Strip Yourself

What is it?

Created by The Other Dingo (awesome name!), Strip Yourself is a new app that turns photos taken with an iOS device into individual comic book frames.  At this point (first version released just two weeks ago) the app is very simple—take one pic at a time, choose a speech bubble, type in the desired text, and save to the camera roll.  There are no options for different photo effects, themes, or fonts, but this simplicity is actually refreshing.  It keeps students from getting bogged down in stylistic choices, so they can focus on fashioning and arranging the subjects of the photos rather than tinkering too long with special effects.  (As a teacher, I've seen students spend 30 minutes choosing colors, themes and fonts for a presentation that's due in only an hour's time, resulting in a lovely presentation wholly lacking in quality content.  Given Strip Yourself's streamlined design, this misdirection of focus shouldn't be an issue.) 

Lesson Idea:

Plot, Retelling a Story, Designing Comics, Understanding Dialogue: Students retell a short story, novel chapter, or scene from a work of literature in the form of a comic strip.  This would actually take quite a bit of planning on the students' part—maybe even a couple of weeks—beginning with considerable brainstorming and basic storyboarding.  Students could get creative with the subjects of the photos, posing in costume themselves or using puppets, toys, etc.  Once they have a clear plan and it's been approved by the teacher (for a project checkpoint grade, of course), they then take the photos, insert their creative dialogue, and save each completed frame to the camera roll on the iOS device.  Once all desired frames are completed, students can easily import them into a Pages - Apple® document and arrange them into one complete comic strip.  

Teacher Tips:  

• At the time of publication, images cannot be imported from the iOS photo library into Strip Yourself for use in comic frames.  Only pictures taken from within the app can be used.  However, it is almost certain that later versions will add this feature. 
• This entire assignment can be completed on an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch using only two apps: Strip Yourself - The Other Dingo and Pages - Apple®.  Ahhh. . . the sweet, sweet simplicity of mobile learning. Go with it!
• Individual frames can be uploaded to Facebook or sent via email, providing opportunities for shorter, simpler assignments than the one listed above.
• If you're looking for a comic strip design app that uses student drawings rather than photographs, consider using Sketch Book.

Screenshots:

        

Barista's Rating:

Triple shot for teacher ease, student enjoyment, and applicability.

Cost: $0.99

Flashcardlet

What is it?

Flashcardlet by Jeff Holliday Software is the most effective, user-friendly flashcard app I've yet to find, and it's FREE! Forget about stacks of index cards held together by rubber bands or binder rings.  We all know that students tend to hate making them, often lose them, and certainly don't carry them around for spontaneous studying.  With Flashcardlet, students carry hundreds (dare I say thousands?) of flashcards right on their iOS devices. In-app access to the Quizlet.com database provides students with endless pre-made flashcards. Students can also make their own sets or use teacher-created ones. Having the cards on an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad means having them handy for study spurts at any given moment—while waiting in the lunch line, running errands with mom, between phone calls, etc.  And the best part is, studying with Flashcardlet feels more like a game than test prep. 

Lesson Ideas:

• Vocabulary: Students make a new deck of flashcards for each week's vocabulary list as soon as they get the words on Monday. During the week, they study them independently when they finish their class work, use the cards as a reference for all vocabulary homework, and study outside of class whenever time permits.  By Friday's vocab test, they're ready to make a 100%! And, decks never need to be deleted, so when it comes time to study for the novel test, six weeks test, or semester final exam, all their previously studied flashcards are still on hand and ready to be reviewed.
• Greek & Latin Roots: In most English classes, the study of Greek and Latin roots is an ongoing, year-long process.  Students can create one deck of flashcards for the entire year's worth of roots, or make smaller decks based on categories or teacher-designated short lists. (Btw, have I mentioned what a great idea it is to use the Harry Potter series to teach Greek and Latin roots? Just the list of spells alone could provide a solid year's worth of words, and the students never forget them.)
• Characterization, Setting, Plot Details:  When reading more complicated works with lots of action, locations, and characters (think Mythology), students make flashcards to keep all the details straight.

Teacher Tips:

• When creating the cards using an iOS device, images cannot be imported into the program.  However, if you create the cards on your computer at www.quizlet.com, you can place images on the cards and your students can then download them on their devices for full viewing.
• Card creation and editing still not available on iPad (can create and edit on iPhone and iPod touch) as of publication date.  However, according to the developer's facebook page, this feature is in the works to be completed this summer.  In the meantime, cards for iPad can be created at www.quizlet.com and accessed on the iPad.  When this changes, I'll update this post.

Screenshots:

         

Barista's Rating:

Triple shot for teacher ease, student enjoyment, and applicability.

Cost: FREE!

Perfect Lit Pairings:

  

Survival Guide

What is it?

Survival Guide, created by by Max Soderstrom, is a simple but useful app based on the US Army Survival Manual: FM 21-76. It's little more than an ebook of sorts, simple text and images describing strategies for basic survival when in dire need, but it easily and effectively serves its purpose. The guide consists of 19 chapters with titles such as, "Psychology of Survival," "Dangerous Animals," and "Signaling Techniques." If stranded in the desert, at sea, etc. you want to have this app handy (assuming you'd have your iPhone with you, of course).

Hopefully you'll never find yourself in a real-life situation that calls for the use of this app. But we all love reading a good survival story from time to time (especially students!), so why not keep it handy? 

Lesson Ideas:

• Socratic Seminar/Discussion: During discussion of your assigned survival story, students refer to Survival Guide, synthesizing the info from both the novel and the guide, evaluating the choices of the book's characters and discussing what they might have done in similar situations. 
• Characterization:  Students analyze how each character fights to survive and what the various survial tactics reveal about each character's personality.  When certain characters use the same strategies as those outlined in Survival Guide, what does that say about the character?  Does the author have certain characters always seeming to do what the Survival Guide specifically warns against doing?  Teachers could spin this into a number or great essay prompts, requiring citations from both the novel and the guide. 
• Persuasive Writing/Advertising/Digital Media:  Students use information from the guide to create posters, advertisements, or video PSA's detailing survival tips and persuading audiences to be smart when hiking, flying, boating, camping, etc.

Screenshots:

        

Barista's Rating:

Double shot for teacher ease and applicability.

Cost: FREE!

Perfect Lit Pairings:

      

WordFoto

What is it?

WordFoto, created by bitCycle is a super fun new app for iOS 4 (and iOS 5 coming this Fall) that allows you to transform meaningful words and photos into expressive works of art.  So simple to use, just take a pic with your device (or import it from a photo album), enter the text, choose a design style, and voilà!  Instant word art.

Lesson Ideas:

• Vocabulary: Students take pics of objects that illustrate the meaning of each word on the novel vocab list. Obviously the text for each image will simply be the assigned word.  They should be required to choose a design style that reflects the connotation of each word. Insert all images into a Pages document (Pages is avail on iOS devices now!) and submit for a homework/classwork grade. 
• Figurative Language, Imagery, Diction: Students choose significant quotes from the novel, search the everyday world around them for situations or objects that illustrate the meaning of the quote, and combine it all into one beautiful image.  Great for printing into posters or sharing on your class website (Have you tried schoology yet? GET IT!)
• Characterization: Students snap a photo of someone they know who resembles a character from the novel.  Instead of quotes from the book, students use their own words to describe the character.  Would be cool to then use the image as a profile pic if the class were to create fake schoology or facebook pages for each character. (This could be in a printed poster format for decorating the classroom or actually posted digitally on schoology by the teacher.)

Teacher Tips:

• WordFoto works best with short phrases or short lists of words.  Maybe 6 or so at most.
• If students can't find objects to photograph, they could always draw their own images, take pics of them, and import them into WordFoto for use.  I'd stay away from this as much as possible though, if for no other reason than to force encourage them to examine the world around them in a creative way.

Screenshots:

         

Barista's Rating: 

Triple shot for teacher ease, student enjoyment, and applicability.

Cost: $1.99