A few minutes later she was showing me the app that she downloaded on the trip over from California. "This is the one I like to use on the plane." It was a "game" that allows you to touch the balloons until they pop. Then she showed me the Zippo app. Nice. You touch the side of the lighter and it...lights, and it flickers as you move the Itouch. Apparently, this is the new alternative at live concerts. I was beginning to wonder about this little cute electronic device. How "educational" could it really be. I was envisioning a class full of kids ignoring a lesson while popping balloons, but the fantasy of all of my students flickering a Zippo during one of my read alouds as a sign of awareness that they were experiencing the best read aloud ever was a great vision.
I started to look into some of the other free apps that I read about. There are obviously several book apps out there. I wasn't able to find any that had access to children's books. However, I like some of the tools that you can use as you read, like how you can highlight a word and get its definition and how you can search the text for a part of the book. I can think of many uses for this as a Language Arts teacher.
I can also see where the math games and some of the other drill practice games would be good as a center.
As for a multiuser library tool, well, you could have them available for quick wiki searches, newspapers and magazines could be uploaded for browsing, and skype on these would be more compact...a nook in the library could act as a mini- teleconferencing station.
I am, however, not sure how you could police these things. It would only take seconds for a kid to upload the free handgun app and start shooting up the place.
I need one of these. I am trying to convince my husband of this. It's Just under 300 dollars, and the good apps cost money, and the books could really add up. mmmm. I need one of these donated to me, so that I can explore it in depth.
On a side note, my father-in-law told me about Kindle. It is a portable electronic book that is available through Amazon. I love that thing. I want 20 for my classroom all loaded up with tons of great book choices. Could get pricey with the uploads, though. This thing has the textbook companies shaking in their boots. I love this feature:
Automatic Library Backup: Download Your Books Anytime for Free
A copy of every book you purchased from the Kindle Store is backed up online at Amazon.com in case you ever need to download it again. You can wirelessly re-download books for free any time. This allows you to make room for new titles on your Kindle, knowing that Amazon is storing your personal library of Kindle books. We even back up your last page read and annotations, so you'll never lose those, either. Think of it as a bookshelf in your attic--even though you don't see it, you know your books are there.
Click on the pic for more info
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