250 Best iPad Apps for Middle School

Here is my list of the 250 iPad Apps we currently use in our Middle School:

Am I missing any?

NJEA High Tech Hall 2011

I was honored to be able to host the Web 2.0 Smackdown at the 2011 NJEA Convention. Working with over 40 NJ educators we compiled this living document:
NJEA Web 2.0 Smackdown 2011

Please feel free to add!

All of the awesome resources from the convention's High Tech Hall can be found on this wiki: http://njea-hth-2011.wikispaces.com/

Google SketchUp Tutorials and FREE Premium Accounts

The NJ Department of Education is offering FREE Premium Google SketchUp Licenses. I found this out thanks to Kevin Jarrett.
The premium Google SketchUp allows studenst to build 3D models such as this:

Check out the SketchUp 3D warehouse for more examples: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=b1281e7feb11e9507cc669e7ece7c3d1
Our school took advantage of the offer so I decided to pull some tutorials and videos together using Jog the Web for students and teachers.
Click below to check them out:
Google SketchUp

Loving Lino it

I have been using Linoit quite a bit lately. It is an excellent alternative to wallwisher which seems pretty finicky lately.

Teachers have been building canvases on linoit to review fraction concepts, post assignments and comprehension questions for novels, as a "due now" and as an "exit ticket" for many different topics.

You can be notified when a stick is posted on your canvas if you would like and have the ability to make the canvases as private or public as you like. I also like the daily digest I receive for each canvas, letting me know the action that has taken place and any tasks that are due. You can upload videos, images, and documents to your canvas. You can even post tasks with due dates and emoticons.

Here are some examples:

I like to use goo.gl or tinyurl to shorten the links to the canvases, making it easier for students to access if a teacher does not want to hyperlink it from a blog or web page.
People have also suggested the similar, corkboard.me, which I hope to try out soon.

Using Technology to Create a Global Classroom

One of the most effective ways to get students collaborating with each other is to use tools that are easily accessible. If the tools are browser agnostic, have no demand for installations or updates, and are intuitive, the collaboration is more likely to be effective.

I recently presented this slide show and Google Doc at the 2011 NJEA Teaching and Learning Symposium.


Here is a link to a Google Docs with all of the sites we discussed and tools to help facilitate global collaboration: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1VckCWWALUyOjjKMAphzL1-YOpl9ULnLFegALAW7V6z0


Many thanks to Lisa Thumann for asking me to present and helping out with resources.

Interactive Math Sites

I was recently asked to present some interactive math sites to an audience of k-5 teachers. Here are my slides so far:


This a work in progress. If you would like to add some slides or sites, email me at hartman19@gmail.com or comment below.

A Tale of 2 Animotos

I recently worked with Ms. S, a music teacher at the Early Childhood Center in Palisades Park, New Jersey. Ms. S is the music teacher for grades Pre K - 1st grade. I arrived a bit early and sat in on a kindergarten music class. I had so much fun playing with lummi sticks!
Following that class, Ms. S created an Animoto using Vivaldi's Spring and images from Google Images.
Click here to view Ms. S's animoto: Spring
Before watching the Animoto, the students sang a song, "Spring is Coming." Then we discussed signs of Spring. I took half the class and showed the Spring Animoto Ms. S had created on the Smartboard. We watched a few times and tried to recall the images. What images were missing? What was your favorite picture? What picture was missing?
The students loved the Animoto and were excited when I told them they were going to create one.
I gave each student a piece of paper and told them to draw an image that reminded them of Spring as we listened to the song once more. As they drew, I took pictures of their progress with my camera. Then I uploaded the images to Animoto using the same Vivaldi song.
I can't wait to hear their reaction! They were so excited to have their pictures "in a movie." I wish I could have bottled their enthusiasm!


I still think Animoto is one of the best and easiest web 2.0 tools out there. It makes anyone look like an Oscar Award winning producer!