English+&+Social+Studies

ENGLISH & SOCIAL STUDIES - APPS that are reference tools and productivity tools and any skill based uses. Not everything in these content areas will have an app but some tools are universal and get at what needs to be done, like iAnnotate. Be sure to make a table, get a copy of the app logo to insert.

Social Studies

 * **App** || **Purpose** || **Pros** || **Cons** ||
 * **History Maps**
 * (World)**

|| This is a collection of maps from different eras. The collection is searchable by either time period (4th century, 14th century, etc) or by category (World War II) although there are very few categories. Students can use this like they would an atlas, but with the fun of a touch screen. || The clarity and resolution of the images are fabulous. Some of the maps are old and the details are small,so the ability to manipulate the screen and zoom in is pretty cool. Students can really explore the details of the maps in great depth.

Would be useful to augment discussions in class, and allow kids to locate places without having to squint up at a map in front of the classroom, or look at a static map in the textbook.

Has an extensive collection of World War II maps, including battle plans, which is pretty interesting. || There are now ads on the app, which is annoying.

Also, you can't really do anything-there aren't any animations or features, so besides the ability to zoom in really close, there isn't much to manipulate.

Some of the maps of are really obscure things, like a Swiss Revolt in the 1520s, which don't have much relevance to our curriculum.

Very Euro-centric || || When you open this app, you are immediately presented with a "primary document of the day," which could be a photograph, poster, letter, etc.
 * **National Archives**
 * Today's Document**

There is a different document for every day of the year. Hooray! || I could see this being used for a warm up type activity, if there was any rhyme or reason behind the collection (which there isn't)

You can search for documents by using a key word search, so a teacher could preview all the documents that are in the calendar associated with a certain topic, like "slavery" which yielded 11 results, and create a document-based activity with those specific documents. This would be more engaging for students instead of photocopies of the same documents.

Students can zoom in to view the small details of the document,which is especially nice for photographs, and you can access a small informational blurb about the document that also contains links to websites (Archives.gov and OurDocuments.gov) with more information about the document.

You have the ability to share the document via facebook, email, or twitter || The collection of primary documents is pretty eclectic, with no real discernible theme, so it is impractical to use on a daily basis since one day the document could reference the Spanish American War, and the next day could be the Emancipation Proclamation.

There is no list of all 365 documents, so you have to scroll through every single one to find out what is available, which is cool if you are a history lover, but is slow and tedious.

The search engine is not very sophisticated. A search for "Cold War" only yielded only one result, which was a photo about the Cuban Missile Crisis, but a search for "Cuba" provided 5 documents, 3 of which were related to the Cold War. Hmmm... ||
 * [[image:http://www.911memorialapp.com/media/site/6GD10N0XBX23JJTH/uploads/iconONplaqueSR2.png width="109" height="109"]]
 * Memorial** || ***NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH 9/11 memorial guide, which is like a kids meal version of this app***

This app gives many different looks at the national, regional, and personal stories of 9-11 victims and survivors. It goes in depth in terms of looking at the memorial and also provides several very raw but powerful videos of the day itself that are unavailable from other sources.

available here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/911-memorial-past-present/id454906377?mt=8 || * awesome overview of the past, present, and future of the 9-11 world trade center memorial site
 * great galleries and videos that are relatively short and very captivating
 * great info on the development of the memorial and how it commemorates those who died that day
 * easy to navigate
 * great independent or group research app that could then lead to discussion or a project using the resources provided through the app || * so many great resources, I just wish there were MORE available
 * the summary of some of the videos aren't adequate
 * needs to be treated with sensitivity because of the tragic nature of the event ||

English

 * App || Purpose || Pros || Cons ||
 * [[image:http://www.branchfire.com/images/iannotate/icon.jpg]] || ===== As both an AP and Pre-AP English teacher,   there is a heavy focus in my curriculum on close reading significant passages. One of the best ways to force students to spend repeated time with a passage is to have them annotate it. Although the students see the benefits and tend to enjoy uncovering a passage, it is an activity that gets “old” pretty quickly. Therefore, I was excited to try iAnnotate and see if it would entice the kids.  ===== || # Students are able to “color mark” (a big plus for IB teachers) a passage effortlessly, with no need to get a set of colored pencils or markers. Highlighter and pen colors can be changed with a click.
 * 1) Student annotations become something a teacher can actually read. If they email it to an instructor to turn it in, a numbered list of all of their typed annotations appears in order on the bottom of the document. I can read the list and quickly learn the types of connections they made.
 * 2) There can be an element of choice in annotating. Whereas before I had to pick the page I wanted students on to focus and copy a set for the entire class, there is more freedom to offer options and allow students to download them individually.
 * 3) Organization: students can search the document as well as tag documents and file them away for later use.
 * 4) Features: there is a good number of them (common symbols, stamps, and drawing tools), but not TOO many. There are just enough bells and whistles to allow kids to annotate effectively, but nothing “too fun” – they exhaust most of them in the first 10 minutes or so. || # It requires some effort to think about how you want to get the document to students. I’ve tried a variety of options, but so far I think the best is uploading it somewhere (via a blog, school website, etc) and grabbing the link for the document. Then, I recommend making a tiny URL and posting it somewhere on the board. This allows students to use the “Grab from the web” option, which I have found to be the smoothest, and also gives them a direct address to type in.
 * 5) Any other cons I found with this program were related to iPad use as a whole, not necessarily the program. I can take one glance at a student’s passage on paper to see if they have been working for the past 20 minutes; it is a lot more difficult on an iPad. Also, since the notes appear as thumbnails, for me to walk around and offer constructive feedback, I have to take the device from them and click through their notes. ||