5 iPad apps that will make you a more productive teacher
We all know the iPad is a pretty cool toy at home and has no shortage of apps on it. but many of us are hesitant to take it into the classroom either because you can’t see a practical use for it yet or you just don’t want your kids putting their greasy mitts all over it. The fact is the iPad has a wealth of productivity tools teachers can take advantage of in the classroom that will have you wondering whether or not you actually need your laptop at school anymore. Take a look below at some of our recommendations.
Numbers for iPad: I used to use Excel for all of my students assessment and anecdotal notes and numbers on 
the iPad has only reinforced to me that this is best method of recording student performance and enhanced it. You can create a simple spreadsheet of reading and writing notes or test scores right beside your students as you are working with them zoom in and out and flick through columns in seconds to inform your teaching and planning. No keyboard or mouse to complicate the issue just facts and figures in seconds. Definitely worth the $9.99 price tag.
You can import Excel data straight into it and don’t have to start from scratch.
Goodreader for iPad will let you access all of your documents including pdf files, MS office documents, iWork, html files, hi res photos, up to 1 gig in size and even audio and video straight from your school or home network in seconds via wireless or USB cable. It is cat quick when navigating documents and means that you can access virtually any of your work files instantly on your iPad. If you rely on accessing data regularly from your school network then Goodreader is a must have at $1.19
Omnifocus is an all in one organization tool for iPad that I have never personally used because of it’s $37.99 price tag but have heard many great things about it. Never miss a meeting or lose a crucial piece of data again. Seems to be the Rolls Royce of personal organization apps on the iPad but would love to hear some feedback from users.
PogoSketch Stylus: For those of you who just have to write or draw on your ipad then for $15.00 the pogo sketch stylus and brush will allow you this option. Pair it up with a solid handwriting app such as WritePad that will convert your scrawl to editable text and you have the best of both worlds. A real must have for any iPad user. Feel free to get artistic too – either way the Pogosketch Stylus is much better to write and draw with than your finger.
Evernote is a must have iPhone app as it allows you to record both voice and text memos and organize them in any manner you like. It is great for recording student reflections or reading samples and muck like dropbox will sync with other devices without hassle.
I hope that you get some use out of these apps and tips and actually take your iPad to school after reading this. Furthermore I would love to hear what apps you would recommend to others.
Friday, September 3, 2010 at 10:38PM 1 Reference
Reader Comments (6)
Great post! I'd like to recommend CourseNotes for iPad to your readers as well. We've heard from a bunch of teachers who are using our app in the classroom. We just recently heard from someone who is using some the app's built in sharing features to allow students to "pass" in their work from their iPads right to the teachers. We're working hard to make the app a great tool for students and teachers and are always open to suggestions! You can check out a highlight video here: http://www.coursenotesapp.com!
Still amazes me to see how far technology has come even into apps that help us as teachers be more productive, although, I haven't heard of many student/teachers having ipads in schools to be able to use these things to their fullest potential
Agree with those apps - however what do you think about students having ipads in class? My biggest concern would be that they would be used to not do work. I say just let the teachers have all the fun - and maybe the students could have a stripped down - kindle style device that can just do work?
Danny - iPad Case Review.org
An app for teachers to manage their courses is Teacher's Attaché. Can take attendances, manage class plans & schedules, do grading, Dropbox support, etc.
I'm looking for an application that is essentially a 'comment bank'. I envisage that there will be a comment bank for reading, writing, comprehension, time, addition, fractions etc etc etc.
The teacher a) wanders around the classroom and b) views a specific child's work . On the Ipad or equivalent the teacher clicks on a childs name, clicks on a skill set ( eg writing ), observes the childs work and ticks off the apparent skills.
At the end of the week / month the application prints out a report for each child.
Does anything like this exist ?
Great apps! I will add SimpleMind to the list. It is a mind mapping app. I have used it with 6 th graders with iPads with great results. At one point while they were working I suddenly realized that the only sound I heard was typing. We used it so the students could work to improve note taking skills from their text. I will also add in response to Danny's comment above that it was amazing the difference between the iPad and paper and pencil. I as a teacher could look at a student's mind map of the concepts and very easily know if they were having difficulty understanding the material. But the beauty was in the tactile fluidity of moving the ideas around the map. When they had items in wrong places, rather than having to erase their hard work and rewrite it, all the while thinking angry thoughts at me, they could just slide ideas over and they automatically connect to the new location. Then student energy was spent on deepening their understanding of the relationships between the ideas rather than on the mechanics of rewriting! Also we found that the students could hide ideas under the "parent" idea and use the map to quiz themselves. They can add pictures taken with the iPad even and export and share their work. The possibilities for brainstorming, writing, review of main concepts at the end of a unit seemed endless.