Showing posts with label ipad. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ipad. Show all posts

Friday, January 18, 2013

Poetry Friday: iPad Poetry App



iF Poems
by Clickworks Limited





270 Classic Poems
Categorized
Searchable




Some have audio, so you can listen.


But the best part is -- 
you can record YOURSELF 
reading one of the poems!


Violet has the Poetry Friday roundup today at Violet Nesdoly / Poems.


Tuesday, July 19, 2011

READICT for the iPad: Annotation Tools for Reading

I recently downloaded the new app called READICT for my iPad.  It is a new product by Diigo which sold me on it right away. I am interested in annotation and reading tools that really expand what we can do as readers, writers and researchers.

I became hooked on Evernote last year and have used it for research, notetaking, and bookmarking ever since.  I know I have underutilized it and should spend some time learning all that it can do.  But I have really worked to use it in a lot of situations to get a feel for what is possible with notetaking, research and annotations.

I also began using a Kindle awhile ago and am fascinated by the annotation capabilities. Not only am I able to highlight and add notes while I read, but I can see what other popular highlights are if I would like to.  I can set the Kindle to mark passages that are highlighted by a number of people who have also read the book.  It is funny how differently you read when you know someone highlighted a passage.  The Kindle also lets you access your highlights and notes on your amazon account-it can be accessed online.

All of these new ways to annotate seem to give so many new possibilities for thinking about and collaborating around books and online texts. I see huge implications for book clubs, research projects, and strategy work.  Although we are still merely reading a text, these tools allow us to read a text at a deeper level and to share our thinking on a more global level if we want to.

The ways all of these tools allow us to collect readings, annotate, and save notes changes things for me as a reader a bit. And I think apps like this have huge implications for our kids. It is impossible to use apps like this as a reader and then ask our students to read and research in the same ways we always have.  There are very few reasons I can think of for me to ask my students to write down web addresses, keep notes on index cards, or print our articles with the tools available to them.

I have learned that, as a literacy teacher, I need to experience the new tools of literacy in order to think about how to keep literacy learning authentic for our students. It has always important to me to understand my own reading in order to teach well. Adding the new tools that readers use has been an important part of my own learning. I have to admit, it is not always easy.  I tend to want to fall back and rely on the tools I am used to. But I find that small steps help. Last year, when I worked on a paper for a class, I promised myself to only use Evernote to take and keep notes. When I attended November Learning, I did the same thing. I forced myself to use Prezi for one presentation last year which was a great learning experience.  These three promises gave me the opportunity to see what these tools were about with a short-term commitment. So this is how I approach tools of literacy and creation that I know make a difference in what is possible.  I have usually found that with a short time commitment, I fall in love with the tool and find all kinds of uses for it.  I hope to do the same type of thing with Readict. I'll play around with it and then find some project that I'll try using the app.

Readict serves as both a reader and an annotation tool.  The Readict site advertises it with these words:
"Readict is for those who take reading seriously. IT is an iPad reading app that integrates highlighter and 'read later' functionalities to provide efficient and effective reading experiences." I played around with it this week and I see it as a great tool.

I am able to add my own sites/blogs etc. to my reader and these get refreshed each day so that I can access new posts. I can browse the sites to choose the ones I want to go to:



I can add posts to my reading list--those I want to read later or those that I want to hold onto. It is easy to do so with one click. I can then access those later in my Reading List.  (I am not yet sure if the Reading List can be organized in any way. I need to play with that.)



I can use tools such as the highlighter to mark up articles that I am reading. The notes and highlights are saved when the post/article is placed in my Reading List.  This week, I tried to use the tools on a post from Wonderopolis to help me think about ways that students might use this app and online annotation tools in general to support their reading and research.


Readict also allows you to add notes while you read. You can add them to a certain spot, just as you would a sticky note. When you get to the note symbol on your page, you can open your note up. There is quite a bit of space for notes and you can add as many as you read during your reading.

I see huge implications for tools like Evernote, Readict, etc.  Not only are the social bookmarking tools but they give us the ability, as literacy teachers, to help our students track their thinking, save thinking, and share thinking with online tools.  The strategies they use for online reading are most likely very similar to those they use in other reading so having these tools available to them opens up so many opportunities to build understanding.

I think as a literacy teacher, I need to really pay attention to productivity tools that give kids new ways to read with more depth and understanding. I am excited about this one!

Monday, July 18, 2011

THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF MR. MORRIS LESSMORE-WOW!



Sometimes you read a book and know you are experiencing something amazing.  This is what happened to me after reading the new multimedia book for the iPad called THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF MR. MORRIS LESSMORE by Moonbot Studios. I heard about this book on Twitter from Jeremy Brueck. If you are not familiar with his work, his site, Raised Digital is a great resource for ebooks for children. Then I learned from this post that the creator is an ex-Pixar designer.  I knew it had to be good.

Here is the thing--there are lots of apps and ebooks being published and it is important to really think about whether the book is good for the glitzy technology or whether it is truly a good story.  I am loving all of the new ways creators are using media to tell stories but many of the new ebooks for kids that I see are of pretty poor quality. Either they are books that have been quickly transformed to an app or they are books created by technology companies who don't always know about child and literacy development. So I was thrilled to see this one. I figured that Pixar people understand story and that is the most important thing, right?

THE FANTASTIC FLYING BOOKS OF MR. MORRIS LESSMORE is an incredible story that seems to change things when it comes to what is possible with multimedia storytelling. First of all, it is a great story. I sighed when I finished and I watched other people sigh at the end too.  It is a great story about the power of books and reading and the art (without the animation) is pretty incredible.  The animation and the multimedia effects make the book and the story even better.

I have been paying attention to how using new media draws the reader in and I am amazed at how intuitive this new book is.  I worry when it is the games and outside activities that pull a reader in--so much interaction that doesn't even go along with the story.  But in this book the interaction adds to the story.  Each page of the book gives the reader something that adds a new layer of meaning to the story.  And the way the visuals and the text works, the reader just knows what the interactive invitation is on most pages. It is done that well. Just as Mo Willem's books like DON'T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS invite readers to naturally jump in and participate, yelling out to the pigeon, this multimedia book does the same thing for readers of all ages by inviting readers to interact in a variety of ways. That intuitiveness is important to me.

After I fell in love with the book, I invited (forcibly) several friends and family members to read the book on my iPad. It was too good not to share!  Then, I sat back and watched.  What fascinated me was that I saw the same thing over and over and over.  Whether it was Mary Lee, my 11 year old daughter or my husband, the pattern of the experience was somewhat similar.  Everyone was at first fascinated by the art and the "cool" effects.  They wanted to try everything and touch every page.  But as the story continued, each reader seemed to quiet down a bit. Each reader was immersed in the story and with where it was going.  The animation and interaction continued to be important, but the story took over and they stopped saying, "wow" and "cool" out loud.
Mary Lee enjoying the story:-)

Every interaction in this book is purposeful. There are no games to play and no unrelated actions.   Even the music is connected to the interactivity and adds more meaning to the story. I had not seen that in an ebook before.  (and from what I understand, you can turn off the voice so you can read the words yourself, but still keep the background music on--I need to check that feature out!)  And there are new things to be discovered upon rereading the book.

This is a great story for readers of all ages. It is not short--takes about 15 minutes to read.  It is a picture book that young children can enjoy and one that older readers will experience with depth.  I cannot WAIT to share it with my students in the fall. It is well worth the $4.99 if you have an iPad. From what I understand, it will also be published in several ways and the short film has already won a ton of awards. If you don't have an iPad, I would find a friend who does, and purchase this app for them so that you can experience it yourself! Or I would buy an iPad. This book seems worth an iPad purchase--especially as we watch to see how the concept of books, storytelling and literacy evolve over the next few years. This will be one of the first things I purchase for our iPads at school and I have already ordered a connector so that we can experience the book together on a large screen or Smartboard.

Lots has already been written on this app and it has really changed what is possible with storytelling. So very exciting! You can read more:
Book App Review: The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

And even more fun is the Morris Lessmore site which has lots of information on what it took to actually create this app. As the site says, this is "old fashioned and cutting edge at the same time." So true!

Find a way to experience this story ASAP!