English +Common Core +Mobile = Success (ISTE2014 Poster -details)

Here are the ten examples I showed at my English + Common Core  + Mobile ISTE 2014 Poster Session:

Based on CCSS Anchor Statements:

L.2 Take a Conventions Mobile Online Quiz  to pick the  incorrect sentence from four choices (capitalization)

SL.2  Evaluate audio recording of a  book chapter on mobile and predict for next chapter.

SL.4 Tell about a mobile picture of a place far from your home by using space organization.

SL.6 Present mobile recorded news to two different groups (HS class and elementary class).

R.2 Create a one minute small group video to record the  theme of  the story.

R.5 Analyze the structure in downloaded literature by doing a key word search.

R.7 Integrate mobile content. Find online image to show the meaning of each poem stanza by identifying the key words in the stanza.

W.5 Revise a paragraph about non-fiction article using point of view and claims.  Orally dictate to voice to text on mobile, read, improve and re-record.

W.6 Publish school news as tweets; publish much info in few words.

W.7 Do map and image research for a novel like Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.

Use the 150+ different mobile activities in my ebook ,English Common Core Mobile Activities, to guide your students in learning and demonstrating the English Language Arts Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Anchor Statements in Language, Speaking and Listening, Reading, and Writing. The activities, organized by Anchor Statements, actively engage your students. More than half the activities are non-fiction. Although the ebook is intended for grades 6-12, teachers at both the elementary and the college level can easily adapt the activities. Over 98% of the suggested apps are free and work on both Android and iPad. Many of these activities can be implemented immediately in the classroom. Each activity is described in detail; most students already can use the app in each activity. Students spend time in achieving the Anchor Statements, not in learning apps. Many of these mobile activities are done in pairs or small group so not all students need to have a mobile device.  $7.99

English Common Core Mobile Activities

Global Cultural Learning Using Mobile Devices (ISTE Mobile MegaShare Presentation)

Based on my presentation at ISTE 2014 Mobile Megashare

Why teach about other countries?

Location: Large view to small on maps.

Culture or culture.

Find six similarities in a  mobile picture from another culture (“Wars are caused by differences, not similarities.”-Tuttle.)

Tell one piece of information from each different Internet visual from a place in that country.

Have students do a Visual Analysis and Interpretation (Literal; Inference; and Value) for visuals from another country.  Use Flickr to find current images.

Analyze the same topic by looking at pictures from various countries in the same continent.

Have students interview a person from another country for a specific topic about her/his country and record on mobile.

Avoid visual and verbal stereotypes and overcome existing ones.

More important to know how to interact with others that when that country’s battle for independence was. Find daily cultural customs at http://www.kwintessential.co.uk/resources/country-profiles.html

What attitude will your students have about the people of the country after the lesson/unit?

My Modern Language Blog:

http://bit.ly/imprml  

My newest book, English Common Core Mobile Activities, 150+  mobile activities organized by ELA CCSS Anchor Statements Grades 6-12 (can adapt up or down). For Android and iPad, mostly free easy to use apps.   Pair and small group work.   7.99 at http://bit.ly/tsmash

English Common Core Mobile Activities

English + Common Core + Mobile = Success in Learning Poster Session at ISTE 2014

In my ISTE Sunday 8-10 am poster session, I demonstrate many diverse mobile activities to help students achieve the English Language Arts Common Core Anchor Statements through mobile devices. The mobile activities focus on free common tool apps that are available on both the Android and the iPad. The students use the apps as a seamless tools with which to show their demonstration of the Anchor Statements.  Here are short descriptions of three activities:

L.2 Conventions Mobile Online Survey. Teachers can give their students quick conventions formative assessment QR codes that link to an online survey/quiz such as in Google Forms. Each week the teachers focus on a specific part of the conventions such as capitalization. For example, teachers give four statements and the students select the one with incorrect capitalization. As the teachers project the graph of that day’s online quiz and they discover that many students have made errors, they present a micro-lesson on that aspect of capitalization. Teachers can have QR codes for online videos so students can also review that specific convention at another time.

SL.4 Photo Description Organized by Space.
Teachers have their students describe a picture using space organized words. Teachers ask their students to take a mobile picture from their home of a far away location. In class, the teachers review how to use space or location words to organize the students speaking. The teachers share a list of space words such as “in front of,” “to the left,” and “two blocks.” The teachers ask their students to pair up. One student describes how to get from his/her house or apartment to the far away place. The other student listens for and writes down all the space words or phrases that the speaker uses. The listening partner tells the speaker how many space organization words he/she used and suggests other space organization words that would clarify the directions even more. Next, the other student describes his/her picture while the partner listens and gives feedback. The students audio record their revised speaking and post it in an online class management system such as Schoology.

R.5 Key Word Search in Downloadable Literature

As students determine the theme for a piece of literature, they focus on key words that help them explore that theme. In groups of two or three students, one student has downloaded to a mobile device the public domain version of the literature such as Garcia Lorca’s Blood Wedding. That group of students may search for the word “knife” in the play by using the Find feature in the e-publication. They create a paper chart with three columns: 1) Act and Scene 2) number of times the word appears; and 3) who says it or does something with it that reflects the theme of the play. When they finish with their chart, they take a picture and post it in an online class management system such as Schoology.

Use these 150+ different mobile activities in my ebook,English Common Core Mobile Activities, to guide your students in learning and demonstrating the English Language Arts Common Core State Standards (CCSS) Anchor Statements in Language, Speaking and Listening, Reading, and Writing. The activities, organized by Anchor Statements, actively engage your students. More than half the activities are non-fiction. Although the ebook is intended for grades 6-12, teachers at both the elementary and the college level can easily adapt the activities. Over 98% of the suggested apps are free and work on both Android and iPad. Many of these activities can be implemented immediately in the classroom. Each activity is described in detail; most students already can use the app in each activity. Students spend time in achieving the Anchor Statements, not in learning apps. Many of these mobile activities are done in pairs or small group so not all students need to have a mobile device.

English Common Core Mobile Activities

Giving Students a Voice in App Selection

Traditionally, teachers research apps for their class. They assign apps to students.  The teachers assign a specific app or give students a choice of several pre-selected apps.  As a Modern Language teacher, I suggested apps to my students in the early part of the year.

However, in January, I let my students select which apps they wanted to use based on their own app searching and a minimal checklist.  I just gave them a topic to search as “food”. I asked them to look at  two or more apps that had the same topic.  My minimal checklist includes: has a comprehensive list  of words, phrases, or sentences for the topic;  gives the written Spanish word and its definition (or included a picture); pronounces the word; is  free; and is available on both Android and Ipad. The app gets extra points if it uses the words or phrases in sentences or questions.  The app also receives extra points if  the app provides practice on the words.

I found that when I let my students select which apps they wanted to use based on their own app searching and a minimal checklist, they actually used the app. In fact, they often commented to other students about their great app for the topic. They willingly showed me the app. They shared stories about where they were when they were using the app (supposedly helping Mom in the grocery store!).

More importantly, they learned the critical vocabulary for the topic from the app so they were ready to use the vocabulary in their communicating about the topic.

Who selects apps for your students?

My ebook, 90 Mobile Learning Modern Language Activities, is available at http://bit.ly/90mlact.

My three formative assessment books, Improving Foreign Language Speaking Through Formative Assessment, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students and Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, are available at   http://is.gd/tbook

My modern language blogs are  now at  http://bit.ly/imprml.  I have developed 27  Spanish activities and 5 Modern Language Visual activities in which students  express themselves in the modern language and move toward spontaneous speaking Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

Considering Home Learning When Doing Mobile

Many schools are going mobile or one-to-one.  Schools sometimes make decisions without thinking about the full consequences such as mobile and home learning.

If schools supply mobile devices to the students, do the students take the mobile devices home?   If students do not take the mobile device home, then mobile is only considered an in-school learning tool.  Teachers cannot assign at home mobile work.  Students can not learn 24/7.

Schools may not supply a mobile device  for home because they assume that students have a mobile device at home. Do all students have the same mobile device as used in school? Do all students have an iPad? What about those with Android tablets? Chrome?  Do teachers assign at home mobile work for a specific machine for a specific app?  Or do teachers assign mobile tool assignments such as taking pictures, videorecording an event and  reading an ebook   that can be done on any mobile device?  Do teachers limit those students who can do the assignment at home or do they provide for the widest base possible so that all students can do the assignment?

Likewise, teachers will want to use free apps. No student should have to pay for an app for school.  An alternative is for the  district to obtain a license so students can use a specific app for multiple platforms ( Android, iPads and Chrome) at school and at home.

For BYOD schools, the same basic questions apply.  BYOD schools  accept multiple devices; they promote including all devices.  Teachers focus not on a specific app but on the learning purpose and use common tools or common apps that work on many devices.  All mobile devices can search the Internet or go to Internet sites so teachers ask students to do a Google image search for the different images for a specific scene in a play and compare/contrast those images.   A teacher may have students do a science experiment and use a free scientific calculator app to give them statistical results.

What has your school decided about at home learning with mobile?  Does your school want to extend learning or keep it within the school?

My ebook, 90 Mobile Learning Modern Language Activities, is available at http://bit.ly/90mlact.

My three formative assessment books, Improving Foreign Language Speaking Through Formative Assessment, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students and Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, are available at   http://is.gd/tbook

My modern language blogs are  now at  http://bit.ly/imprml.  I have developed 27  Spanish activities and 4 Modern Language Visual activities in which students  express themselves in the modern language and move toward spontaneous speaking Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

Good Apps vs Very Good Apps

Good mobile learning practice apps  facilitate and transform learning.

Mobile learning activities can  increase students’ time on task.  In a classroom, a teacher calls on one student  after another but no student is active all the time; only those who are called on are active. Students remain  off task for much of the time since students just wait to be called on.   In doing a mobile learning app, the students concentrate each second as they do the activity. There do not waste time.  They are  on task all the time.  Very good apps incorporate games or challenges into the program.  These games or challenges are content driven, they are not simply rewards of random non-content games.

Mobile learning can offer differentiation.  Often in a classroom, the teacher goes over the material until everyone has learned it. The smart students become bored very quickly while the middle level students become impatient once they do get it.  A good mobile learning app can differentiate.  As soon as students achieve a given percent correct such as 85%, the app moves  the students up in difficulty or sophistication within that learning goal.  Very good apps help the students to review and integrate previous learning concepts into the present learning.

Mlearning apps can provide immediate feedback.  In a classroom, a teacher may present five problems for the students to do, waits until the class is done, and then goes over each of the five problems.  As soon as the   students do the first  math exercise on a mobile app, the the app immediately tells the students if they are correct or not. Students do not wait between doing the problem and finding out if they correct.  Very good apps provide specific strategies for the students to learn how to overcome their learning gap in any problem. They go beyond “Try again” or  “No, the answer is …” to explain how to learn the correct answer.

A mobile learning practice app can provide realistic and contextual  learning. Instead of students doing math word problems written on paper, a mobile app can show students real situations such as shopping in a grocery store.  Here are cans of beets, one sells for eighty eight cents and three sell for two dollars and forty cents; which is the better deal  and why? Very good apps simulate the real experience.

When students use a multi-sensory learning app, they go beyond just reading words on a screen.  They see critical images.  They hear pertinent sounds. They move things around the screen to demonstrate their learning.  They are involved in a total experience instead of just  completing electronic drill pages.  Very good apps involve many senses.

Mlearning apps can have students go from working individually to working collaboratively. Often mobile devices isolate students since each student is doing his/ her own work on his/ her own mobile device.   Students can work collaboratively on the same device or they send information back and forth as in an electronic peer review.  Very good  apps extend the collaboration to the another class in the same school, a different school, a school in a different state, a school in a different country or even multiple countries.

A learning app can  move students from practice to use.  The app can go beyond the lower levels of memorization and comprehension to application, evaluation and synthesis.  Students do not just practice irregular past verbs; they use these words in meaningful ways in a conversation.  Students apply math formula to measuring a house.  Very good apps take students to higher levels of learning, to real world use.

What does your mobile app do? Does it reach the very good app level?

My ebook, 90 Mobile Learning Modern Language Activities, is available at http://bit.ly/90mlact.

My three formative assessment books, Improving Foreign Language Speaking Through Formative Assessment, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students and Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, are available at   http://is.gd/tbook

My modern language blogs are  now at  http://bit.ly/imprml.  I have developed 27  Spanish activities and 4 Modern Language Visual activities in which students  express themselves in the modern language and move toward spontaneous speaking Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

Group Texting Programs: The Next Big Wave?

Group texting programs fall into two categories.  The first category consists of teacher- to-student text programs such as Reminder 101, . In these programs, the teacher sends out  text reminders, announcements, notes, etc. to the whole class with just a click of button. These programs are teacher -centered since the teacher pushes out information but the students cannot respond. Some program may allow for the teacher to send out  surveys or polls.

The other category for group texting progams is student centered. In programs such as Cel.ly,, any  student can respond.  Any student can create a new topic for discussion.  The class can have an online discussion, create a collaborative story, contribute their individual reactions, etc.  Students can interact with each other about a learning topic.

David Murphy wonders if  group texting is shaping up to be the next big battleground between the Web’s social (or search) superstars.

I would like to see the following in any new  educational group texting program that allow all users to participate:
– Students  can  easily join the texting group without the teacher having to put in each students’ number or name Teachers can just give out a code.
– The class texting is self-contained, private and secure.
– Teachers or students can create distinct  conversation topics.

-The teacher or students can go back and review the previous conversations.
– Each conversation topic has its own name.
– Each conversation is self-contained.
– Within each conversation, there can be threads so students can follow a particular topic.
– The teacher can choose from an open chat to a moderated chat.  Some teachers may want to start out with moderated chats  to help students learn how to better communicate.
– The texting will be free.  Students and teachers will not be charged texting units against their data plan since the class texting generates  so many texts. For example, if twenty five students make four comments each, that is 100 text messages.
– The program will allow students with a laptop or desktop  to text.
– Students and teachers can send pictures or images.
– The teacher can sort the participants  or see an alphabetical list of all participant within a conversation to see if all have participated.
– The teacher can privately text students to offer encouragement or to offer suggestions for improvement.
– The group texting program will be free to use.
– The texting program will connect to or allow easy transfer to other social media.

If you know of a group texting program that meets those characteristics, please let me know so I can share it with my readers.

My ebook, 90 Mobile Learning Modern Language Activities, is available at http://bit.ly/90mlact.

My three formative assessment books, Improving Foreign Language Speaking Through Formative Assessment, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students and Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, are available at   http://is.gd/tbook

My modern language blogs are  now at  http://bit.ly/imprml.  I have developed 27  Spanish activities and 4 Modern Language Visual activities in which students begin to express themselves in the modern language and to  move toward spontaneous speaking Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

Assessment and Mobile Learning Questions

Technology can play a critical role in the learning process.  Here are some questions about assessment and mobile learning to think about as you plan for your mobile learning.

Who/ What  will assess the students’ mobile learning?
A) the same mobile app that the student worked on
B) a  different mobile app
C)  the teacher corrects a paper and pencil quiz
D)  an online  program evaluates learning
E) the teacher assesses the students’ paper, presentation or project that incorporates learning from the mobile device
F) some one in the class, school,  or another school assesses the learning.
G) some one outside the school, from the community, an organization, etc. assesses the learning.
H) the students self-evaluate and reflect on how to improve

Will the assessment be?
A) summative ( a final grade)
B) formative with  specific feedback and an opportunity for improvement

My ebook, 90 Mobile Learning Modern Language Activities, is available at http://bit.ly/90mlact.

My three formative assessment books, Improving Foreign Language Speaking Through Formative Assessment, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students and Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, are available at   http://is.gd/tbook

My modern language blogs are  now at  http://bit.ly/imprml.  I have developed 27  Spanish activities and 4 Modern Language Visual activities in which students begin to express themselves in the modern language and to  move toward spontaneous speaking Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

How will students’ mobile device be used for learning?

How will the  students’ mobile device primarily be used? What other ways can teachers have students use mobile devices to engage in  learning?

• to introduce the learning goal to the students  before the teacher does in class  such as in a flipped classroom
• to introduce the learning goal during the class presentation
• to present alternative ways of learning the learning goal
• to practice the learning goal after a presentation (drill and practice)
• to apply the learning concepts at a higher level of thinking (compare/contrast, synthesize, evaluate)
• to incorporate the learning into an individual student’s  big project such as project based learning
• to capture in class learning such as taking a picture of the whiteboard or video recording a project
• as a written, visual, audio or media  prompt for a learning activity
• to collaborate with others within and outside the class on a project
• to compete against other learning groups
• to get information from the web (websites, images, etc.)
• to get information from others via texting, email, etc.
• to  poll or survey students’ interest about some part of the  learning goal
• to assess student learning  and provide feedback to the students (formative assessment)
• to assess students summatively (final grade on unit, project…)
• to collect examples of student work for a portfolio
• My ebook, 90 M0bile Learning Modern Language Activities, is available at http://bit.ly/90mlact.My three formative assessment books, Improving Foreign Language Speaking Through Formative Assessment, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students and Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, are available at   http://is.gd/tbookMy modern language blogs are  now at  http://bit.ly/imprml.  I have developed 27  Spanish activities and 4 Modern Language Visual activities in which students begin to express themselves in the modern language and to  move toward spontaneous speaking Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

Compare Institutional MLearning to Your School’s Mlearning

Many institutions use QR codes. At the Cornell Plantations at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY),  they have put QR codes next to many wild flowers.  When a person uses his/her smartphone to scan  the wild flower QR code, the person hears a poem that mentions that wild flower.  Even though the person is outside in the “wild” area, he/she can appreciate both the flower and the poetry.   At the Etioje Museum in Indianapolis, they have a guitar exhibit; many of the musicians pictures or  actual guitars have a poster with a picture, words and a number next to them. The person borrows a smartphone from the museum and clicks on a specific  number to watch a video about a musician or hear a specific guitar being played.

Some things that happen during this institutional  mlearning:

– At both places, the visitor becomes involved in his/her personal mlearning.
– Each person decides what he/she wants to learn within the specific category. At the Plantations, the visitor selects which flowers he/she will scan.  The person may skip the QR code for any given flower.
– The visitor can listen/ watch any video as much as he/she wants.  A person may only view a few seconds of the video or the person may re-watch the video many times.
– Each person selects the order of his/her mlearning; at the guitar exhibit, a person may focus on the musicians in a specific time order or a person can randomly sample any musician.
– Each person does his/her own comparisons/contrasts with previous musicians or guitars; when couples or group of people travel together through the exhibit, they often share their comparisons/contrasts.
– Each new learning object broadens the learning or provides more in-depth details.  For example, the guitar exhibit covers many different types of guitar music while it also explains in-depth the development of the electric guitar.
– A visitor experiences variety and diversity such as the many different flowers at the Plantation Wildlife area while, at the same time, he/she encounters a  wholistic view of the category of wild flowers.
– Each place has a visual, print words and spoken words/videos  so the visitor employs different modalities of learning.
– Each person learns at his/ her own pace. A person may linger over a certain flower while his/ her partner goes ahead.
– Each person learns, not with a frown on his/her face, but with a smile.

How does this mlearning compare to mlearning in your school?

My ebook, 90 M0bile Learning Modern Language Activities, is available at http://bit.ly/90mlact.

My modern language blogs are  now at  http://bit.ly/imprml.  I have developed 27  Spanish activities and 4 Modern Language Visual activities in which students begin to express themselves in the modern language and to  move toward spontaneous speaking Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

My three formative assessment books, Improving Foreign Language Speaking Through Formative Assessment, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students and Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, are available at   http://is.gd/tbook

Using a Mobile Device is Not Mobile Learning

Many schools are moving to “mobile learning” when, in fact, they really are moving toward using students using mobile devices. The students use mobile devices as they would have used a desktop or a laptop.

Some characteristics of mobile learning (CLIP)

Collaboration and Communication:  Students work with other students and adults in the class, in the school, in the community, in the state, in the country and or in other countries to increase their learning.  Central New York English students have students from Australia as peer reviewers for their essays.

Location and Mobility:  Students use their mobile devices outside of the classroom to capture information or to share localized information. Students go to a river and video record  river data for others to look at.

Interactivity and  Production.  Students do not just consume information, they produce it.  Students record local history from their town to share with others.

Purpose and Goals: Students focus on the big learning, the essential learning. They put information together as in project based learning about the math involved in a garden.

My modern language blogs are  now at  http://bit.ly/imprml.  My ebook, 90 M0bile Learning Modern Language Activities, is available at http://bit.ly/90mlact

I have developed 25  Spanish activities  and 4 Modern Language Visual activities that allow students to begin to express themselves in the modern language and to begin to move toward spontaneous speaking Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

My three formative assessment books, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students,  Improving Foreign Language Speaking Through Formative Assessment, and Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, are available at   http://is.gd/tbook

90 Mobile Learning Modern Language Activities ebook

Having been both a  technology integration teacher and a district technology administrator, I realize that teachers accept and implement a technology when they feel that the technology will help their students to learn and it is easy to implement. Often times, teachers have no idea of how to to use the technology in their classrooms.  Frequently, professional development gives general examples such as those from the technology company but it does not provide examples specific to a subject area. As I thought of how to help more teachers integrate mobile learning into their classes and, particularly, their modern language classroom, I decided to create a book which shows a wide variety of mobile learning activities.

I focused on a book  to improve  to students’ modern language communication and culture awareness through mobile learning tools and apps. I developed  in-class and out-of-class learning in fourteen different categories of mobile learning (mobile pictures, internet search, internet image search, timer, poll and survey, QR code, voice and video recording, phone, video chat, media, apps, texting, twitter, Facebook, Wikis and Websites).

Over 70% of these interactive mobile activities help develop students’ speaking skill; other language activities include listening, reading, writing and assessment.  The students participate in authentic culture through these mobile activities.

I developed mobile activities  that are easy to integrate.

Please share this ebook link (http://bit.ly/90mlact) with your modern language teachers, modern language chair,  professional development person, and technology integration person to help them see the many ways to use mobile learning in modern languages.

My three formative assessment books, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students,  Improving Foreign Language Speaking Through Formative Assessment, and Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, are available at   http://is.gd/tbook

My modern language blogs are  now at  http://bit.ly/imprml

I have developed 25  Spanish activities  and 4 Modern Language Visual activities that allow students to begin to express themselves in the modern language and to begin to move toward spontaneous speaking Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

Your Contribution to 200+ Academic Activities with Mobile Devices

Dear teacher,

I invite you to submit a short paragraph description of how you help your students to learn or to demonstrate their learning through mobile learning for an ebook tentatively entitled “200+ Academic Activities with Mobile Devices”. I am trying to show the wide variety of ways that students improve their learning through mobile learning.

I will email you that I have received your submission and I will make the final decisions about all submissions by the end of May^..

The following long form explains each of the categories. Then, a sample entry illustrates what your actual entry looks like. The emphasis is on students’ academic learning, not on explaining the technology.

Please email your submission to htuttlebs@gmail.com by April 30^{th. .} Please put 200+ in the subject line. If you have a question, please email me at htuttlebs@gmail.com. I appreciate your willingness to share your ideas.

Harry Tuttle, Ed.D.

Long Form Explaining the Categories:

Personal Identification such as first name, last name, school, district, city, state or first name, last name, subject area, city, state:

Level : elementary, middle, high school, university

Subject: Art, Business, Computer Science English/Language Arts, Health, Home Careers/Life Skills, Languages, Math, Music, Physical Education, Social Studies, Science, Technology

Specific Subject such as English/Language Arts -First grade, English/Language Arts-AP Literature, Languages: Spanish Level II:

Student Learning Outcome: (what will the student learn/do and how well)

Specific mobile application or tool such as Camera, StoryBird App

Learning Activity:Please focus your paragraph on what the students do to learn or to demonstrate their learning, do not focus on the mobile device. See the following example.

Example of an actual submission:

Name: Robert Tuttle, Roxboro Middle School, Lakein School District, Shortschester, NY

Level: Middle School

Subject: Modern Language Spanish I

Outcome: Students will narrate eight sentences about a picture or pictures in Spanish

Mobile: Camera

Learning Activity: Joellyn listens carefully as her teacher explains that for the topic of “food-restaurant”, each student will narrate eight sentences for a given picture or pictures. That afternoon, Joellyn uses her mobile device’s camera to take a series of eight picture showing restaurant actions. For example, she takes pictures of restaurant actions such as ¨to enter,” ¨to look at the menu,¨ and ¨to order,¨ etc. Then, the next day in class, she shows her pictures to her partner, John who narrates a story using those topical actions. John says at least one sentence for each photo. For example, as John looks at Joellyn’s first picture, he says, “Ron enters the Italian restaurant.” For the next picture, John says, “He sits down in a chair.” John continues until he has narrated all of Joellyn’s pictures. Joellyn counts each sentence to make sure that John says eight sentences. Next, Joellyn narrates John’s’ pictures while John counts her sentences.

Example from Tuttle, H. G. 90 Mobile Learning Modern Language Activities, publication date of May 2013.

Please share this with your colleagues and other mobile using educators

My three formative assessment books, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students,  Improving Foreign Language Speaking Through Formative Assessment, and Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, are available at   http://is.gd/tbook

My modern language blogs are  now at  http://bit.ly/imprml

I have developed 25  Spanish activities  and 4 Modern Language Visual activities that allow students to begin to express themselves in the modern language and to begin to move toward spontaneous speaking Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

Show Administrators Good Learning, Not Mobile Learning, to Convince them of Mobile Learning

Some administrators still prohibit cell phones and other mobile devices  in the classroom.  They do not change their  minds when their teachers send them articles about the benefits of mobile learning; in fact, they may not even have time to read the articles.  Often when a teacher approaches the administrators with a statement like “Mobile learning is great”, they turn a deaf ear.  They are not interested in technology per se.

These administrators focus on student improvement.  However, when a teacher says, “I want to show you how much more students have gained in their learning since the beginning of the year”, the administrators become interested.   For example, Miss Thorp  shows her  administrator, Mr. Verona, how students have grown in their learning on a major subject area goal.  She demonstrates the low starting scores on math word problems and their now high scores. She does not talk about  or show mobile learning.  Once Mr. Verona acknowledges the students’ major learning   improvements, then she shows that students used  mobile learning to work on grocery store word math problems with students in other states and tells how important the mobile learning was to the learning.  Mr. Verona  now realizes that mobile learning  can be a valuable tool  in the math class.

How do you show your administrator improved student learning as a result of mobile learning?

My three formative assessment books, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students,  Improving Foreign Language Speaking Through Formative Assessment, and Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, are available at   http://is.gd/tbook

My modern language blogs are  now at  http://bit.ly/imprml

I have developed 25  Spanish activities  and 4 Modern Language Visual activities that allow students to begin to express themselves and to begin to move toward spontaneous speaking as in a natural conversation at Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

Categorize Story Telling Apps by Student Media Use

A plethora of digital story telling apps and multimedia apps exist. However, most people who list  these apps  usually  present a random list of apps. The following categories help teachers to better decide on which type of app will help their students  for a particular learning goal.  The categories focus more on what media the students use rather  than their final product.  Although many apps  are available in each category, only one example has been included. Also, the  given app works on both Apple devices and Android devices; if there is no common app, then an app for each device is given.   Some categories  overlap. Each app is free.

Predominantly Text:
Screen of words after a screen of words  (any texting program like Cel.ly)
Students create a caption for a  picture   (babble)
Students create a comic strip by typing in text (Create a comic)
Students add much text to pictures to create a story (Storybird)

Audio:
Students record their voice for objects or people (Blabberize)
Students narrate a picture  (fotobabble)
Students create an audio recording (audioboo)

Pictures:
Camera picture (any mobile device)
Students show a series of pictures  – (on phone or mobile device)
Students create a collage  (Pic collage)

Animation:
Tell a story through limited animation (Puppet Pals)
Stop motion animation (Apple -imotion ; Android  Lapse it

Short  Video:
Students write text, add pictures and add music  (Animoto)
Students create a screencast of  what they show on the computer screen and of their narration of the various screens (screen-o-matic)
Students create Podcasts (podomatic)

Full production Movies:
Students create a movie with a  title screen, numerous frames, narration and special effects (imovie; Movie Maker)

Mobile device videoconferencing:
Students talk and show items as they  tell a story to  people in another location (Skype)

Eportfolio
Students use a blog, wiki or website to store their evidence such as voice recordings, illustrations, pictures, and documents to show their learning  achievements  (word press)

My three formative assessment books, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students,  Improving Foreign Language Speaking Through Formative Assessment, and Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, are available at   http://is.gd/tbook

My modern language blogs are  now at  http://bit.ly/imprml

I have developed 29  Spanish activities that allow students to begin to express themselves and to begin to move toward spontaneous speaking as in a natural conversation at Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

Modern Language Mobile Learning Apps or Tools

Although modern language teachers may be using mobile learning, they may not be aware of  the various categories of mobile learning apps or of tools.  The following list gives teachers new resources to use in their classroom.  Teachers can use some mobile apps to help flip the language classroom since students can pre-study the vocabulary  or pre-study  a verb video.  Likewise, the foreign language teacher can have students use specific  apps if they display a learning gap on a formative assessment.  Even more important, the teacher can have the students listen to native speakers, read target language newspapers, and see up-to-the-minute culture in the country.  To find a particular app, the teacher searches  with terms such as “Spanish radio app ipad” or “French  verb forms android app”.  Many apps and tools are free or have introductory lessons.

Words and Meaning:  Dictionary/ Thesaurus
Translation  including Google voice
Verb Forms
Vocabulary / Phrases / Traveling
Learn the Language  (language study course)
Flashcards
Culture- General  such as a  city tour and specific  such as French recipes
Radio and TV stations
Newspapers and magazines
Voice and Video recording
Camera pictures
Media production such as  written text on a picture, talking objects,  digital stories
Whiteboard Sharing
Communication (texting…)
Brainstorm / Graphic organizers
Search the  web / search for  images
Internet movies/ YouTube
Website Connectors
Collaboration – group writing/ project creation
E-readers
Calculators / Spreadsheets
Mobile videoconferencing (Skype)
Organizers / Schedulers
E Portfolios such as a student’s own wiki
Clock / Stopwatch /  Timer
Learning Management Service Connectors
Phone

So what apps do you use?

My three formative assessment books, Formative Assessment: Responding to Your Students,  Improving Foreign Language Speaking Through Formative Assessment, and Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment, are available at   http://is.gd/tbook

My modern language blogs are  now at  http://bit.ly/imprml

I have developed many  Spanish activities that allow students to begin to express themselves and to begin to move toward spontaneous speaking as in a natural conversation at Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

Learning App Analysis

Does the learning app:

Present problems, scenarios, etc in more than just words?  For example, does the app show a picture and base the questions on that picture? Do the students have to answer questions based on a short 30 second video?

Present a variety of different problems?  For example, can math students do the math in number format (2+2 = ),  word format (two and two equals), and visual format (two apples and two apples =)

Have a variety of ways that students can input the answer ?  Is the app an  A, B, C, D  click on the button choice  or does it allow students to move things around to show the answer? Can the students say the answer?

Identify when the students have a correct answer?

Identify when   students have an incorrect answer?  For example, the program says, “No, try again.”

Tell which part of the student’s answer is incorrect?  Or tell how the student was incorrect? For example, did the student  incorrectly  spell  the first part of the answer?  Did the students confuse two words?

Allow the students  to try again? For example, the program repeats the same question or a similar one.

Supply at least one strategy to understand the correct answer through explaining the concept?  Does the app provide a strategy to help the students overcome this learning gap?   Does the app supply  text clues, visual clues,  or sound clues   to help the student learn the concept so he/she can generalize to other questions of the same concept?

Tell the correct answer?

Keep track of the students’ progress?  Does it show the students what they have mastered before they  move on?  For example, the app can have a checklist of the various levels of the learning goal.

Make this data  available to the teacher?  Can the teacher  sort through the data by class, from high scoring students to low scoring  students,  and by specific learning goal?

Move the students on to a higher level once the student has shown proficiency?  How many questions reveal proficiency?  For example, does the app check student progress after ten questions or do students have to do thirty before it proclaims student success?

Move students up Bloom’s level of thinking?  Do  the students move up to do a real life example of using that learning?  Are they put in a real life scenario through a video?  Or do they go from abstract practice to more  abstract practice?

Have the student spend more time on learning than on playing reward games?

How is this mobile  app different from a website version of  the same material?  What  advantage does the mobile version have?

I have developed many  Spanish activities that allow students to begin to express themselves and to begin to move toward spontaneous speaking as in a natural conversation.  My Spanish spontaneous speaking activities (20+) includes Modified Speed Dating (Students ask  a question from a card-whole class), Structured Speaking (Students substitute in or select words to communicate in pairs),  Role Playing (Students talk as people in pictures or drawing from 2-4 people) and Speaking Mats (Can talk using a wide variety of nouns, verbs and adjectives to express their ideas- pairs or small group),  Spontaneous Speaking (based on visuals or topics in pairs),  and Grammar speaking games (pairs or small group). Available for a nominal fee at Teacherspayteachers:  http://bit.ly/tpthtuttle

My three formative assessment books:   http://is.gd/tbook