Jessie Holtzman-Rich

LITR 630 / Prof. Thomas

Apps Assignment
December 1, 2014

Kidblog
Heres how Kidsblog describes itself: It provides teachers with the tools to help students publish
writing safely online. Students exercise digital citizenship within a secure classroom blogging
space. Teachers can monitor all activity within their blogging community. Kidblog offers a kidfriendly publishing experience suitable for any K-12 student. We help students focus on what's
important by removing distractions so they can focus on writing. Teachers efficiently manage all
posts and comments through an easy-to-use dashboard. Kidblog gives students writing a
meaningful purpose and an authentic audience. Students are motivated to write for their peers
and engage with a global network. Teachers moderate all content, so nothing goes live until you
say so. Re-imagine writing instruction. Built by teachers, for teachers, Kidblogs platform is
deeply rooted in the pedagogy of writing. Engage students in the process of pre-writing, drafting,
revising, editing, publishing, and commenting Kidblog facilitates feedback and moderation at
all stages. This app would be great to use during any reading or writing unit. I like that I can
monitor the content before anything goes live and that students are writing for a live audience.
App
Kidblog

IRA
1.2 Candidates
understand the
historically shared
knowledge of the
professions and
changes over time in
the perceptions of
reading and writing
development,
processes, and
components.

ISTE / NETS*S
1. Creativity and
innovation: Students
demonstrate creative
thinking, construct
knowledge, and
develop innovative
products and
processes using
technology.

KTS6
6.1 Uses available
technology to design
and plan instruction.

2. Communication
and collaboration:
2.2 Candidates use
Students use digital
appropriate and varied media and
instructional
environments to
approaches, including communicate and
those that develop
work collaboratively,
word recognition,
including at a
language
distance, to support
comprehension,
individual learning

6.3 Integrates student

use of available
technology into
instruction.

6.2 Uses available

technology to
implement instruction
that facilitates student
learning.

6.4 Uses available

technology to assess
and communicate
student learning.

strategic knowledge,
and reading-writing
connections.

and contribute to the

learning of others.

6.5 Demonstrates
ethical and legal use
of technology.

4.2 Candidates use a

literacy curriculum
and engage in
instructional practices
that positively impact
students' knowledge,
beliefs, and
engagement with the
features of diversity.
5.1 Candidates design
the physical
environment to
optimize students' use
of traditional print,
digital, and online
resources in reading
and writing
instruction.
Dictionary.com
This app would be used in a fifth grade language arts class to supports students reading and
writing skills. When reading a community novel or writing a paper, they can use the app to
improve their comprehension or to help them be more explicit in their writing, respectively. The
app has many features: Word of the Day, word facts, and blogs about interesting and/or
unusual words like clowder and pusillanimous. The app also has brief history lessons about (for
example) the origins of the letter B and entertaining slideshows to teach (for example) spooky
Halloween words. When students look up a word, in addition to learning its definition, they will
also find synonyms, comprehensive definitions, word origins, and example sentences using the
word in multiple ways. There is also an encyclopedia to provide students with additional context.
While reading, kids are not in the habit of looking up unknown words. All too often, they skip
the unknown words. Some students try and use context clues, but rarely are they checking
dictionaries to see if their definition predictions are correct. This app would be a great way to
reinforce the importance of using a dictionary whenever they are reading and writing. The iPad
could be beside them and they could get in the habit of regularly looking up words. This app
would also come in handy to supplement vocabulary lessons, for it would help students learn the
words at a deeper level, and it could help the teacher explain the weekly words in a more
interesting way.

App
Dictionary.com

IRA
1.2 Candidates
understand the
historically shared
knowledge of the
professions and
changes over time in
the perceptions of
reading and writing
development,
processes, and
components.
2.2 Candidates use
appropriate and varied
instructional
approaches, including
those that develop
word recognition,
language
comprehension,
strategic knowledge,
and reading-writing
connections.
4.2 Candidates use a
literacy curriculum
and engage in
instructional practices
that positively impact
students' knowledge,
beliefs, and
engagement with the
features of diversity.
5.1 Candidates design
the physical
environment to
optimize students' use
of traditional print,
digital, and online
resources in reading
and writing
instruction.

ISTE / NETS*S
2. Communication
and collaboration:
Students use digital
media and
environments to
communicate and
work collaboratively,
including at a
distance, to support
individual learning
and contribute to the
learning of others.
3. Research and
information fluency:
Students apply digital
tools to gather,
evaluate, and use
information.

KTS6
6.1 Uses available
technology to design
and plan instruction.
6.2 Uses available
technology to
implement instruction
that facilitates student
learning.
6.3 Integrates student
use of available
technology into
instruction.

Dragon Dictation
This app would be used in a fifth grade language arts class to support reading and writing.
Dragon Dictation can recognize and transcribe words quickly. Students can take notes while
reading, researching, or writing an article for the school newspaper. According to the website,
Dragon Dictation allows hands free text input, which is also helpful for students who struggle
with writing and need necessary accommodations and modifications.

App
Dragon Dictation

IRA
1.2 Candidates
understand the
historically shared
knowledge of the
professions and
changes over time in
the perceptions of
reading and writing
development,
processes, and
components.
2.2 Candidates use
appropriate and varied
instructional
approaches, including
those that develop
word recognition,
language
comprehension,
strategic knowledge,
and reading-writing
connections.

ISTE / NETS*S
3. Research and
information fluency:
Students apply digital
tools to gather,
evaluate, and use
information.

KTS6
6.2 Uses available
technology to
implement instruction
that facilitates student
learning.
6.3 Integrates student
use of available
technology into
instruction.
6.5 Demonstrates
ethical and legal use
of technology.

Grammaropolis
Grammaropolis is all about the eight parts of speech and is aimed to reach students in grades
third through sixth. Students must read the information on the screen, so it gives students reading
practice while teaching them about the eight parts of speech. The program is high interest and
reviews say that even though the age range is wide, the movies, music, and lessons are not
babyish. Each part of speech is taught a number of ways which appeals to many different types
of learners. With each lesson, song, movie and game, the different parts of speech are taught at a
deeper and deeper level, while still reviewing the same basic concepts. At the end of each

activity, students can take a quiz. Students have the option of retaking the quizzes until they
master the concept, and teachers can track the students progress.
App
Grammaropolis

IRA
1.2 Candidates
understand the
historically shared
knowledge of the
professions and
changes over time in
the perceptions of
reading and writing
development,
processes, and
components.

ISTE / NETS*S
1. Creativity and
innovation: Students
demonstrate creative
thinking, construct
knowledge, and
develop innovative
products and
processes using
technology.

2. Communication
and collaboration:
2.2 Candidates use
Students use digital
appropriate and varied media and
instructional
environments to
approaches, including communicate and
those that develop
work collaboratively,
word recognition,
including at a
language
distance, to support
comprehension,
individual learning
strategic knowledge,
and contribute to the
and reading-writing
learning of others.
connections.
4. Critical thinking,
5.1 Candidates design problem solving, and
the physical
decision making:
environment to
Students use critical
optimize students' use thinking skills to plan
of traditional print,
and conduct research,
digital, and online
manage projects,
resources in reading
solve problems, and
and writing
make informed
instruction.
decisions.

KTS6
6.1 Uses available
technology to design
and plan instruction.
6.2 Uses available
technology to
implement instruction
that facilitates student
learning.
6.3 Integrates student
use of available
technology into
instruction.
6.4 Uses available
technology to assess
and communicate
student learning.
6.5 Demonstrates
ethical and legal use
of technology.

Vocabulary/Spelling City
The VocabularySpellingCity is game-based learning tool with a school-home connection.
Students can log into their accounts and access their teachers' lists and assignments from any
device - desktop computers, laptop/notebook computers, tablets, iPads, iPhones, and Android
phones - at school, at home and on the go.

I could use this app to help teach the vocabulary during reading units. Students can also use this
app to review the following: figurative language, parts of speech, plural and possessive nouns,
verb tenses, and many others. Video lessons, games, and classroom ideas are also part of this free
app. Students can use it at school and use it at home and watch the videos and play the games as
many times as they would like in order to learn, review or master a concept.
App
Vocabulary/Spelling
City

IRA
1.2 Candidates
understand the
historically shared
knowledge of the
professions and
changes over time in
the perceptions of
reading and writing
development,
processes, and
components.

ISTE / NETS*S
1. Creativity and
innovation: Students
demonstrate creative
thinking, construct
knowledge, and
develop innovative
products and
processes using
technology.

2. Communication
and collaboration:
2.2 Candidates use
Students use digital
appropriate and varied media and
instructional
environments to
approaches, including communicate and
those that develop
work collaboratively,
word recognition,
including at a
language
distance, to support
comprehension,
individual learning
strategic knowledge,
and contribute to the
and reading-writing
learning of others.
connections.
3. Research and
5.1 Candidates design information fluency:
the physical
Students apply digital
environment to
tools to gather,
optimize students' use evaluate, and use
of traditional print,
information.
digital, and online
resources in reading
4. Critical thinking,
and writing
problem solving, and
instruction.
decision making:
Students use critical
thinking skills to plan
and conduct research,
manage projects,
solve problems, and
make informed

KTS6
6.1 Uses available
technology to design
and plan instruction.
6.2 Uses available
technology to
implement instruction
that facilitates student
learning.
6.3 Integrates student
use of available
technology into
instruction.
6.4 Uses available
technology to assess
and communicate
student learning.
6.5 Demonstrates
ethical and legal use
of technology.

decisions.

TPACK Connection:
The use of each app demonstrates an understanding of content knowledge because each of the
aforementioned apps are directly linked to educational goals and standards. Each app is designed
to strengthen fifth grade reading and writing skills, as well as supplement reading and writing
instruction. As far as pedagogy knowledge, the teacher can ask students to use the apps
independently, with partners, or in small groups. The teacher can use the apps for whole class
instruction. The apps are great because students can use them at their own pace and to support
their own needs and intellectual curiosities. The teacher can also assign different apps to
different students according to their individual strengths and growth areas. In regards to
technology knowledge, each of these apps were intentionally selected for their educational
features and the way they can effectively support reading and writing instruction.