“Appsolutely April” is Absolutely Amazing!
February 17, 2018
Browsing through April Requard’s blog has been a very enlightening experience for me. She is an educator in an elementary school in New Mexico who also happens to be very tech savvy. She is very aware of how technology can change and shape our students’ world for the better. This is something many educators have struggled with but the truth is, it’s a sign of the times. By this I mean that we need to get on the tech boat or else it’ll ship off without us. One of the first things I noticed was her TEDx talk. In the talk, she refers to how she helped her school come up with a SWAT team — Students Working to Advance Technology. One of the main objectives of this group is to first of all encourage and engage students to use different apps that can enhance their learning. But also, to have the students teach the adults how to use these apps. I believe this is very beneficial to the students because in teaching adults how to use the apps, then they will know that they have mastered the apps and are “techxperts.” Among her innovative blog, April also refers to how she has come across a tool that allows teachers to feature everything they need, a timer, a QR code, instructions for the assignment, and anything else on one screen without having to have multiple tabs or windows open. It’s definitely the well-rounded Classroom Screen every teacher needs in their life because it will save a ton of time. I know I’ll be pinning this for future reference. As I was browsing I noticed that April is a huge user of the Keynote app. She sees it as a very versatile tool that can help students do projects in the iMovie app. I was browsing through it and I have to admit, it is very intriguing and I think it’s definitely something students can see as fun and entertaining but also useful in measuring their understanding of a certain concept. It is certainly helpful in ensuring their mastery of the two apps. My very favorite post however is the Creative Writing with Emojis. The basics behind this is that the students use Emoji Prompts to know which emojis to include in their story. They start with one and then go through it and the next one that pops up is what they have to use to keep their story going. This is very cool to me because I know that just telling students to write their thoughts can get really boring and repetitive especially if they really have nothing to say. But in using this idea, it forces them to get the creative juices flowing and will help us as educators be able to better measure their writing skills while also getting a good laugh out of it! Overall, I think April is an amazingly innovative and thoughtful educator who is really striving to make the most of technology in her classroom. I admire her ideas and her many other posts because in reading them I can just imagine how successful her classroom is with her students constantly learning new tech things. I definitely plan to incorporate all the tips and tricks I read on her website. I would encourage you to follow her on her social media as well: Twitter Pinterest |
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