1. TeacherCast -- This app links you to TeacherCast.net (a great website that is actually very much like the app itself) and gives you access to their podcasts, blogs, videos, etc. about educational issues, topics and ideas. There is also links to the mobile classroom (which gives you access to materials you would want to use in a mobile classroom) and "apps" recommends apps for you (though it's not working at school well... I wonder if that's because the App Store is blocked, though). I think it's a very user-friendly interface and the ease of use continues if you look at the bottom of the screen where the navigational icons are that can give you more information about TeacherCast, link you to "educational portals" (i.e., email, calendar, Facebook, Dropbox, Gmail, YouTube, etc.), and extras which will link you to already done LiveBinders filled with great ideas and other links that aren't quite as exciting, in my opinion. Even though it's basically the same as the website, it's worth downloading the app so that you'll see it and be encouraged to use it more.
2. TeacherKit -- This app is great for classroom management. You can create seating arrangements here and you can add notes about attendance, behavior, and the grades of each student. There is even a space to add the student's email, a parent's email, and a parent phone number. The navigational tabs at the top allow you to tap on students who are present, quickly add a note or a behavioral note about a student, and keep track of grades. While I don't think I will use the grading feature, I'm excited to use it as a tool for parent meetings. It will be nice to have all of those notes in one place! You can have multiple classes, too, so this will work well for high school teachers. (And you can change the settings so that you can keep track of excused and unexcused absences! Edline may not do it, but now we can! All I will need to see is that excused absence slip...) Elementary teachers, please read about ClassDojo.
3. ClassDojo -- The app actually goes along with the website. In fact, you have to use the website to set up your class. Nevertheless, I think this app/website could work WONDERS in your classroom because you award students positive points for working hard, being on task, or participating or you could take away points for negative behaviors like being off task, talking out of turn, or being unprepared. The students are displayed as funny-looking avatars so you could display this during class to see how many points the students accumulate and then the stats are kept on the website. The website is MUCH more complete; the app seems to be just a quick way to award/take away points, but I think it would be good motivation to show students at the end of the day. And you can wipe the points daily so all students start at 0 each day, but YOU can see the daily stats or the average to see if there is a problem. You can also share this with parents. Personally, it's a little too elementary for me, but it looks like a great tool for those of you who have younger students.
4. WDWDT? -- WDWDT=What did we do today? This is actually a phone app that you can download onto your iPad and it will contact the students and parents to send reminders about homework or special events, or you can ask for volunteers (student or parent--maybe you need a chaperone or maybe you need someone to read their poem to another class or something), or you can conduct a survey, or you can arrange a meeting. If you can get parents to use this app (but really, why wouldn't they want access to that kind of info?), this would be an AMAZING tool. I'm going to require my students to use it because the Google calendar and Facebook reminders weren't enough. When in doubt, over-communicate, right? ;-)
Cheers,
Lesley