way to integrate more technology into my teaching and my students' learning! I cannot wait to continue my learning and finding more wonderful teaching/learning apps from Richard Byrne's blog! This training was very beneficial to me as a newer iPad user! Thanks you again! Jodi

Digital Learning Reimbursement - 10 Music

I just recently bought my iPad so I haven't used it yet to listen to music. I use my phone a lot for music so once I get music downloaded onto my iPad I am sure I will use it more for that as well. I checked out the iTunes Store and found all of the artists I looked up. It is good to know they have the music I like available. That is usually not the case when I am using my phone apps for music. I have to use multiple music apps on my Galaxy S5 in order to listen the music I enjoy.
    I really enjoyed learning about the Music app on my iPad. It has a radio section where I set up my own personal radio stations to listen to each genre of music and the different decades I like as well. This is exciting stuff! It also allows me to set up my own playlists, artist lists, songs, albums, genres, compilations, and composers. Wow! And, if I really like a song they play, I can purchase it up in the right hand corner with just one click! I can also share my stations with whoever I chose. I will definitely be using this app personally!
    The radio stations are a great way to research the ways music has changed over the decades. The students could listen to a song from each decade and see if there is a trend in the changes or not. It also exposes them to other forms of art (different genres). Knowledge is power and learning can be fun! Music is a great way to relate to students, help them process their emotions, and build relationships. I could see myself using this app with my students. I also love the controls in the app that allow me to block explicit music from being played in the classroom. This will help with the older students a lot!

Digital Learning Reimbursement -9 Discovering Apps

I used the iPad Apps for School by Richard Byrne. I liked the information so much that I am now following his blog. The information he shares is very detailed and shows videos of how to work with the apps he suggests. This will be a great way for me to learn about apps for my own children along with myself and my special education students.
      One app I found on his blog is called Riddles. You can create polls, quizzes and commenticles on it and share it by using the link or the embed code onto any blog or social media site. I could see me using this professionally to share an article with colleagues and having their feedback posted right there with the video. What a great way to collaborate and share information and ideas. I would use this app a lot to make image based quizzes for students who are not yet skilled in reading skills or English language skills. The quizzes can also include text with the images or just text alone. This is a great tool for teachers to use with their students of all ages.
     I plan to continue following Richard's blog. I love learning about all these new apps and ways to integrate technology into my students' learning experience!

Digital Learning Reimbursement - 8 Sharing Photos

I chose to try Instagram. It is a fun place to share pictures with family and friends. I like that I can chose to post them to facebook right from the Instagram app. A lot of my family uses it so it is nice now that I have a profile too. I like how you can search for users names or search photos from hashtags. I also like how you can choose who or what photos you want to follow once you like one. It has some nice photo enhancers too. I had fun with the blur effect. You can put the blur anywhere through your picture so people can focus on the main object while it fades out the background and edges. I like how I can write a caption on my photos and can also add a hashtag to it.
      Personally, I would not use this app with my students because it is too public and I could not ensure their safety or confidentiality with this app.

Digital Learning Reimbursement - 7 Taking and Editing Photos

This section was a lot of fun! The first video that shows the features on the iOS camera is awesome. I played around with it and used all of them on a photo of myself. I especially love the feature that allows you to make your photo or video lighter or darker as you are taking it. This solves the problem of having dark photos and videos you can't enjoy. I liked the PicCollage app. It is a great way to display photos from an event and share them with a specific group of people. The features are fun to use. I liked the different backgrounds you can choose. My favorite new app is the CamMe app! It is an awesome way to take selfies, especially if you want more than one person in them. You just put your device on a table near you, pose for the pic, raise your hand and close it, then it gives you a countdown and snaps the picture for you! My colleagues and I had a blast! Now we are telling our students about this app and they think we are the coolest teachers ever! Our high school students are loving this app! No more selfies with parts of our heads cut off!
      What a great way for students to capture their activities in class. Then I can print them and post them in the classroom for open house and conferences to show parents what we are doing in class.
     I am going to have to brainstorm and collaborate with my fellow teachers to get some ideas of how to use this professionally. I know my students will have a blast with it and I will definitely use it personally. But, with all the privacy and confidentiality laws, it may be more difficult to use it professionally.

Digital Learning Reimbursement - 6 Social Media and Management Tools

I researched Google +. It is a convenient way to share videos and photos with your contacts. I love how the contacts can be added to your circles and you can choose a circle to share with. The communities feature would be an awesome way to network and collaborate with other special education teachers. We could share ideas, photos and videos. We can also connect by creating a teaching circle group or using the hangouts feature for instant messaging. I also like how you can set your profile to private or public. I could have my students create a profile, add them all to my class circle, then set our profiles to private and communicate and share using Google +. I created my profile and have been sharing videos with my family. It is really fun and easy to use!

Digital Learning Reminbursement - 5 Blended Learning

Wow! This stuff is awesome! I am learning so much and I am so glad I finally bought an iPad! I love the Educreations app! I plan on using it this week for my math lessons for my substitute. This will help my special education students feel more comfortable in learning the lesson from me even though a sub will be there. Some of my students really struggle with changes and would struggle with the sub or give the sub a difficult time due to their disability struggles. This will help them and my sub greatly. It is perfect for my math lessons since we use our whiteboards a lot in class. I love that I can insert text, drawing, and photos as needed while the audio records me talking. I can save lessons and email to students who are absent and/or parents so they know what we are learning at school. Using a 2-finger swipe allows me to expand the whiteboard if I run out of room. It now has and eraser feature as well. It is free to use even if you do not have an account, but it is free to set up an account to utilize all of its features.