BYOD in Middle School and Puffin

I am working at a new school this year. Same diocese but different parish. This year the middle school students are BYOD (Bring your own device). During the end of the previous school year I gather that parents and students were given information and what to expect at the start of school. Recommendations were given but not stressed and left laptop or iPad options strictly to parents. So this week, here they come. PCs, Macs (all varieties- air, pro, etc) and a few iPads. So here is what we discovered.

Students were asked to make sure they had the latest Adobe Reader installed and the latest Adobe Flash Player. Well you probably guessed that many students did not, especially the Apple products which typically don't come with these programs preinstalled. Nice, huh? So we had students that could not open the eBooks and did not know why. I spent quite a bit of time updating and installing the needed Adobe products and have most of the Macs working now. There is one that is still giving me issues but I'll figure it out. I also had to make Adobe Reader the preferred pdf reader on the Macs to make the eBooks work. So here were the steps I took for the Macs to be able to open and use the Glencoe Literature books.
1. Download and install Adobe Reader for Mac
2. Download and install Adobe Flash Player for Mac
3. If not available, download a pdf file; Choose "open with" and select Adobe. When asked if you want to make Adobe the preferred/default reader, say "YES"
4. Log in to the Glencoe site and locate the eBook. Open and it should work. Or at least it did for me.

I did have one Mac that would NOT work so I download Firefox and installed the plugin for pdf reader on Firefox. That also worked.

Now we are looking at a work around for the iPads and flash. I was reminded about the free web browser app Puffin. I downloaded it on my husbands iPad and tested a few flash sites. Worked great. Will have to try it on the eBooks and see what happens. Puffin is free and seems to work smoothly. So far I have not noticed any glitches. It will be interesting to see how it works for the students.

So I've played a bit of a tech helper this week. It was fun. I enjoy helping the kids and I really like a challenge!

TechChef4u App

Back in February I attended TCEA and went to a session titled "Hot Apps for HOTS". Excellent session from the ladies at TechChef4u. Well now they have an iPhone app!


I am so excited about this app especially since I will be helping my school introduce and integrate 60 new iPads. This app should be a must have for anyone doing the same. You can always rely on the reviews and there are links out to their blog, TechChef4u, and to the AppyHour4U podcasts. As you can see from the app screen shot, you are able to search apps based on grade level and category. Nicely done. Downloaded my app this morning and I suggest you do the same!

App Description: TechChef4u offers multiple resources to support teachers and parents in their search for FREE quality apps to support their children and students. While the TechChef4u app is an educational app store that provides searchable and categorized lists of 500+ FREE apps for PK-12, the app doesn’t stop there. Check out these other features.


Here are screen shots from the app store:

Musical Fresh Ideas from TMEA for the iPad

Post #2 today is all music related technology. I attended the Texas Music Educators Conference in San Antonio recently and although most of the conference sessions for elementary are geared toward singing, dancing, playing instruments, there were a few that talked about iPads in the music classroom. After attending TMEA, I realize I need to be presenting there about integrating the iPad in the classroom. Ah well, another post for another day.

Back to my TMEA ideas. One of the sessions I attended was led by Dr. Lynn Basinger. This would have been really great if I could have just sat down to dinner or lunch with her and shared ideas back and forth. But it was a good session and I have some new apps to try. I'm big on free apps so most of what I mention here will be free.

JoyTunes Recorder Master (apparently only for iPad2)
I downloaded this on my iPad and found it fun but a bit challenging to play. Pretty cool but I do like my successes to come quicker and I was ready to quit after the second game! I tend to get frustrated easily with video game but I think kids would find it fun and easy to play. They seem to have more patience than I do!

Pluto Learns Piano HD is an app for both iPad and iPhone. Cute little app for note recognition. And it's FREE.










She mentioned some other apps I would like to try, but they are paid apps and I don't have the freedom to purchase apps on my iPad (it belongs to the school). But here are a few that intrigued me:

The History of Jazz looks really cool and the price really is good. Looks worth the purchase.

The one app I would really love to buy and try, but it lists for $14.99 is Notion. Dr. Basinger said that this app is the closest she has found to a good notation app. Would really like to see this one in action and know more about it.








Here is a link to Dr. Basinger's blog for iPads4MusicEd. She welcomes your thoughts on apps and the use of iPads in the music classroom.

Fresh Ideas from TCEA

I am just back from two fabulous conferences. The first was the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) conference in Austin, Texas. This was followed in quick order at the end of the week by the Texas Music Educators Association conference in lovely San Antonio, Texas. It was a whirlwind of a week and my mind is reeling from all the information I tried to stuff into my notes and my brain. I will begin with TCEA.

One of my goals at TCEA was to learn more about integrating the iPad in the classroom. Not just using apps for drill and kill, although those certainly have their place and there are wonderful apps out there to help students practice what they learn in games and the like. What I wanted to see was how to use the iPad and it's many apps to create lessons and products. I must commend two amazing educators, Lisa Johnson and her partner in crime, Yolanda Barker. They are the authors of a FREE book in iBooks called Hot Apps 4 HOTS. (HOTS = Higher Order Thinking Skills)

This was used for their session at TCEA and showed how apps can be used to create products and be used in lessons. Their book is set up following the different levels of Blooms with an activity including, task, apps used, directions and other resources. Even if you do not use their ideas, perhaps it will give some thought about other ways to use apps in the classroom. Lisa and Yolanda can be found on their Appy Hour radio podcast at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/search/appy-hours-4-you/

Lisa also has great tips on her blog Techchef4u. Their session probably had the most impact on me. I have shared with many teachers at my school and their ideas on how to use in their own classes is very exciting. Made my trip to Austin worthwhile!

Of course a highlight to TCEA, was being able to co-present with Carol Mayo on Mouse Mischief. Mouse Mischief (MM) has been called the "poor man's clicker" but we like to call it the "alternative student response system". Sounds fancy, doesn't it? MM is a free download from Microsoft that works through PowerPoint. Using wireless mice, it enables you to create interactive lessons in PPT where your students can work either answering individually or as a team. You don't have all the bells and whistles that you would with the popular clicker systems but for formative assessment on the quick, easy and inexpensive, this might be your answer. You can find information at Carol's site Hold the Mayo

There were many sessions that I attended and will address another great one in a subsequent posting about making book trailers.