Wednesday, November 20, 2013 - An App-tastic Morning Meeting!
by Patti Dodds

Today, during morning meeting,  my homeroom students and I joined the Balch homeroom to learn about  an App called ThingLink.  ThinkLink is a free App that allows us to make images interactive. 

We asked students to download the App and issued a 20 minute challenge to create a background photo and add: 2 text boxes, 2 pictures, 2 links and one video.  The final step was for them to electronically share their projects with at least one other person.  Students needed about 4 minutes of instruction before they were off and running!

During the last few minutes of morning meeting, students shared projects via Apple TV.  Projects ranged from the new "Catching Fire" movie to favorite video games and television shows.
At the very end of the meeting, we asked students to brainstorm ways that they might envision using this App to demonstrate their knowledge when working on specific assignments, projects and labs.  Students suggested the 6th grade "Brain Project", science labs, and mapping assignments.

"App Fluency" is understanding how various apps can be used to create and/or "push out" information from one app to another easily and fluently.  Students and teachers need to first decide what the goal of an assignment is, and what understanding they would like to demonstrate, and then choose an appropriate method to do so.  Being "App fluent" will allow students to remain focused on the learning goals and make integrating technology more seamless.