Free iPad Recipes: Introducing Vocabulary (Part 1)

Are You a One and Done? 

Are you a "one and done" App user? What I mean is do you only integrate one App per class experience? This may work for some of your students, but it will not work for all of your students. Why? Not every student learns and interacts with Apps the same way.

If we only focus on using one App per classroom experience, we often leave out many of our students who don't learn this way. My advice is to try to incorporate 2 or more Apps into your experience that will allow different types of learners to connect with material. In other words, don't be a "one and done"!

Over the next few posts, I want to share with you a common way to introduce your students to new vocabulary terms, while using multiple Apps.

Ingredient # 1: Activate Background Knowledge

I was recently trying to meet the curriculum goal to introduce my students to the word charisma and how it impacts our daily lives. I decided that pre-assessing my students on how they would define the term was the best way to see what my students already knew.

In the past, I would have had my students write their thoughts down on a piece of paper, share with a partner, and then share with the class. Although this is an effective way of getting students to write, I have found that my students are beginning to lose interest in this strategy.

I wanted to engaged my students in a new way, while effectively demonstrating their knowledge of the word. Where did I turn? I turned to FridgePoems, a free App, that provides students with random word magnets that they can place on a virtual refrigerator door to construct sentences or poems.

I wanted a creative way to have my students demonstrate their understanding, so I had them create a 10 - 15 word poem to define our topic.

What did I do next? Look for my next post!


Want more iPad recipes? 

Check out my free SimpleK12 webinar on Thursday, May 1 at 4 pm EST. I will be giving other free iPad recipes that use free iPad apps.