5 Excellent Note Taking Apps

Thanks to technology, notes that are taken during class, on field trips, and during experiments are more interactive and engaging.  No longer do notes contain paragraph after paragraph after paragraph of text that mean only something when it comes time to study for tests.  Notes are now much more interactive and have much more meaning.   Notes contain pictures, video, sound clips and website links - all of which can enhance the learning.  If you are looking to get your students, or yourself, started with taking digital notes, here are 5 excellent note taking apps that are worth a try:

Google Keep (Android, Chrome Web App) 

Google Keep - a note taking app released by Google earlier this year - is a simple and easy to access note taking app.  Students can quickly launch this app from their Android device and begin taking notes on the fly.  They can also attach pictures and audio or insert text or check-lists. From their mobile device, students can also share their notes via email, Facebook, Twitter or on Google +.  One of the features that makes Google Keep unique is the ability to change the color of the note itself.  Students could utilize this feature to organize their notes - i.e. blue notes are history, yellow notes are math, etc.    

Catch Notes (IOS, Android)

Catch Notes - a note taking app with many features - is also a tool that students can use in the classroom.  Catch allows students to take notes on their IOS and Android devices - while being able to attach pictures, video recordings and even set reminders.  The ability to set reminders on notes is a awesome part of Catch - no more forgetting homework prior to running out the door before heading to school or forgetting certain project deadlines.  Whenever you set a reminder on a note, you will get a alert on your mobile device (I tested this by creating a note on my Nook HD + and my standard alert tone came on letting me know of the reminder from the note).  With Catch, you can also create "spaces" (also referred to as "streams") which you can organize your notes into.  With each space you can invite collaborators to comment on notes, update checklists, and create new notes within the "space".  Free accounts are limited to 5 spaces and 250 MB of storage.  

Evernote (IOS, Android, Blackberry, Windows)

Evernote - a note taking app that showcases some of the best features out in the field today - is certainly something worth trying.  One of the aspects that makes Evernote great is the multiple platform that is supported on it.  Whether it be on IOS, Android, Blackberry or Windows, Evernote has you covered.  Students can easily create notes and organize them into different notebooks - i.e. history, economics, science, math, etc. - and have access to them whenever they need.  Students can attach pictures, files, videos and audio files - all from their smartphone, computer, or tablet.  Evernote also allows you to share notes and notebooks with classmates and colleagues via email, Facebook, Twitter and multiple other ways.  

Springpad (IOS, Android, Chrome) 

***Springpad shutdown in June 2014***

Springpad - yet another useful tool for the classroom - allows students to create notes and organize them in notebooks.  Unlike some other utilities, as of the writing of this blog post, there are no limits to notebooks or storage space you need.  What is unique about Springpad is that in each note you can "spring" different information.  You can simply type a quick note, attach photos, include a website link and several other items that Springpad has included as built-in categories such as: movies, tv shows, music, books, products, wine, recipe, scans (barcodes), tasks, checklists, events.  With this, you can easily create reading lists, movie and tv show lists appropriate for the classroom, checklists, etc and share with your students.  When you choose to share a note, it will generate a unique URL so you can post it anywhere you like.  

Fetchnotes (IOS, Android)

Fetchnotes - a quick and simple note taking app - allows you to organize your notes by using hastags.  There's not too many features other than this at this time.  However, if your students are needing something to quickly launch and type a note, they can do so with Fetchnotes and still access their notes via the fetchnotes website. With the ease of organization with the hashtags, students can quickly search through notes they've tagged.  This is a excellent app if you need jot things down really quick or even take notes while on the go.


All of these apps are well worth the time to look into.  Depending on what level of complexity you need the app to be will depend on which one will work best for you.  By the way, the best part of all these apps - they are free!

5 Free Nook Apps for Kids

The way teachers teach and the way students learn has changed over the last several years due to technology.  Instead of students seeing pictures of different landscapes across the world in a textbook, they are now touring those landscapes online with Google Earth.  Instead of teachers having their students put all their work into a folder or binder, they are now having their students create online portfolios to share with their fellow classmates, family and across the world.  

All of this comes with using technology in the classroom.  Whether it be with computers, smartphones or tablets, technology has changed how we teach and learn.  Recently, I picked up the Barnes and Noble Nook HD +.  Over the next few weeks, I'll be reviewing this device and providing more resources on how this device can engage our students and fellow teachers.  To begin, here is 5 free Nook (compatible with the Nook HD/HD+, Nook Color, Nook tablet) apps for kids:

Letter Paper

Letter Paper is a free app that allows kids, or even those learning to write for the first time, the opportunity to practice writing on their Nook.
The app provides the traditional practice writing lines for when kids are learning the basics of writing and differences between capitalized and non-capitalized letters.  With this app, students can practice their writing skills even when a pencil and paper is unavailable.





Learning Gems - Colors N Shapes

Learning Gems - Colors N Shapes is a free app available in the Nook store that lets kids learn shapes and colors in the form of a game.  The game has levels of difficulty, each getting gradually harder the further you get into the game.  Each level asks the player to click on the matching color or shape from the given color or shape displayed.  For example, the game will provide a picture of a triangle and the player must select a triangle from a selection of different shapes.  The game continues on in that fashion while adding in different shapes and colors.  

Math Racer  

Math Racer Addition is a fun math game for kids that requires the player to add different numbers.  At the beginning, the player gets to choose the color race car they want and choose the numbers that want to play with (1's, 2's, 3's, 4's, etc).  If the player chooses to play with 1's, the game will ask the player to do addition with 1's - i.e. 1+2, 1+3, 1+10, etc.  Each time the player gets the answer right, their race car advances to the "finish line".  It will track their score and time so that the player can keep track and try to beat their record.  

Memory Master Lite

Memory Master Lite is a free Nook app that helps kids with their memory skills using a simple card matching game.  The player can choose from 4 cards to start out with and go up 16 cards.

Alphabet Robots HD

Alphabet Robots HD is a another card matching game that helps kids recognize letters by sight and pronunciation.  This can be either a one player or two player game and has different levels of difficulty.  At the first level, it is a simple card matching game.  At the second level, the player matches the pronunciation of the letter (an audio file is one of the cards) to another card that is the letter of that pronounced letter.  With the addition of the audio pronunciation, the player learns how the letter is pronounced and what the letter looks like.



If you would like more resources over the Barnes & Noble Nook devices, please feel free to look at my new Livebinder, Nook for Educators:

Nook for Educators

Special Guest Post - A Teacher reflects upon 28 years in education

It is my absolute honor to have one of my former teachers, Susan McIntyre, submit a special guest post on this blog.  As of this coming May, she will have completed 28 years in the teaching profession and will be retiring.  I can honestly say that Mrs. McIntyre is one of my teachers who influenced me to be a teacher.  Here is her reflection upon her days as a teacher as she approaches retirement: 

Susan McIntyre - A reflection of 28 years in the teaching profession

Thousands of students, 28 years in the profession, 25 years as a group sponsor/coach, 15 different classrooms, 11 different courses, 3 different schools, 2 school districts, and one outstanding career. How does a teacher look back over the years and evaluate his or her success?

As I approach the end of this school year and the beginning of my retirement, I find myself trying to answer this question. I think about that first year in the classroom. The students I had. The teachers I worked with. I had a two-year-old child and a four-month-old child. My husband had the job of taking the kids to daycare on his way to work. As I think back now, I wonder how either of us ever made it. I know it was only by the grace of God.

I learned that God had a sense of humor in 1985. I had been praying for a teaching job for over a year when He answered that prayer. I forgot to ask to have my teaching position in Amarillo, so I spent my first five years as a teacher commuting from Amarillo to Hereford. I enjoyed my years at Hereford. Both my students and my co-workers left me with many good memories of those early years.

Unexpectedly, in 1990, I heard about an opening at Palo Duro High School. For the next 23 years, I spent many hours working with great students and teachers. I taught 16 years in the math department at Palo Duro, followed by seven years teaching Health. I sponsored the Class of 1997 and had a group of students who worked hard to achieve their goals every year. I then took on co-coaching cheerleaders to go along with co-coaching Academic Decathlon.

I had three special years with the cheerleaders and 14 years with the Academic Decathlon program. I expended many hours on the road in buses and 15-passenger vans with both of these groups. I have many special memories about both organizations. While working with the cheerleaders, I had the privilege of visiting a hospital in Lubbock after a cheerleader fell from an extended lift and received a concussion. I also attended the girls state basketball tournament when the Lady Dons earned the opportunity to play for a state championship. While working with Academic Decathlon, I visited several schools as we competed from one year to the next. I even mastered the skill of making cotton candy as we worked to raise money for the team. I also had the privilege of cooking for the Academic Decathlon students that went to Santa Fe on a study tour. So many memories shared with students I loved as if they were my own kids.

With the ending of the Academic Decathlon era at Palo Duro, I took on my next coaching challenge, the UIL Math team. Although I spent a few years frustrated because the UIL process was so different from the Academic Decathlon process, I enjoyed the students in UIL just as much as the students I had worked with in all my other coaching endeavors. For a few years my Academic Decathlon kids would become my UIL kids after the AD contest. To this day, I still enjoy working with the UIL Math team.

Memories continue to fill my mind as I write this article. They are the memories of a 6 and a half foot, 450 pound young man hugging me while he stands in line waiting to graduate, tears rolling down his cheeks; of a young man coming up to me at the prom and telling me thank you for holding him accountable; and of a young lady, whose mother quit her job to attend school with her daughter to keep the girl from skipping class, hugging me after her graduation while her mother stands there with tears of joy flowing. A memory of running down the hallway after one student decides to shoot another student with others being injured as well. No one said all memories would be happy ones.

So to go back to the initial question, how does a teacher look back over the years and evaluate his or her success? Well, I believe that my success is scattered across this country and even into a few other countries. My success stories, as a teacher, are the lives of those students who sat in a classroom, in a bus, in a van, and even in a plane with me. I have previous students who are serving in the military and previous students who are serving as parents. I have previous students scattered in various fields of work and in various fields of study as they are completing their college years. As a retiring teacher, I am excited about my future as I leave my profession in the hands of some of my success stories.

Written with love and gratitude for my God, my family, as well as, all students, colleagues, and administrators who have touched my life, thank you!

Susan McIntyre

  

Explaining with Skitch

 As some of you may be aware, the Texas Panhandle is covered in snow today!  I've decided to take this opportunity to talk a little bit about Skitch, a awesome tool from Evernote.

What is Skitch?

Skitch, initially a web tool on it's own but later bought by Evernote, is a image markup tool that makes explaining images much easier.  It is available on Mac, PC, Android, and IOS.  You can markup images with text, arrows, highlights, and different shapes.

Here's a snap shot of what tools are available from Skitch:

Explaining simplified

As I mentioned previously, the Texas Panhandle has been hit with a huge snow storm today.  With Skitch, instead of just saying what the snow is like, I can show you!  

By simply adding the overlay of text and arrows, the image is already explained.  This also to engages students more than just listening to you explain it.  When the student sees the image and notice the text and arrows, they are already processing what they are looking at and what "snow drifts" are.

Skitch mobile

If you have a mind of a teacher, you'll get a lot of ideas while you are out and about and want get a snapshot of whatever you find.  Skitch, available on Android and IOS, allows you to capture pictures via your smartphone and markup the image right there.  Plus, once you are done with the markup, you can share right from your smartphone to Twitter, Google +, email or several different other options.  Here's a good video from Evernote.com about the Skitch app for Android (there are several other Youtube videos over Evernote and Skitch available at Youtube.com):

     

Evernote and Skitch

Best of all, any image that you markup or capture will automatically be saved into your Evernote account.  Once you have saved the image, your image will be uploaded to your Evernote account where you can do editing with Skitch on your PC or Mac and share when you are ready.  Once it's in your Evernote account, you'll have it until you delete it.  

Want more info on Skitch?  Here's some more resources from myself and Evernote:

Evernote for the Social Studies: Evernote and Skitch

Evernote.com/skitch

Evernote for Educators Livebinder

P.S.

If you are curious, here's a another photo I took of the snow at my place.  I stand 6'6 and the snow drift was up to my knees:

10 free Social Studies Android Apps

Android devices can be extremely useful in the classroom.  Just as IOS devices, student can connect and engage with content with apps on their smartphones or tablets.  Here's a list of 10 free Android apps for Social Studies:

1.  United States Constitution - This app allows students to explore the United States Constitution along with other historical documents.  Here's a list of the listed features via Google Play description:

Features:

- Searchable US Constitution and Articles of Confederation

- Resizable text

- Ratification Dates of Amendments

- Bios of the signers

- Constitution timeline

- Declaration of Independence

- Articles of Confederation

- Gettysburg address

- Mayflower Compact

- Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen

- Star-Spangled Banner

- Emancipation Proclamation

- I Have a Dream

2.  Smithsonian Channel - The Smithsonian Channel app provides full videos from an assortment of topics like Science, Nature, History and Culture.  Some videos can be over a hour long in length.  History videos range from documentaries about Abraham Lincoln to documentaries about the Great Depression.

3.  Google Earth - An excellent tool released from Google.  Google Earth allows you to explore the globe and even points out points of interest from the area that you are looking at.  Bring a breath of fresh air into your Geography class with Google Earth!



4.  History Pin - History Pin is a great way for students to explore areas beyond geography and demographics.  With History Pin, students can explore areas through photos that other people have "pinned" or even capture a photo from a event that is happening at the time they take the photo.

5.  White House - The official White House app provides everything from videos, photos, and articles from the goings on around the White House.  This would be pretty useful in Government class.




6.  America's Economy - This app from the US Census Bureau provides information based on 16 key economic factors about the current status of the US economy.  This is really good if you are teaching Economics and about how the strength of the economy is determined.  Here's a list of some of the features of the app from Google Play:

Key Features

• Quick overview of indicators measuring the U.S. economy

• Detailed page for each indicator with trend data

• Share indicators on Facebook, Twitter and via email

• View release schedules for indicators

• Set up notifications and custom views  

7.  US Presidents - A great app to learn about the president of the United States.  The app includes facts about the presidents, vice presidents, and their years in office.






8.  50 States - Need to brush up or learn the 50 states of the United States of America?  This app provides information for all 50 states including: population, state flag, state bird, geography, etc.  Another great app for your Geography students.




9.  Countries of the World - If you are studying in World Geography, this app will help you study different countries across the globe.  Information includes: capitals, populations, languages, GDPs, religion, and other useful info.  Certainly more engaging that reading all that info from a text book!




10.  Congress - If you want to engage your students in happenings of legislation, this app is great.  Here's a list of features from Google Play:

Keep on top of Congress.

* Find your representatives, see how they vote
* See what bills are coming up for a vote next
* Search for bills and votes you should know about
* Stay on top of floor activity, committee hearings
* Be notified of just about everything

Building a digital portfolio with Livebinders

With today's classrooms starting to use more online resources to enhance the learning experience, the question could be raised on how we showcase and catalog what teachers and students are doing in the classroom.  If students create an online project or online document, how can they share that with their fellow classmates and others around the world?  Thanks to Livebinders, this question has been answered - all while being free and extremely easy to use.  

Livebinders is a free online service that allows you to collect resources and create online binders to share via social media and embed on your blog or website.  Here's a great post from the Livebinders blog about how educators are using Livebinders: 10 Great Ways that Educators are Using LiveBinders.  

Digital portfolios is a excellent way to showcase what students are doing in the classroom.  Remember when you were in elementary school and you drew a picture or got a good grade on a paper - where did it usually end up?  Mine typically was pinned on the refrigerator by my parents or got placed in a folder - which I only looked at it every so often.  Thus, this raises a question, "What is the point of doing a project or any other activity that will just end up getting thrown away or put aside for only one or two people to see?"  

That is what I love about the idea of having students create digital portfolios - they can go back at any time and reflect upon their learning and they can share what they did with everyone they want.  Part of the learning process, I believe, is to discover, create, and share.

For example, here's my Educational Technology Livebinder shelf:


As teachers, we should focus on learning ourselves.  Thanks to Livebinders, I am able to discover, create and share resources on things live educational technology, social studies, pedagogy, etc.  Now, put this tool in the hands of students - do you think this would engage students more if they were to create their very own "digital portfolio" for what they were doing in class?

Students can make their Livebinder their own - adding photos, website links, Youtube videos and upload documents.

Once the student has added content to their binder, they can share via social media, email, or simply grab the link or embed code for the binder:

Here are some of my favorite ideas that students can use Livebinders for:

1. Collect/organize blog posts - their own or fellow classmates
2. Create a "My Evernote" tab - students can insert links to certain Evernote notes
3. Research - students can use the "Livebinder It" browser extension to add a website link to their binder
4. Comment on fellow classmate's binders - Livebinders allow you to add comments to a binder, which is great for peer review. 
5. Upload lecture notes - whether it be a Evernote note link or a MS Word doc, students can upload/insert their class lecture notes.

There a ton of ways teachers and students can use Livebinders.  If you are also concerned with customer service, from a teacher standpoint, to help you with the website, Tina and Barbara (makers of the website) are my favorite by far.  A few months ago I need to make a correction to my user ID - I simply contacted them via Twitter (@livebinders) and within a hour or so it was done.  I've contacted other websites that I use at least twice about technical issues I've experienced and never heard back.  Tina and Barbara actually do care about you and your students and the experience you have on the website.  I've been a member of the website going on two years now and I've been blown away by the service and experience I've had.  

If you do plan to use technology in your classroom, Livebinders would be one of my top picks to use. 

Here are some other blog posts I've done over Livebinders in the past:

5 reasons why you should be using Livebinders

Don't grade students binders, grade their Livebinders

Livebinder It Tool

5 ways to use Evernote in 2013

Happy new year!

As we begin a new year, some people might be looking for ways to "go digital" and have everything organized in a easy and simple program.  With so many tools out there today that allow you to do just that, one of my top picks is Evernote.  I've been using Evernote for a couple of years now and I'm still finding ways to use Evernote to organize everything I need to.  If you are curious about Evernote, here are 5 ways you can use Evernote in 2013:

1.  Organize your Tweets on Twitter

Planning on using Twitter a lot this year?  Twitter is my main social networking site for my professional development in education - and I've run across a multitude of resources shared from people I've followed.  So many resources in fact it would take weeks to go through them all.  If you are looking for ways to organize your tweets from Twitter, Evernote can take care of that.  First, you'll want to follow @myEN on Twitter.  Once you've done that, @myEN will send you a link to sign in to your Evernote account and from there you can connect your Evernote and Twitter account.  From that point, simply put @myEN in any tweet you send and it will automatically be put in your Evernote account.  

With that being said, however, there are apps you can use on your tablet/mobile device to share your tweets to your Evernote account.  Here is a blog post from Evernote.com that suggests some apps that will help you do that, "9 Things to Capture from Your Twitter Stream and Apps to Help You Do It".  

2.  Scan your paper documents into Evernote

Have a ton of paper documents that you wish you could digitize?  With Evernote, you can get make all of those hard copies into digital copies and organize them so you can easily and quickly access them wherever you are at.  I recently introduced Evernote to one of my former students and explained how it could help her with her studies and also catalog and organize her lecture notes (my full guest post about this, Evernote for the Social Studies: Evernote in History Class, can be found on Melissa Seidemann's (@mseidemann) blog, notanotherhistoryteacher.edublogs.com).  Here's a snapshot of one of her lecture notes that she captured with the Evernote app on her Iphone:

You can do this via the Evernote app or another app compatible with Evernote.  One app I recommend is CamScanner (IOS & Andorid), which allows you to share in the cloud and save as a PDF file.  Once you have captured the document on your mobile device, it will be in your Evernote account - which will be with you whether you are on your phone, computer, or tablet.  You can also scan documents into your Evernote account with other devices besides a phone or tablet.  Here is a list of devices that will streamline the process, truck.evernote.com/hardware.

    

3.  Clip articles while browsing the internet

Ever run across a interesting article or recipe on the internet and when you later try to find it you can't?  With the Evernote webclipper, you can clip the article and have it whenever you need it.  Here's an example of a article I clipped using Evernote:

What is also great about Evernote, is that it also provides a way to clip only the article without the clutter of the ads or page features.  Using Evernote Clearly (another browser extension), you can clip the article itself and get rid of any ads that are on the page that it is located on.  Here's an example of how a article looks using the standard webclipper and the same article using Evernote Clearly: Standard vs. Clearly (links open in Evernote).  Either way, you can "clip" the article into your Evernote account and have a copy of it in your account.  

4.  Explain with Skitch

It's one thing to describe what you are talking about, however, if you are trying to explain something to someone it can be a lot more effective to show them what you are describing instead.  With Skitch, you can capture your computer screen or markup a photo and place arrows or dialogue on it to describe in detail what you are explaining.  

Here's an example I provided in another guest post on notanotherhistoryteacher.edublogs.com, Evernote for the Social Studies: Evernote & Skitch.  What is great about Skitch is that you can take the photo and mark it up directly from the Skitch app (available both on IOS and Android), which makes life a lot easier.  As with this photo that I took while at the Palo Duro Canyon, I am able to show what "Red Claystone" looks like.  This works especially well in the classroom in trying to accommodate your lessons to include examples of the topic.  Skitch, now owned by Evernote, also allows you to upload your markups and photos directly into your Evernote account.  This way, if you are on the run and want to snap a photo and mark it up later, you can easily access it from your Evernote account and modify it when you are ready.  You can also do the same thing while on your computer and want to show examples of something or even trying to help someone with tehnical support.    

5.  Share your resources from Evernote with note and notebook links

Now that you have a plethora of resources, how do you share them from your Evernote account?  You have two options at this point, you can either a) share an individual note or b) share an entire notebook.  All of the following images were captured using Skitch for Windows PC: 

   If you choose to share an individual note, you can choose different options, as per the given example below:

If you choose to share an entire notebook (which you can do this by simply "right clicking" the notebook in Evernote you want to share and select "share notebook"), which is really useful if you use it to gather resources which you want people to be able to access at their convenience, you can create a public notebook link that will allow anyone to view or join the notebook:

Conclusion

Hopefully these are some good starting points for you if you are interested in using Evernote this year.  With so many different things you can do with Evernote, you'll find out that it can make life much easier.  You can find out more about Evernote and about other apps that work with Evernote at: www.evernote.com. 

If you are a educator and would like more resources for Evernote, please feel free to visit my Evernote Livebinder, Evernote for Educators:

Evernote for Educators