There are immense advances coming to instructional tools. Apple has made a huge leap with the launching of the iPad. I personally own basically everything that Apple makes. I am a huge Apple fan and I use my iPad with my 2 year old daughter every single day. The educational benefits are numerous. One game or App that I looked at was Words with Friends. I thought it was so funny that it was mentioned in class because I found out about it roughly a month ago and I think it is so much fun. Words with Friends is very similar to scrabble. It uses the same board and scoring as scrabble. You play with another person, this can be someone right next to you or even someone you don't know. You play a word and it gets scored and then the other person plays a word using one of the letters that you played. This goes back and forth until someone runs out of letters to use. This game would be great to use in an English class because it would motivate students to explore new word options and it also encourages students to improve their spelling. As far as the rubric from the book goes, I think that Words with Friends meets all of them except the assessment portion. Inside the game itself there is no formal way of assessing students. A teacher could assess them by how many games they win but it wouldn't really be fair because sometimes it isn't really the length or complexity of the word as much as the spaces that you put the word that gives you the most points. This game works best on the iPad or the iPods. The advantages would be the practice with new words and spelling. It also encourages extra thinking because you have to look at a group of letters and create a word. The disadvantages are that it can be time consuming. When you are thinking of a word it can take some time and your opponent feels like it has been forever since they got their turn! This game really requires serious patience.
Another game that I use a lot on my iPad is called Monkey Preschool Lunchbox. My daughter and I play this game every day! This game is aimed for much younger children but it is just as beneficial. This game is home to 10 or so mini games. These mini games include matching games, puzzle games, color games, and number games. The purpose is just to collect as many stickers are you can to put in the monkey's lunchbox. You can then arrange the stickers and make a cool picture. This game is educational because it focuses on a lot of the things preschool teachers as well as teachers who work with special needs children work on. This game really helped my daughter learn her colors because it will ask her to pick out all the purple fruit from a group of other fruits. As far as the rubric goes I think that it meets all the requirements because it is creative, easy to use, it promotes discovery, and its content is age appropriate. This game is best used with the iPad or maybe the iPods. The advantages of this game is that it is colorful and bright and really catches the eyes of the little tykes. It also teaches them the basics without just forcing them to memorize the facts or do crazy amounts of flash card like games. There aren't really any disadvantages except maybe the monkey voice can kind of get annoying for the adults after awhile!
Another game that I use a lot on my iPad is called Monkey Preschool Lunchbox. My daughter and I play this game every day! This game is aimed for much younger children but it is just as beneficial. This game is home to 10 or so mini games. These mini games include matching games, puzzle games, color games, and number games. The purpose is just to collect as many stickers are you can to put in the monkey's lunchbox. You can then arrange the stickers and make a cool picture. This game is educational because it focuses on a lot of the things preschool teachers as well as teachers who work with special needs children work on. This game really helped my daughter learn her colors because it will ask her to pick out all the purple fruit from a group of other fruits. As far as the rubric goes I think that it meets all the requirements because it is creative, easy to use, it promotes discovery, and its content is age appropriate. This game is best used with the iPad or maybe the iPods. The advantages of this game is that it is colorful and bright and really catches the eyes of the little tykes. It also teaches them the basics without just forcing them to memorize the facts or do crazy amounts of flash card like games. There aren't really any disadvantages except maybe the monkey voice can kind of get annoying for the adults after awhile!
(This is Words with Friends. As you can see this is a take on Scrabble. It really is a lot of fun and encourages students to discover new words and advance their vocabulary. The layout is simple and easy to use. You simply drag and drop. Its simple, easy, and most important, FUN!)
Standard:
I believe that INTASC standard #5 corresponds to the idea of utilizing instructional tools. The standard states, "The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation." Instructional tools is a way to allow educators to enact standard 5. There are many apps and online games that allow teacher to have the students work in groups. Games like Words with Friends allow students challenge one another as they are working in small groups. It is also a social interaction game because they are interacting with their opponent, which is another student in this case.
