10 MUST-Have Apps for Secondary Students

With so many students now having smart phones, schools should consider allowing their use in the classroom (with rules of course).   With the wealth of academic apps on the market, students could have at their fingertips support for most of the major non-elective courses required in high school.  Such ready access would be especially beneficial for students who need just a little more time to process demanding course lesson content.

Here is a list of the apps:

1.  Chemistry with wikipedia links for in-depth explanations of topics students may need more information on.
2.  Essentials by AccelaStudy -- study tool for learning foreign languages.
3.  Evernote Peek--create study flash cards for any subject area.
4.  Frog Dissection-vivid 3d virtual dissection of frogs for those who feel uncomfortable with working with living ones.
5.  Graphing Calculator-such calculators are very expensive, but not this APP:)
6.  Math Formulas-over 100 math formulas for all levels of high school math including statistics.
7.  Easel SAT Prep Lite-lower SAT anxiety with this one.
8.  Shakespeare-41 plays, 154 sonnets, 6 poems, and much more.
9.  Studious-a great digital organizer to keep track of due dates for assignments, exams, etc.
10.World Atlas-the app in this article is not available in the US, but National Geographic has two.  See photo below:

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS
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What Does It Mean To TEACH in the 21st Century?

With common core lessons now showing up in 45 states, teachers are facing more choices in teaching their disciplines than ever.  Such freedom should be welcomed if not embraced:) 

With so many possibilities, the use of technology becomes a must.  To prepare students for the world awaiting them after high school and beyond, schools will need to employ tech tools,  search engines, social media, smartphones, etc. within the classroom.  These items will not be used to entertain, but rather to engage.  Students will need to become problem solvers adept at using such items to solve problems.

This power point (PREZI) addresses the wide range of resources available at one's fingertips today and suggestions on how best to guide students in their use.  Incredibly well done!

ENGAGE NOT ENTERTAIN STUDENTS

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

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GREAT INFOGRAPHIC GENERATOR FOR ECONOMICS, HISTORY, SCIENCE, GEOGRAPHY AND MORE!

Here is a tool that will make content comprehensible to long-term ELLs and others. Charts can convey academically deep concepts with ease at times.  For example, economics may at times seem a bit overwhelming to some students due to the math.  Here students study what makes an economy grow, slow, or collapse.  This involves monitoring trends in the business market that steer the economy.  With the current global international business community, these trends become even more of a challenge to follow for many students.  Using this tool, market swings/projections could easily be handled.

Now, imagine using a tool that could in a few minutes convey complex topics in visuals.  Further, these visuals could be shared with ease either as printouts or as PDFs.  Now, of course, students could still use chart paper to draw up ideas from scratch, but at least this tool might provide them with some suggestions as to how to display their in-depth understanding through well thought out visuals.

Again, here is another non-traditional, but highly demanding, alternative assessment.  Students could design their own and then explain what concepts they are addressing in it.  This is academically challenging work.  An essay might come later,  but for now, this would provide the students (ELLs especially) time to totally familiarize themselves with the highly academically grade-level content.  Once that is fully grasped, compiling their own charts could be accomplished with ease.

EASY INFOGRAPHIC GENERATOR

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

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Common Core Standards--English Language Arts and USE OF PRIMARY SOURCES

With the new common core standards being rolled out for English, teachers at the high school level will need to spend 70% of instructional time on informational text/non-fiction materials.  This is long overdue since universities have been urging schools to spend more time better preparing students for college.  In fact, most incoming freshmen must take remedial writing classes in their first year to prepare them for university work.

What will be quite different for students will be working with primary sources on a regular basis.  Many students are foggy on what they are, but this site explains what they are on a student level and then provides examples of primary sources throughout the site. To offer an overview of the key forms primary sources, go to OVERVIEW.  Each form is explained in detail and then students take on "detective" roles to search for evidence to use for solving "problems."  Isn't that what is asked of students in many universities--to THINK, ANALYZE, SYNTHESIZE, PERSUADE, etc.?  Notice that PERSONAL NARRATIVE is no where to be found and yet this writing style is still heavily used in all grades.

In the SPEED ROUND, students have to use their knowledge of all forms of primary sources addressed throughout the site to answer questions against a timer.  If you have struggling learners mixed in your mainstream classes, you could do a numbered heads together (cooperative learning in mixed ability groups) and then do a team competition.  It would be a WIN-WIN opportunity for all (and a bit of fun in the process).

PRIMARY SOURCES   ---  Here is the link to the entire site.  Bookmark it to hold for the unveiling of common core standards:)

Denise

ELL TEACHER PROS

PS  If you would like a detailed view of the common core ELA standards and how they will be implemented in school, you should subscribe to ELL TEACHER PROS to receive our monthly newsletter.  I will be providing both overall description of the process as well as providing videos and sample unit lessons in our JUNE NEWSLETTER to be released on May 31st.