The Answer Pad

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) classrooms provide students and teachers with endless learning opportunity and aims to heighten the interactivity between students and the teacher. 
If you are a teacher in a BYOD classroom, you will appreciate The Answer Pad. 

 

Image Source: Used with permission from Flickr by flickingerbrad

To put it simply, The Answer Pad is a student response system, an add-on to the formative assessment puzzle. It allows students to draw and type out answers for the teacher to view.
There are 2 parts in The Answer Pad:
1. Go Interactive - The student response piece comes with drawing features.
2. Answer Sheets - scores and retrieve data from existing paper exams allows students to show their work, and a variety of question types.


Even though this is designed for ipad users, but now, it is available for students to access it with their own laptops or other electronic devices.

This video will tell you how The Answer Pad is useful and how it can be integrated into your classroom. 

inklewriter

Image Source: Flickr by Bruce Guenter with some rights reserved.

Writing is a powerful tool to allow you to record your thoughts and express them in your own ways. However, many students do not find writing an empowering and enjoyable activity. The field of teaching writing has called for many researchers and teachers to explore and publish articles related to it. As technology slowly emerges into education, we should always be on the lookout for anything that would help us engage students in the area of writing. 

Image Source: Flickr by Mads Boedker with some rights reserved.

 I'm telling you now that you can use Inklewriter to make your classroom more interactive and fun. With inklewriter, you can use it with younger children and instill in them an interest to write and to write creatively.
I have found this article that gives a good general idea of what Inklewriter is about and how you can incorporate it into your classroom. 
Inklewriter is a great digital tool that allows learners and teachers to write and publish interactive stories. This tool can train learners in the field of creative writing. Learners can try on with multiple plot-lines and "what if" scenarios and even come up with alternative endings to a story they are reading.
Inklewriter is also made for your tablet. Schools with students having tablets should take advantage of this.
Go to the site and be ready for a new adventure.

Using COMICS in the classroom? Yay.

Comics In The Classroom

Image Source: Flickr by Stallio with some rights reserved.

Let's admit it, we all love, if not like reading comics once in a while. I'm sure the one above attracted your attention. Using comics in the classroom is a fresh and captivating idea to me. After reading this article, I thought to myself, what a clever tool to capture the attention of students. Not only that, comic is an effective tool in engaging learners--all kinds of learners. The best thing is, comics can be used in almost any subjects. As a future English teacher, I could totally see how comic can be incorporated into my classroom and lessons. For example, instead of having students to learn up a new vocabulary by checking the dictionary, they could read a comic that explains the word in context. Students will not only remember the word and its meaning more quickly and better, it also allows them to practice their analytic skills as they learn to guess the meaning of the word in context. 
               A comic is capable to represent pages of written materials while it is enjoyable and effective for students in their learning. Teachers should know what are the things that students of today and future would be attracted to, and turn them into meaningful learning opportunities. Comic Life is a software program that is easy to use by anyone to create his/her own comics.