Using Twitter as a Professional Learning Network

What is Twitter?
Unless you have been living under a rock for the last 10 years or so, you have probably heard of the social media website Twitter. I doubt you have been living under a rock (that would be pretty boring and a little cramped), but I am going to take a little time to explain what it is for those of you who (like me) just haven't given Twitter a chance.  Twitter is an online social media tool where users can post messages up to 140 characters long. You can post messages (this is called tweeting) and read the messages other Twitter users have tweeted. Twitter is public and even if you are not a member, you still have the ability to read tweets. However, you will not be able tweet, retweet, or like your messages. You also will not have the benefit of using Twitter to create your own online Professional Learning Network.

What is a Professional Learning Network and How Do I Use Twitter to Make One?
A professional learning network is a group of people (in this case, educators) who have connected with other educators in order to better themselves and improve their teaching strategies. Furthermore, it is another group of like-minded individuals you can vent to and bounce ideas off of. Michael Graffin expands upon this in one of his blog posts. You can discuss your classroom struggles, share instructional tips, discuss classroom management strategies, share lesson plans, and more.

Teachers have to be creative, innovative, and able to bring variety to the classroom. I would not want to be stuck in a lecture where my professor does nothing but talk for seven hours straight and I know my students would not want that either. Children are full of energy and as an educator, you have to plan lessons that will engage them and allow them to express themselves. However, sometimes it can be difficult to come up with so many different activities. This is where a professional learning network comes in. By following users who are educators or offer advice for teachers, Twitter can be a lifesaver when you are stuck and just cannot decide what to do in your classroom.

Before writing this post, I was one of the very, very few people that did not have a social media account. Generally, I have always thought social media was shrouded in drama and I wanted absolutely none of it. However, I have realized when you make a professional account that is focused on one specific thing (such as teaching), you can tailor your Twitter experience to be extremely helpful for you.

First, I made an account on Twitter.com. It's very simple and only takes a few moments to type in preliminary information such as your name and password. Once you have done this, you can get started. Because I was new to Twitter and absolutely clueless about how to use it, I had to look up some tips. Here are a few of the first things I learned:

• Your Twitter feed is located on the home page of your Twitter account. Once you follow people, all of their tweets will show up on your feed for easy viewing. 
• A follower is someone who chooses to click the button "follow" on your account. Your followers will be able to view all of your tweets on their feed.
• When viewing a tweet, there is a small "reply" button in the bottom corner. By pressing this, you can say something back to the user who posted that tweet. When you do this, your reply will be available for anyone to view.
• When you tweet, you can mention or tag someone at the end of your 140 characters. They will be notified when this happens. 
• You can also "like" a tweet. To do this, you must click the heart at the bottom of a tweet. By doing this, the tweet will not be retweeted on your feed; however, you will be able to view your likes on your home page (Hibma, 2013).

Additionally, you can add hashtags in front of certain words when you tweet. When you do this, your tweet will appear anytime someone searches for that particular word.  For example, if I make a post about STEM, and include #STEM at the end, anyone who types that into the search bar will be able to view my tweet. 

Later on, I learned some important information regarding Twitter chats. In the past, I had heard of Twitter chats but since I did not use Twitter, I did not realize that a Twitter chat could possibly help me. Well, I was wrong. Chats are live Twitter events focused on a particular topic. Generally, a set time is decided upon and once the chat begins, all participating users incorporate a specific hashtag to ensure their tweets will be included in the chat. Chats can be great when you really need to learn something about a topic. Edutopia made a short article with tips for teachers on using Twitter to build your PLN. In this article, author Betty Ray composed a list of particularly helpful chats for educators. For example, a chat for elementary educators occurs every Saturday at 5pm. They use the hashtag #elemchat.

Here are some additional tips on how to create a great professional learning network. This link reminds you to be an active participant, dare to ask questions, and share your own information. If you know something that has helped you in the classroom and tweet it, it may end up being very helpful to the other members of your professional learning network. You do not want to merely use ideas others have provided. You should also give your own ides to help others from time to time. This way, you will have a much more well-rounded Twitter experience.

My Professional Learning Network
Once I figured out how to use Twitter and researched professional learning networks, I wanted to make one of my own. I had no idea where to start so first, I googled and found an article entitled, Top 50 Elementary Teachers on Twitter.  I think the hardest part of creating a PLN is getting started so by using this list as a guideline, I was able to read through who each teacher was, go to their Twitter account, and figure out if what they were posting was helpful to me. Some of them did not post anything interesting to me, so I chose not to follow them. My personal favorite was @MrsMorgansClass.

Once you find one or two users that you like and want to follow, you will find that it really is so easy to build your professional learning network. When you are viewing someone's feed, Twitter will recommend other users to follow who tweet about similar topics. By clicking on some of the recommendations of "Who to follow", I was able to find many educators who post interesting articles and give very good advice.

For instance, when viewing @MrsMorgansClass, Twitter recommended that I follow Kara Bunch, @MMEKteach. This kindergarten teacher does an awesome job incorporating technology into her classroom and just so happens to use a bunch of the apps/websites we have been discussing in my educational technology class. She uses Popplet and QR codes in her classroom, along with many other helpful apps. Additionally, she just has some really cool out-of-the-box ideas teaching strategies. For instance, one of her posts describes how she put sight words on students' backs and had them match the sight words up. It looks really fun and I plan to ask her more about it so I can use this strategy in my classroom.

I also discovered @Angela_Watson. I cannot stress how many useful things she tweets and it is obvious that others think so too because she has 10,500 followers. One of my favorite things she has tweeted is a link to a post on her website called thecornerstoneforteachers.com. This post is called, "5 Ridiculously Unhelpful Things I've Said to Students." It is pretty funny but also enlightening. If you take the time to reflect, you may even realize that you have made one of these statements to a student. The article also gives advice on what to say instead. I would encourage you to check it out.

My favorite is quote number 3 which says, "That's none of your business. Don't worry about it." I think this is one thing educators often say after a student tattles. In some cases it can be warranted, but Watson also points out that this can be confusing to your students. One minute you may be making this statement yet the next, you are probably saying, "Why are you just sitting there? Help her clean up her crayons." Unintentionally, you may be sending mixed messages. In order to cultivate an environment in which students help each other, you should instead respond, "Did you talk to him/her about that?" This way, students are able to communicate with each other and learn to problem solve without your help when they are able to.

One of the most important aspects of being an educator is being able to reflect on your own work. Yes, as a teacher you are evaluating your students' work, but you should also be evaluating yours. I do not believe a teacher will ever reach a point where he or she cannot learn how to become a better teacher. No matter how good you are, you will always have something to learn.

By using Twitter, you will be able to add to your bag of tricks and also evaluate your current practices. If you see an article about incorporating art into everyday lessons, you can admit that while you may have had some great lessons over the past month, you have been neglecting to incorporate art into the lessons. Now, you can make that change. By getting advice and recommendations from others, you are constantly reflecting and opening yourself up to change. Change is what makes a teacher great as opposed to just good.

How to Use Twitter in Your Classroom
In this post, I focused on using Twitter as a professional learning network to connect with other educators and reflect on your own teaching practices. However, there are tons of other ways you can use Twitter in the classroom.

For one, you could make a class Twitter account and tweet upcoming due dates, assignments, and other important news. This could serve as a great reminder for students and their parents. This way, everyone knows what's going on and what is due. You could also use your Twitter feed to keep parents aware of what their children are learning on a daily basis. When your students are learning addition with M&M's, reading a cool new book, or making a craft, you can tweet what your students are doing. Your students will love to share what they are doing and parents will feel confident their children are receiving a quality education.

Furthermore, you could challenge students by giving them an ELA writing standard and asking them to write about or describe something using only 140 characters. For example, students could write a response to a book they read as a class. The standard this would cover is CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.1.1: Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or name the book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply a reason for the opinion, and provide some sense of closure.

You could also post sample review questions to help students get ready for a test or simply review what you talked about in class that day. If you post a review question after school, you could say that whoever comes into class with the question answered the next day will get a special perk such as a piece of candy or extra computer time (Miller, 50 Ways).

What Do I Think?
While Twitter can be a really cool tool, you must be very purposeful in how you use it and you always approve anything that is tweeted in your classroom. It needs to be appropriate, should not include personal information, and should be related to the topic at hand. Honestly, when it comes to Twitter (and anything online), you should use common sense. If you have to ask yourself whether or not something is appropriate then you would probably be better off leaving it offline.

Overall, I think Twitter is an extremely important tool for teachers because even in the short amount of time I have had an account on Twitter, I've connected with about twenty educators, found ideas for lesson plans I am currently writing, and even found links to education websites that I now visit frequently. In the classroom, you might be wary when it comes to using Twitter and that's good. You should be! However, as long as you facilitate and monitor everything that happens on your classroom Twitter account and stick to your gut, you shouldn't have any problems. In today's world, your students will likely be exposed to Twitter and begin using it at a young age. If you incorporate Twitter into your classroom, you will be exposing them to Twitter yourself and guiding them on how to appropriately use it. In addition to using it for fun, students will also learn that almost anything can be used for an educational purpose. It's just a plus that Twitter also happens to be pretty cool.

References
Graffin, M. (n.d.). What is a pln? Retrieved March 14, 2016 from https://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/pln-challenge-1-what-the-heck-is-a-pln/

Hibma, M. (2013, October 30). Definitions for 34 Twitter terms you were too embarrassed to ask about. Retrieved March 16, 2015 from http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/34-twitter-terms-defined-list

Miller, S. (n.d.). 50 ways to use Twitter in the classroom. Retrieved March 16, 2016 from http://www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom

Twitter classroom [online image]. Retrieved September 4, 2015 from http://dailygenius.com/social-education/

Twitter logo [online image]. Retrieved March 16, 2016 from http://weeklyupss.tumblr.com/post/:id/:summary

Twitter tweets [online image]. Retrieved March 16, 2016 from http://www.playbuzz.com/ maximumpop10/which-celebrity-twitter-feud-are-you

Untitled quote [online image]. Retrieved March 16, 2016 from https://twitter.com/curriculumblog/ status/703756084578787328/photo/1

Epic: A Giant Library Inside a Tiny App

The development of reading skills is very important in the early elementary grades. As a future first grade (or early elementary) teacher, I need to be able to provide books with many different topics so each of my students can read about something that interests him or her. I also need to provide books suited for many different reading levels. If I cannot find material to make a child interested in reading, they will not do as well in my class and they will be missing out one of my favorite things in the world. Recently, I discovered an awesome app that provides tons of fun, educational books for children! Better yet, it is completely free for educators.

What is Epic?
In recent times, many parents have been trying to cut down on screen time for their children. They don't want their kids spending so much time playing apps because they aren't necessarily educational. Suren Markosian, an online gaming veteran, had a son who really loved playing games on his iPad and Markosian found it really interesting that his son had unlimited, almost instantaneous access to games but not books.  After talking to other parents and realizing they also wanted their children to have access to books on their iPads, he was inspired to meet that need. The solution is an app called Epic.

Epic is an app that provides its users with unlimited children's ebooks of every topic and genre imaginable. In fact, on iTunes, the app boasts over 10,000 high quality titles for kids up to age 12. Immediately, you might jump to the conclusion that its library must be filled with unknown, even weird books. I know I have downloaded apps with children's books only to get an odd vibe from the library contents. In the case of Epic, this is not so. It includes very popular titles from companies such as Scholastic, National Geographic, and Harper Collins. Some books include Frozen, The Berenstein Bears, and Goodnight Moon. Essentially, any kids could find books that truly interest him or her.

Getting Started
First, you have to download the free app (I included the iTunes link earlier in this post) and sign up for an account. At this point, you have two options depending on whether you are a parent or a teacher. If you are a parent, you will need to subscribe for $4.99 a month. If you are a teacher, you can get Epic for Educators for absolutely no cost at all. Since I am an educator, I will explain the process of creating an account from an educator's point of view.

When you open up the app, you will see a button that says "Create an educator account." By pressing this button, you are ensuring that you will get to experience Epic for free. You will then be asked for your school name and zip code, profession (teacher or librarian), name, educator email address, and a password. After this, press "Create" and you will be given options to customize the books that will show up in your library. You will be able to customize your library contents according to the age group you teach (it offers books for children up to 12 years old), what subjects your students like to read about (sports, fairytales, history, cooking, etc.), and what genres are suitable for your class (funny, mystery, science and nature, daily life, spanish, etc.). You can pick as many or as few as you would like and you can always change your preferences later as you students' needs and interests fluctuate throughout the year.

How do I use Epic?
Once you have an account, you are free to explore the app and its many features. On the left side of your screen, there is a toolbar containing your profile or dashboard, a search button, a browse button,  a "My Books" button, and a final tab for educators. The first one, "Profile", allows you to create and manage student profiles. To create a student profile, you should click "Create Profile" which is located at the top of the screen. After entering the student's name, you will be able to monitor how many books they've finished, how many hours they have read books on the app, the title of the book they last read, and the number of pages they have flipped through.

The search button allows you to search for a specific book in the library. On the other hand, the browse button takes you to the Epic library where you can scroll through all kinds of books such as biographies, popular history, featured books, popular non-fiction, and more.

The next tab, "My Books", takes you to your most recent reads, your favorites (the books you have liked), and the books you have made available offline. I will discuss liking books and making them available offline in the features section of this post. Lastly, the "Educators" tab simply tells you the mission of Epic and asks that you share the app with parents so they can continue to keep it free for educators.

The most important part of this app is actually reading books and thankfully, it is very easy to do so. To read a book, you should click on it, zoom in with your fingers, and swipe to the right to flip a page. At any given time, there is a white ribbon in the middle of the book that can mark your place when tapping it. This is great if it is time to clean up and move onto a new activity in your classroom because the student will then be much more likely to return to the book and finish it later on.

Features

• Thousands of ebook options
• Customizable library
• Books with AR reading level, age, and estimated reading time
• Read-to-Me and Audio Books
• Earn badges for reading books 
• Option to save an ebook so it can be read offline
• Create student profiles and monitor their reading
• Books for the different levels and interests of every reader

Although there are numerous features I love about this app, I am just going to talk about a couple of my favorites. One feature involves earning badges. In Epic, a student can earn badges just like they can in so many popular iOS games. Instead of earning badges for making a character jump over obstacles, students get badges for cracking open ebooks and reading them from start to finish. You might say, well, a student could easily open a book, quickly flip through it, then collect a badge at the end with no effort on their part. However, Epic does not allow this. At the front of each book, you will find the recommended age, estimated reading time, and for some books, the corresponding AR level. In order to successfully complete each book (and have it count towards badges), you have to read the book for the estimated reading time. For example, if the estimated reading time for a book is 5-15 minutes, a student would need to spend at least five minutes reading the book before he or she could reap a reward from it.

Additionally, you are able to save a book to your app so it can be read offline. Sometimes, you may not have access to the Internet and at other times, the Internet may be having technical difficulties. By saving a book to read offline, you never have to worry about that. At the top of each book, there is a small button that says "Read Offline." Once you press this, it will show up in your "My Books" tab and you and your students will be able to read it whenever you please. This could also be great if you only want your students to have access to certain things and do not want to bother with connecting a device to the Internet.

How Can I Use This in my Classroom?
One way to use this app is for a group reading activity. I could easily get my students together for circle time and read them a book that either relates to a standard I need to teach or an upcoming event. For example, the book Day and Night would be a great addition to a lesson on NC Essential Standard 1.E.1: Recognize the features and patterns of the earth/moon/sun system as observed from Earth. In another example, I could read the book Barack Obama during Black History Month or around President's Day.

I could also easily use this app to differentiate. Not only are there many different levels of books I could recommend to each individual child, but there are read-to-me books and audio books. If I know a student is struggling with pronouncing certain words, I could direct him or her to a read-to-me book. Additionally, these options would be great for English Language Learners. I could use this app during centers, in groups, or as a whole class and assign fun reading comprehension activities.

I also found another great feature of many of the books in the Epic library. If you have ever spent a significant amount of time in a first grade classroom, you know that teachers must place a heavy emphasis on text features in non-fiction texts. While browsing through Epic's ebooks, I have found that many of them include text features such as captions, tables of contents, glossaries, and indexes. I could easily imagine using some of these books to recognize text features either as a group or individually.

My Take on Epic
Epic is an app that is truly epic. It's free and provides teachers with lots of really cool, educational ebooks that could be used in a variety of ways. Teachers on Graphite are giving it five stars and have even uploaded numerous lesson plans involving the app. Reviewers on app advice.com are also giving Epic a positive review. I have to say I wholeheartedly agree. Honestly, this app really excites me. It is not often that teachers are given so many great resources at the click of the button at no cost. I really think this app could make a positive impact in the classroom by getting kids excited about reading and providing new ways to teach material. It will not be difficult to incorporate this app into everyday lessons and I am really looking forward to doing so. Overall, I do not think a teacher could find a cooler reading app than this one and trust me, I've tried.

References
Epic in classroom [online image]. Retrieved March 10, 2016 from https://www.getepic.com/educators

Epic screen shot [online image]. Retrieved March 10, 2016 from http://www.allstudentscanshine.com/2015/02/epic-app-free-books-for-ipads.html

Class Dojo: A Controversial Form of Behavior Management

ClassDojo
As a future educator, I have heard a lot about an app called Class Dojo from professors, elementary teachers, and other students at my university. Since I had never checked it out for myself, I thought this would be a good app to explore. The ClassDojo app can be downloaded on any iOS device, Android device, or computer and is used to manage behavior in classrooms of any age (preschool- high school). Since its launch in 2011, the popularity of this app has absolutely exploded. I had never heard a bad word about the app, but when I began my research, I unearthed some surprising controversy and many different opinions.

What is ClassDojo and How do I use it?
The mission of ClassDojo is to engage students, keep parents updated, and most importantly, encourage students. This free site allows teachers to keep a simple, electronic record of behaviors in the classroom. You can always give students a point or take one away whenever they exhibit certain behaviors such as showing perseverance or being disrespectful. You can choose how to use it and decide what circumstances will cause you to enforce the discipline. This app also enables you keep attendance and convey any of this information (positive or negative) with parents.

First, you must sign up and give a minimal amount of personal information about yourself such as your name and email. Once you do that, you are ready to begin using the app/ website. Now, you will be given the option of signing up with your school but you are able to skip this step. From there, ClassDojo brings you to what will be your home page or class story. Your class story looks very similar to a Facebook page. On this page, you will be able to post comments and photos that parents can view. If you are doing a really cool hands-on unit, you can take a picture of what is taking place and give your student's parents a small glimpse of what their children are learning.

Before you can really do anything, you have to add your students to your class. All you do is click a button, enter the name of each student, and before you know it, each student has his or her own fun

monster avatar.

From here, you can actually begin monitoring behaviors. By clicking on a student's avatar, you are given multiple positive categories such as helping others, on task, participating, perseverance, teamwork, and working hard. You are also given areas that need work such as disrespect, no homework, off task, talking out of turn, and being unprepared. By going to the settings, you can also add your own categories you would like to keep track of. This way, you can add categories that directly correspond with your classroom rules. At any time, you can click any of these categories to either give the student a point or take now away. The app will keep a tally of how many points each student has but it will also show you how many points the class has as a whole.

You can also divide your students into teams. I know of many teachers who separate students into pods and give each one of those pods or teams a nickname. They then give points to the teams who are displaying exceptional behavior. For example, if one team has a very good answer for a question or sits quietly doing individual work, the team will get a point. In ClassDojo, you can separate your students into groups and give or take away points from everyone in the group all at once. Instead of doing this on the board, ClassDojo allows you to keep a digital record and makes it even easier for you to give or take away points from a group of students.

Additionally, you can use ClassDojo to take attendance. As each student comes in, you can click their monster to record that they arrived to class on time, late, or not at all. One teacher, Erin Klein, projected the attendance page onto her SMART Board each morning and allowed her students to tap their monster avatar each morning. In her experience, her students loved getting to do this (Quattrocchi, 2014).

ClassDojo does not allow just anyone to view your account information. In order for someone to view your class story or any other information, they must be invited to view the app. To do this, you will need to locate a rectangle that says "Connect parents" on the class story page. If you click on the button in this box, a page will pop up giving you the option to enter either a phone number or email address of a parent for each child. If the parent accepts the invitation, he or she will then be able to view your posts, receive updates about their student, and receive any personal or public messages you may choose to send. For instance, you could send a message to every parent reminding them that picture day is tomorrow or you could send a message to one specific parent about how well their student is doing with an activity. There are many ways you can keep parents in the loop by using ClassDojo.

Main Features 

• Class attendance
• Class story page
• Invite and message parents
• Give or take points away from individual students, groups, or whole class
• View timeline (see how the student has changed)
• Invite co-teachers or special ed teachers to join your class 
• Customize behavior categories
• Stopwatch and Countdown timer

How Can I use this in my Classroom?
ClassDojo can be a great way to manage behavior by encouraging students. Personally, I think it is important to remember we must always give more positive comments then negative ones. You also need to create a specific set of guidelines as to what behaviors warrant giving points and taking them away.

Additionally, you need to decide whether you want to use this in lieu of another form of classroom management or in addition to it. One phenomenal teacher I have observed used a chart with clothes pins (each containing a child's name) and when her students made good or bad decisions, they could either clip up or clip down. The top level says "Role Models", the second level says "I'm Ready to Learn", etc. She also grouped the students into teams based on where they were sitting and awarded team points at her discretion. Because ClassDojo offers an electronic form of each of these tactics, you could use ClassDojo as your main form of classroom management.

Lastly, you could use it to communicate with parents. Many teachers take the time to set up a class website but if you use ClassDojo, that may not be necessary. If you post regularly to the class story and send class-wide messages regarding major announcements, parents would be kept entirely updated. My professors suggest connecting with a parent and praising their child within the first week of a school year. You could do this through ClassDojo and also message them whenever you see fit.

What do I Really Think?
ClassDojo seems very useful but like I mentioned at the beginning of my post, there is a lot of controversy surrounding this tool. The New York Times expressed privacy concerns. Because teachers are using the app to record detailed information about children and their behaviors, many parents became concerned that their data could be viewed by others. Some viewed it as harshly judgmental and were worried it could label their student as a problem child. Many parents vehemently disagree with teachers displaying the information publicly on a class SMART Board as well.

Another argument is that students need to be motivated intrinsically not extrinsically. However, the principal of Hunter Elementary School in New York believes you have to start with extrinsic motivation to hopefully encourage intrinsic motivation. Two third grade teachers at Hunter Elementary school use ClassDojo: one privately and one publicly on the class SMART Board. Both have had varying levels of success with this tool.

Overall, most teachers give ClassDojo a positive review and have come to the conclusion that it depends on how you use it. First of all, I certainly would not display my ClassDojo information for the entire class to see. I always tell students they need to focus on themselves and make the best decisions based on their needs (not what other students may or may not be doing). By displaying this so prominently, students could easily get distracted by the performance of others and miss the point of using the tool.

To me, the most important aspect of being a teacher is building authentic, caring relationships with students. If you do not do this, it would be hard to accomplish very much during the school year. This should come before anything else. I like the idea of ClassDojo but I have also seen other, less controversial forms of classroom management that have worked just as well. Personally, I would have to judge my class and my students' parents and decide if ClassDojo is the right choice for all of us. If I did choose to implement it,  I would make sure to use it in a way that would truly benefit my students. Even though I could do all of my discipline through this app, I would still make sure to communicate regularly with my students in order to continue building stronger relationships.

I would never use ClassDojo without the permission of every parent and if even one parent chooses to opt out, this program would be much less effective. I would have to revert to a different form of management because it could cause problems to leave one child out. Over time, it may become more accepted, especially since ClassDojo has updated their privacy policy in response to parental concern. I think this app is really cool and when it's used in the right context, it is a source of communication and fun to connect teachers, parents, and most importantly, the students.

References
ClassDojo logo [online image]. Retrieved February 14, 2016 from https://www.classdojo.com

Quattrocchi, C. (2014). When classroom culture conflicts with edtech. Retrieved February 13, 2016, from Ed Surge Inc.website:https://www.edsurge.com/news/2014-02-09-when-classroom-culture-conflicts-with-edtech

Bluster!: Teaching Word Skills in the Elementary Classroom

In my quest to find another useful iPad app for elementary students, I first decided what content area I wanted the app to apply to. After choosing English, I began searching for an app that would teach students at a first grade level but also challenge them. I wanted an app that students could even continue using after they leave first grade. After looking at free apps on iTunes, researching, checking reviews, and playing a lot of games, I finally found Bluster.

What is Bluster?

Bluster is a free educational app available in the iTunes Store and distributed by McGraw-Hill School Education Group that tests students' knowledge of words. More specifically, it tests vocabulary, word skills, and word understanding through categories like synonyms, prefixes, and rhyming. It is only compatible with Apple iPads but with multiple settings, students can easily play alone, with a partner, or even in groups. The myriad of settings, the animation, and interaction make this app very engaging for kids. Additionally, I believe it can be suitable for any elementary age student from Kindergarten on up because of the many available levels.


Getting Started
Bluster is extremely easy use. As soon as you open the app, you are given the option of pressing play, viewing the scoreboard (the button that says honors) or learning how to play. The directions are broken down step by step and are very easy to understand. They even include pictures so you can see what is being described.

How Do You Play Bluster?
Once you press play, can choose the number of players, level, and match type. When it comes to the number of players, you can choose single (individual), versus (competition), or team play (two players work together to finish the game). Next, you can choose one of three difficulty levels and pick the match type (rhyming words, synonyms, etc.). Once you have done that, you are ready to play.

In the game, you will be given a list of vocabulary words to scroll through and three containers to place the words into. If you chose rhyming, the list of words will contain sets of words that rhyme. It is your job to scroll through and find three words that rhyme to drag into the containers. If you are correct, words of praise will appear on the screen but if you are incorrect, nothing will happen. It is up to you to determine how to fix your error. You will continue doing this until you run out of words and the first round is over. One game consists of three rounds. In each round, you will be given a different set of words of the same difficulty as before and at the end, you will be told your time and whether or not you earned a place on the leaderboard.

Features of Bluster

• Single, versus, and team mode 
• 3 levels of difficulty 
• Varying topics 
• In-app purchases for additional material 
• Multiple background scenes 
• Can be used as a table top game 
• Leaderboard 
• Supports Common Core phonics and word recognition standards 

Bluster has so many cool, useful features. The most surprising (and my favorite) is the use of team mode. In team mode, you place the iPad on a table and the two players sit on opposite ends of the iPad. The screen divides in two but instead of competing, you are both working together. When one player places a word into a container, it also appears on the other player's side of the iPad. If the players communicate, they will be able to complete the game more quickly than they would individually and they can learn from each other without even realizing it.

In versus mode, players can compete against each other. In this mode alone, some type of storm could blow across your screen to inhibit you or your opponent at any time. Although it only lasts a few seconds, that is all the time it takes for your opponent to make another word match and leave you

Team Mode

scrambling to catch up. This only adds to the intensity of the game and consequently, the engagement!

I also like that the app includes a leaderboard. I can easily imagine a group of first graders considering this leaderboard a badge of honor. Their desire to make it onto the leaderboard and thus enhance their learning can serve as great motivation to play more often and listen when we are discussing these topics in class. Additionally, they will likely increase their vocabulary. They will recognize more words when reading and begin to implement new words in their writing.

How Can I Use This in My Classroom?
Bluster can serve many purposes in a busy, energetic first grade classroom. Socially, it can be used to promote collaboration and healthy competition. Academically, it could benefit almost any student and better yet, it is a great way to differentiate your material. Specifically, I believe this would benefit English Language Learning students by giving them extra individualized practice at their level (Bindel, 2016).

This app could be played during center time or used to assess comprehension of Common Core State Standards you have discussed in class. Better yet, in the versus or team mode you could even assess two students at once which would cut your work in half. Additionally, it would work as an AGD (Attention-Getting Device) to begin class or as a quick activity to finish your lesson.

One education professor (and former teacher) at Georgia State University even suggests using Bluster as a supplemental activity for your lesson. You can find it here. If you wanted to eradicate the instructions to email the assignment to the teacher, you could always instruct the students to simply jot their answers on the back of the sheet and turn it in. Even if you do not have many iPads available in your classroom, you could allow each student to participate by putting them in groups and providing them with multiple centers to rotate through.

My Take on Bluster
This app is engaging and fun. I may be an adult, but I still enjoyed playing and learning about it. It can benefit almost any student and gives students a chance to actively learn. Through my research, I found that many teachers and reviewers agree. My only complaint is very minor: I wish there weren't so many in-app purchases to get extra content. Although each one is only $0.99, the sheer number of in-app purchases can make that small number become large very quickly. If your students actually master all of the material and would like more games, there is a Bluster Deluxe Version available in the iTunes Store for only $4.99. Regardless, I would recommend this game not just to first grade teachers or parents, but anyone teaching or caring for an elementary child of any age. The versatility of this app simply provides students with so much room for growth and gives educators endless possibilities.

References
Bindel, A. (2016). Bluster! Retrieved January 23, 2016 from Common Sense Media, Inc. website: https://www.graphite.org/app/bluster

Bluster app logo [online image]. Retrieved January 23, 2016 from https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ bluster!/id416160693?mt=8

Bluster solo [online image]. Retrieved January 23, 2016 from https://www.graphite.org/app/bluster

De Sa, K. (Photographer/Creator). (2012). Bluster collage [online image]. Retrieved January 23, 2016 from http://blogs.ksbe.edu/shdesa/2012/09/27/using-the-ipad-in-the-library/

Mathmateer: A Fun, Engaging Elementary Math App

My Project
It is January of 2016 and after a relaxing Christmas break, I am now back at college taking my second Educational Technology class. My first assignment is to write a blog on an app that can be used in the classroom and is suitable for the grade I would like to teach. After researching many apps enjoyed by children, parents and teachers (and honestly spending too much time playing the games) I stumbled upon an app that I feel would be perfect for a first grade classroom: Mathmateer Free.

What is Mathmateer Free?
Mathmateer Free is a free iOS game created by Dan Russell-Pinson in which players build a rocket, fly into space, and try to complete as many math problems as possible before the rocket falls back onto the ground. Mathmateer Free is an educational app that can be downloaded on iPods, iPhones, and iPads. Recommended for children ages 6 and up, this app encourages children to focus on missions, prepare, and even reflect on their successes and failures. It covers many different math topics such as counting money and telling time that are prevalent to students in early elementary grades. Additionally, it even incorporates some very basic physics by encouraging students to ponder how to build the most successful rocket to complete the mission(s) (LearningWorks, 2016).

Getting Started
To begin this game, you must first select a player, input a name, and select an avatar to represent the player. Once you have done that, you can choose to start your first mission with the sample rocket provided for you. First, you should select new mission. Here, you are able to choose from five different math categories and three levels of difficulty. Once you have done this, you are ready to press the launch button and ascend into space.

How to Play
As the rocket ascends into space, the player can tilt the iPad (or other device) from side to side to keep the rocket upright and adjust the thrust to try to get the rocket as far into space as he or she can. As soon as you reach space, you will be given a problem to solve. The answers float in space and in this fast-paced game, you must work quickly to achieve a high score. In this picture, I chose the category of money counting. The first problem I was asked to solve was "Tap the coins that add up to 21 cents". If you are correct, it moves on. If not, the answer you touched blows up and you cannot move on until you find the correct answer. After answering each question, you are immediately given a new problem over and over until your time is up and the rocket has fallen from space.

Features of Mathmateer Free:

• Even numbers 
• Telling time 
• Counting US money 
• 3D shapes 
• Multiply one digit 
• Create/ modify rockets 
• Play mini math games to earn money 

I like that Mathmateer incorporates mathematical topics that are within the Common Core State Standards. This app teaches these standards and even times kids in a way that they don't realize they are being timed. They are simply playing a game. Because of the set-up, kids are encouraged to think and theorize how they can do better in the limited time they have to complete their mission and (hopefully) get a medal. By receiving medals and looking at the stats in the top corner, students are also able to track their progress so they know when they improve. I also like that kids can design their own rockets. Through trial-and-error kids learn what propels their rocket higher into space allowing them more time and giving them a better score.

Additionally, this app is completely free and there are no in-app purchases. To earn money for rocket parts, kids simply have to work for it by playing mini math games. This teaches kids that you have to work to buy things and leaves parents and teachers worry-free. However, in order to get more levels you would have to buy the full Mathmateer game which costs $0.99. If your class happens to really benefit from this game, the price of the full version will not break the bank.

How Can I Productively Use This in the Classroom?
This app is very functional and it could be used in many different ways. If you have an iPad center in the classroom, this would be a great app for kids to play during free time. If possible, you could even recommend a student play this app at home for extra practice. I even think Mathmateer could be a great alternative to a more formal assessment. When a teacher takes children aside individually or passes out a worksheet of math facts, students know they are being evaluated. Sometimes that knowledge can cause anxiety and affect their performance. By using Mathmateer, students will be drawn into the game and will not realize an assessment is taking place. Also, teachers can watch a student play, look at their score, and record it.

Mathmateer could be beneficial for many children but I do wish the free version included more levels. Because there is only one level included for each topic, gifted and talented students could easily get bored. On the other hand, it is a great exercise for students who need help strengthening their core math facts or simply want some extra practice. Additionally, this app would be great for students who learn from doing. Interestingly, LearningWorks for Kids suggests Mathmateer is a great choice for students with ADHD. The fast pace and relatively short missions challenges and engages them. For a student who truly struggles to stay engaged, an app like Mathmateer could be just what they need to learn and have fun.


What Do I Think?
This educational app encourages creativity and can easily be implemented in your classroom. While your students and their favored methods of learning will determine the best way to use this app, it seems like a great way to make learning math fun. Colleen, a teacher from Michigan reviewed the app and agrees. CommonSense, a website created to review all sorts of media based on the appropriateness of the content also approves. I would suggest that an adult (a teacher or parent) lightly supervise the use of this app to ensure students do not spend the entire time building rockets and avoiding math. I also wish this version included more levels of difficulty but overall, Mathmateer is a fun, engaging app for any teacher to implement into the classroom, especially if they are teaching according to the Common Core State Standards.

References
Mathmateer. (2016). Retrieved January 22, 2016 from The Gadget website: http://learningworksforkids.com/playbooks/mathmateer/

Free Mathmateer app logo [online image]. Retrieved January 22, 2016 from http://www.totallytarget.com/2013/08/31/free-mathmateer-app-for-iphone-ipad-more/

Children using iPads [online image]. Retrieved January 22, 2016 fromhttp://www.sheknows.com/living/articles/971897/favorite-ways-to-use-ipads-in-classrooms