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2 TABLETS: FROM SECURITY TO PD Advice to handle your district’s tablet rollout. 7 RISING TABLETS The numbers are in: Tablets are taking schools by storm across the United States. 8 ELA APPS Give your ELA curriculum a twist with these handy new apps. 9 COMMON CORE APPS Top apps for tackling the new standards. 10 SCIENCE APPS Engaging, hands-on STEM apps are out there—good news for young scientists and their teachers. 11 SPECIAL ED AND TABLETS No one has embraced tablets more than special education teachers-and their students. T TABLETS COLLECTION T T See all of our Tablets coverage in one package. 1

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Page 1: tablets t collection - Scholastic · new Dell Latitude 10 tablets had the pdf annotator and audio notes recording tool that teachers and students wanted. “We’re putting in a core

2 TableTs: From securiTy To PD advice to handle your district’s tablet rollout.

7 rising TableTs The numbers are in: Tablets are taking schools by storm across the united states.

8 ela aPPs give your ela curriculum a twist with these handy new apps.

9 common core aPPs Top apps for tackling the new standards.

10 science aPPs engaging, hands-on sTem apps are out there—good news for young scientists and their teachers.

11 sPecial eD anD TableTs no one has embraced tablets more than special education teachers-and their students.

ttablets collection

ttSee all of

our Tabletscoverage in

one package.

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Page 2: tablets t collection - Scholastic · new Dell Latitude 10 tablets had the pdf annotator and audio notes recording tool that teachers and students wanted. “We’re putting in a core

Your essential guide to rolling

out a tablet project in your schools.

TableTs: as an administrator, you hear it

all the time: Tablets increase student

engagement and they help personalize

instruction. And with enough support,

even the most tech-phobic teachers will

come around. There’s also positive finan-

cial news: By phasing out textbooks,

you’ll see substantial savings long term.

There’s never been a better time to

roll out a tablet program. Between tab-

let PCs, the iPad Mini, and a host of new

Windows products that hit the market

early this year, there are more choices

than ever for districts interested in put-

ting a device in each student’s hands.

That’s good news for educational tech-

nology administrators. Competition

means better service and pricing. Just

last year, mobile device sales to K–12

institutions grew by almost 30 percent.

But making the best hardware choice

is just one of the challenges for districts

interested in implementing a mobile

strategy. What about wall-to-wall Wi-Fi?

Teacher training? Maintaining thou-

sands of devices? Oh, and then there’s the

question of paying for everything.

In this, our tablet rollout guide, we

cover these issues and more. Whether

you’re a large district, like Riverside

Unified in California, or a much smaller

one, like Cardinal Community Schools

in southeast Iowa, read on to learn about

the potential and pitfalls of going 1:1.

Choosing Hardware

If you’re reading this guide, you’ve prob-

ably resolved your initial question—Why

tablets?—and are ready to drill down. But

if not, here’s further evidence.

Run a pilot: In Downers Grove, Illinois,

district leaders started small, launching

hybrid learning labs that used both text-

books and iPads. The devices went home

with kids in five classes for three weeks

at a time.“We got an understanding of what

1:1 would look like district-wide,” says

assistant superintendent of curriculum

and instruction Matt Rich. Downers

Grove is small, with only 5,000 students,

but administrators had a clear idea of

how tablets would fit into instruction.

“We wanted stuff that would help kids

with executive functioning, that would

be their go-to devices for calendaring,”

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tablets

4 ScholaSticadminiStrator.com

explains Rich. “In just three weeks we saw students programming assignments into their calendars and searching for materials.”Enlist your homegrown experts: Robert Guritz, technology director for Bowling Green R-1 School District in northeast Missouri, spent two years investigating what type of 1:1 technology would work best for the district. Would tablets save money if they replaced textbooks? Would they just supplement the curriculum?

When the board of education gave the district the green light to buy tablets, Guritz enlisted the expertise of the district’s most knowledgeable cus-tomers: high school students.

The district decided to compare Android tablets from Vizio and Lenovo to zero in on what type of device they liked best, Guritz says. After more research, the teachers on the committee recommended Lenovo for middle and high school students and Vizio for the elemen-tary school classrooms.

“Our teachers thought the Lenovo tablets were more productive for producing documents, while the Vizio tablets were better for enrich-ment activities and downloading games,” says Guritz. Look for leverage: Manufacturers will often let districts test out products before committing to a contract. In Clear Creek Independent School District outside of Houston, chief technology officer Kevin Schwartz took bids from Samsung, Chrome, Apple, and Dell. Dell made the best final offer, including expanded profes-sional development in the package.

“We gave the devices to high school students to review,” says Schwartz. “They rated them according to a rubric and provided opinions about how the devices performed and how they might work for younger students. We didn’t want seven different devices.”

Installing Wall-to-Wall Wi-FiNo matter what device you choose, the Wi-Fi has to be in place. Upgrade first: Make sure your wireless system is up to snuff before committing to a 1:1 program.

Like other districts, Clear Creek schools began expanding wireless capacity before they had decided on a device. In January, the district rolled out entirely new wireless infrastruc-ture, including core routers, starting with the upper grades. The middle- and

elementary-grade buildings were due to be completed over the summer.

“We knew that the high schoolers would need it first, even to use the exist-ing laptops,” says Schwartz.

The district paid $6.4 million for the upgrade, funded in part through a com-munity bond measure.Tap into the community: Big districts may not need to provide centralized Wi-Fi. California’s Riverside Unified School District operates a wireless local area network, which allows free Wi-Fi access for classroom users across the district.

A password-protected network serves the district’s business units. For roaming student access, the district relies on open networks via the city of Riverside, local libraries, a community center, and even a nearby Starbucks.

“One of the myths is that districts need full wireless access,” says Jay McPhail, Riverside’s director of educational tech-nology. “We ensure there is classroom wireless and extend out from there.” Bulk up: Not all areas have such abun-dant Wi-Fi connectivity. Downers Grove installed 1 gigabyte of fiber throughout the district, and each wireless point can handle 60 devices—or one for every two classrooms—but they’re retrofitting over to one wireless node per classroom.

“At times this can be a networking challenge,” says Rich. “Many of our buildings are older, and we have a wide variety of building designs, so each situ-ation is unique.”

Spotty access is not an option for districts, of course, and Rich recom-mends open communication about bumps in connectivity. “Early conversa-tions followed by swift follow-up to feed-back leads to a high degree of investment and trust,” he says.

Professional Development Device and software packages often include technical support and profes-sional development, but ultimately every district must have its own plan for staff support.

Take training online: Teachers in River- side train at their own pace using Haiku learning management soft-ware. The program includes 150 hours of online training, is acces-sible to teachers 24/7, and features help from expert teachers and dis-cussion groups.

“They can’t fail because they move forward as they master the material,” says McPhail. “We treat our teachers the same way we treat our students.”Self-select: When Downers Grove schools began developing their Learning Labs, which integrate tab-lets and textbooks or other printed materials, they asked grade-level groups of interested teachers to vol-unteer for a three-week pilot.

“We believe that teachers need to own the process and be invested. They needed to volunteer to take this risk,” says Rich. “That first year we had over half of the K–6 grade teams apply.”

From that pool, 62 teachers and their classes (totaling 1,350 students) were selected to participate. For three weeks, the groups rotated through Learning Labs. Technical training took place dur-ing staff development days, but only in the context of something specific teach-ers wanted the kids to learn.

For the 2013–14 school year, the dis-trict plans to expand the tablet program to entire grade levels. In three years, Downers Grove could be completely 1:1.

“We have faith that it will show results on a large sample size,” Rich says. “We’ve done the finances. We could bring the entire district along if we take a measured approach and do it for the right reasons.”

Budget DecisionsIn some districts, tablets replace text-books entirely, making the funding for textbooks immediately available for

tablet purchase and maintenance. Where that isn’t the case, as in Downers Grove and Clear Creek, the districts come up with other funding streams.Bring the community along: Eight years ago, Clear Creek high schools provided 2:1 access to HP laptops on carts. Most of those machines have since worn out, says Schwartz. This spring the school district won voter approval for a bond measure to generate $45 million for educational technology. About $18 million will pay for the 1:1 tablet program in grades 4–12. The remainder will fund the district’s wireless network, servers, projectors, printers, and other technical support.

Other districts ask families to pay for the use of tablets. In Downers Grove, district leaders are weighing whether to levy an annual fee of $150 per student for the 2013–14 school year. The fee would pay for tablets as well as new Common Core resources. They’ve already begun building their case for the family fee.

Wait for the tipping point: When Riverside started introducing tablets, they also shifted away from textbooks. Before they began using digital materials, teachers in Riverside used to hand each student $720 worth of textbooks every year. Tablets average about $200 apiece and the content is available at a third of the price of textbooks.

California state law requires every stu-dent be provided with a textbook if they request one, so the district purchases textbooks even though many are not used. “We can save money in the long run,” says McPhail, “once we reach the tipping point. Right now we’re running parallel systems. At some point, the state and the district will have to decide about going one way or the other.”

Finding & Storing Digital MaterialsTablets give teachers the freedom to find teaching resources online and also to work directly with students to build digital literacy and access materials. The trick is finding the best stuff and making it accessible to everyone.Look for scalability: Some districts aren’t comfortable storing resources and stu-dent records in cloud-based networks like Dropbox. There are other products that are just as easy to use that don’t present security issues.

Microsoft Office, for example, offers everything that Clear Creek schools want for digital material storage.

“The app deployment capability is huge, and we have access to a central file system,” says Schwartz. “And we are

moving to an enterprise-scale network. What works at home doesn’t necessarily work for a school district.”

Using the social learning platform Edmodo, social studies teachers in Bowling Green ran an extensive mock legislature project. Teachers were able to store and share content with one anoth-er via Edmodo. Before the opening of Missouri’s legislative session, students researched, wrote, and submitted their own bills into Edmodo files. Student committees accessed the bills and then voted on each one.

Select for flexibility: A good system encour-ages teachers to be creative. When Cardinal Community Schools in Eldon, Iowa, chose Android-based Kuno tablets for their 1:1 program, the package came with some management features. But for storing instructional materials, the dis-trict uses CurriculumLoft.

“I can get pretty granular about pushing out apps, either hitting a spe-cific teacher who requests it for one student or hitting the entire district,” says Cameron Chamberlin, the dis-trict’s technology director. “Students

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Page 4: tablets t collection - Scholastic · new Dell Latitude 10 tablets had the pdf annotator and audio notes recording tool that teachers and students wanted. “We’re putting in a core

access CurriculumLoft to store work, and teachers can push out assignments and tests.”

Apps for Students & Teachers As an administrator, you already know how helpful apps can be for organization, communication, and teaching. Here’s how some districts are finding and using apps in comprehensive 1:1 programs.Find a good package: Some districts find wholesale packages provide everything they need. In Clear Creek, the Microsoft Office suite that came with the district’s new Dell Latitude 10 tablets had the pdf annotator and audio notes recording tool that teachers and students wanted. “We’re putting in a core set of apps and then letting it evolve,” says Schwartz. “And if stu-dents want another app, they can buy and install it.” Get student input: Finding the best apps is another opportunity to tap into student expertise. Cardinal’s Chamberlin assembled a tech team of high school students to help him identify the best online tools for teachers and students.Watch kids soar: You’ll never know how good or bad an app is until you see it in action. When a third-grade math class in Downers Grove head-ed out on a scavenger hunt, they had their iPads with them. Using an app called Coach’s Eye, students hunted for certain types of angles. At home later that day, one of the students discovered more angles in an unex-pected place.

“She was eating a pretzel and there was a right angle and an acute angle,” says Rich. “She charted it on her iPad and made a 30-second movie. She’s see-ing real-world connections on the third day of the Learning Lab.”

Security Districts have varying philosophies about the best approaches to protecting students, information, and equipment. Choose a device with filters: When Cardinal schools were looking for the best device, security was top on their must-have list.

“MacBooks are so easy to circum-vent,” says Chamberlin. “I have 500 little hackers here, and there are videos on YouTube that show you how to reset admin passwords.” His district’s Kuno tablets have built-in filters so security hasn’t been a problem. Emphasize good digital citizenship: Four years ago, when Riverside district

officials were putting their tablet pro-gram into place, they thought they would need a mobile device management sys-tem to query machines for viruses. They have since changed their minds.

“We found that MDM solutions are focused on security and not education,” says McPhail. “All they really do is keep our students off the network even if there is no real threat. In this environ-ment, you can’t manage and control. We focus on the conversation about digital citizenship.”

McPhail is quite sure that setting

students free on unlocked devices pro-duces better results than putting up firewalls. He points to a 2011 study that involved algebra students at Riverside’s Earhart Middle School. Students who used traditional textbooks scored 59 percent proficient/advanced on the state test, while students who used a tablet loaded with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Fuse software hit 78 percent proficient/advanced.

“We unlocked the device so students could add their own music and pictures,” says McPhail. “Not only did algebra achievement increase, what drove that was that kids were reading the material on their devices and listening to lectures at home multiple times.”Control who has access: Riverside’s business network, where personnel and student records are stored, has a traditional fire-wall built in. Students only have access to the district’s educational network.

McPhail notes that most students use mobile devices that include antivirus and malware detection and prevention systems. But he also stresses the value of explaining the “why” to students.

“Our students are well aware of why they don’t want viruses,” he says. “Viruses interrupt their experience and they can lose personal data on their machines.”Get parents wired: Part of the digital citi-zenship conversation involves meeting with parents. In Clear Creek, students cannot take devices home until parents

attend a training focused on the pur-pose and potential snafus of using tablets. It’s important for parents to understand, Schwartz says, that any child who has a smartphone has already had access to the Internet and needs supervision.

“When questions come up around what students have access to, I ask parents, ‘Do you check your kid’s cell phone now?’ ” says Schwartz. “That evolves into parents realizing they can have some role in keeping their kids safe on the Internet.”

Clear Creek uses Symantec Endpoint Protection to remotely manage the devices and iboss for filtering. A committee of parents helped develop policies about man-aging and filtering, and the district uses Active Directory to implement those recommendations.

Mobile Device ManagementWith thousands of mobile devices floating around in the hands of chil-

dren, tech directors need help to virtu-ally manage and keep track of problems. Go remote: Some districts, like Bowling Green, stick with what they were already using to keep in contact with devices.

“We are a Novell shop,” says Guritz. “We can push apps out, shut cameras off, and the mobile management system can easily log in to fix problems. I didn’t have to touch most of the tablets all year.”Shop wisely: When Cardinal schools were looking to replace their MacBooks con-tract, the top two considerations were cost and management options.

“We went back and forth, but Kuno gives me all the management features I need,” says Chamberlin. Built-in filters and the CurriculumLoft app allow the district to store and share content while synchronizing with all the tablets stu-dents are using. And students can’t easily delete or install apps. That’s having your cake and eating it, too. •

tablets

finding the best apps is an

opportunity to tap into

kids’ expertise.

6 ScholaSticadminiStrator.com  Back to School 2013

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Page 6: tablets t collection - Scholastic · new Dell Latitude 10 tablets had the pdf annotator and audio notes recording tool that teachers and students wanted. “We’re putting in a core

6 more Great eNGlish laNGuaGe arts apps

ABC PocketPhonics Young gamers will learn key let-

ter sounds such as ch and sh and practice applying

letter combinations to sound out and spell over 170

words. Plus, the unique “follow-me arrow” tracing

system makes for easy handwriting practice. For

iPad and iPhone. $2.99. appsinmypocket.com

StoryKit Students will learn basic concepts of narra-

tive and sequence as they craft their own eBooks. The

voice recorder helps developing readers practice flu-

ency, and drawing tools allow for easy illustration. For

iPad, iPhone, and iTouch. Free. childrenslibrary.org

Vocabador Virtual flashcards help students warm up,

while the Vocab Challenge pits user against machine

for a battle to mastery. Pick your word selection by

weight class and prepare to take down the Vocabador.

For iPad, iPhone, and iTouch. $1.99. vocabador.com

Word Mover Add an interactive twist to poetry units

and encourage young writers with the help of this

found poetry app from the NCTE. Choose words from

ready-made word banks, add your own original text,

or mash up famous works by Shakespeare, Abraham

Lincoln, and others. For iPad. Free. readwritethink.org

Storia DIY virtual bookshelves enable teachers to

easily assign eBooks from an expertly curated, age-

appropriate collection. The app includes fun activities

to help young readers build reading comprehension

and retention skills. For iPad. Free. scholastic.com

Essay Czar From expository essays to third-person

narrative to the SAT writing test, this guide provides

step-by-step instructions and relevant examples for a

range of writing styles and genres. For iPad, iPhone,

and iTouch. $16.99. essaywritingwizard.com

tablets.edu

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What are Your Favorite apps?

MiChAEl MEdVinSKy,

Music teacher, Brandon School District, Ortonville, Michigan nearpod. “Writers type their leads into Nearpod’s student

app, and I can then share each student’s writing with all of the synced iPads to launch feedback discussions about their writing strategies.” Free.

TRACi BElT, Director, The Learning Center, Shorecrest Preparatory School, St. Petersburg, FloridaSmarty Ears. “The Smarty Ears apps give the tutors

a game-like interface, which helps them identify and remediate articulation, fluency, and vocabulary. It makes going room to room easier.” Free.

ChERyl lyKOWSKi,

Second-grade teacher, Monroe Road Elementary, Lambertville, MichiganToontastic. “Students think they are just creating a car-

toon with animated characters. In reality, they are walked through the creation of a complete story from beginning to end. The audio explains and directs.” Free.

12 ScholaSticadminiStrator.com  Spring 2013

give your ela curriculum an

interactive twist with the help of

handy new apps. The use of iPads

and ePublishing software enables

collaboration and peer review, while

game-based programs provide fast

feedback for teachers. So go ahead,

move beyond the basic book.

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WHAT ARE YOURFAVORITE APPS?

STEVEN ANDERSON, director of instructional technology, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County (NC) Schools Math Core. “Teachers and parents can track their child's

progress through the standards and create custom lesson plans. Students play vari-ous games and complete several different types of questions for mastery.” Free.

MINDY TILLEY, curricu-lum instructional special-ist, Bradley Elementary, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas ScreenChomp. “Using features such as drawing,

recording, and sharing, students can dem-onstrate the how, but more important the why, of a concept by illustrating and nar-rating their thought process.” Free.

SHANNON WENTWORTH, technology teacher, Sixth Avenue Elementary School, Aurora, ColoradoCommon Core Concept-Bank. “It provides the full

list of math and literacy Common Core standards, but goes further to provide legitimate examples for every grade level and standard.” Free.

6 MORE GREAT COMMON CORE APPS

Common Core Standards A reference guide to encourage greater understanding of the Common Core, this app places the Core standards at your fin-gertips. Search math and ELA standards by subject, grade, or category. For iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android, and Windows 8. Free. masteryconnect.com

Common Core K–6 Compare changes in each stan-dard or search a glossary of key terms with this user-friendly reference app. Provides access to updated ELA and math standards. For iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Free. learningunited.blogspot.com

Word Wizard Develop foundational ELA skills and build students’ vocabularies with the “Talking Movable Alphabet,” a program designed to pronounce and spell-check words and sentences. For iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. $2.99. lescapadou.com

Splash Math From basic counting skills to metric conversions, there’s a Splash Math app for that. Apps for each grade level are Core-aligned and include a personalized learning feature that tracks student performance and organizes practice problems accord-ingly. For iPad. $9.99 each. studypadinc.com

Common Core Tracker Use your digital gradebook to track student mastery and pinpoint areas and skills requiring further instruction. Users can align assignments with integrated Common Core and state standards. For iPad. $2.99. commoncoretracker.com

Murky Reef Pull students into informational texts using interactive game play. Elementary school stu-dents will learn about sharks, math, sentence struc-ture, and more while inflating puffer fish and making an octopus squirt ink. For iPad. $4.99. frolyc.com

APPSCOMMONCORE

with the deadlines for new assess ment benchmarks fast approaching,

the Common Core has been weighing heav-ily on the minds of educators across the nation.

Fortunately, there are a number of new apps that can help your schools find ways to adapt curriculum to meet the standards and evaluate student progress. From the handy reference app CCL4s (Common Core Look-Fors), which enables educators to search the stan-dards and record and share classroom observations, to Math Duel, a Core-aligned two-player game in

which students work to achieve mastery through hands-on learning and customizable prob-

lem sets, these multigrade-level apps will ease the transition for students and

educators alike as they tackle the Common Core.

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WHAT ARE YOURFAVORITE APPS?

COLLEEN BUZBY,

science teacher, Antioch (IL) Community High SchooliSeismometer. “It uses the iPad’s motion sensor to record seismic waves.

My students track the orientation of an earthquake by shaking the table in differ-ent directions. Also, it’s mesmerizing to watch!” Free.

MADELON CHEATHAM,

Arkansas state science spe-cialist, Arch Ford ESCLeafsnap. “Photograph a leaf against a white paper background, and Leafsnap

returns possible matches. It provides the common name, genus, and species, along with high-res images. And it’s simple enough for young children to use.” Free.

APRIL CARTWRIGHT,

science teacher, Pittsburg (NH) School Science 360. “Created by the National Science Foundation, it’s easy to use

and covers a variety of topics. I can access videos, images, and science news that grabs students’ attention or provides a real-life connection to the material.” Free.

TABLETS.EDU

6 MORE GREAT STEM APPS

TinkerBox As kids—and parents—build Rube Goldbergian devices with the app from Autodesk, known for its CAD software, they’ll pick up on key concepts in engineering and mechanics. There’s also a puzzle mode that will sharpen problem-solving skills. For iPad. Free. tinkerboxnews.com

The Elements: A Visual Exploration See the peri-odic table come to life. There’s a visually captivating interactive 3D representation of every element, along with all the requisite facts and figures, powered by Wolfram|Alpha. For iPad. $13.99. periodictable.com

Wolfram|Alpha The encyclopedic “knowledge engine” delivers the fruits of scientific inquiry with a sophisti-cation that leaves Google behind. In fact, Apple has integrated parts of Alpha into its Siri app. For Android, iPhone, and iPad. $3.99. products.wolframalpha.com

AL Abacus This app-based abacus is designed to help young kids master the basics of arithmetic and make the transition from counting to grouping. Designed to complement the RightStart math curricu-lum, it includes links to lessons and resources. For Android, iPhone, and iPad. $1.99. rightstartmath.com

Apollonius Build and manipulate triangles, trape-zoids, and more with the much-acclaimed interactive geometry software. It’s like having a compass and straightedge at your fingertips. For iPhone, iPad, and iTouch. $3.99. wircho.com/iOS

A Life Cycle Using illustrations and diagrams, the app introduces key biological processes for elementary schoolers, including the life cycle, the nitrogen cycle, photosynthesis, and even the rock cycle. For Android, iPhone, iPad, and iTouch. $0.99. apps.nthfusion.com

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SCIENCE

there’s a scientist within each of us,

and there’s no better way to bring it out than

with hands-on projects. As you may have

guessed, more than a few apps out there

can help get kids started. From the simple

Project Noah app, which allows students to

identify and document everything they find

in nature, from plants to animals, to Genetic

Decoder, which enables budding scientists

to input RNA codons and get related amino

acid info back, there are programs designed

to stoke excitement in learners of all ages.

APPS

Late Fall 2012 SCHOLASTICADMINISTRATOR.COM   9

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14 SCHOLASTICADMINISTRATOR.COM  Fall 2012

WHAT ARE YOURFAVORITE APPS?

JOHN MEIN, language arts teacher, B. T. Wilson School, Kerrville, TexasEdmodo. “This is a closed networking site. The teacher

can write or assign a quiz that can be taken through the app or online, and get immediate results.” Free.

TRACY TISHION, technol-ogy instructor, Brookfield (CT) Public SchoolsStick Pick. “This app allows you to differentiate instruction, work on critical

thinking skills, track individual progress, and communicate with parents.” $2.99.Splashtop 2 Remote Desktop. “We use this to remotely access our desktops through iPads and to project displays on the whiteboard.” $4.99.

SYDNYE COHEN, library media specialist, Brookfield (CT) High School Subtext. “Teachers can interact with students in the text and guide student read-

ing and check for understanding through discussions.” Free. dotEPUB. “This bookmarklet turns any webpage into an e-pub book.” Free.

Tablet use in schools has mushroomed in the past

two years, but perhaps no one has embraced the

devices more than special education teachers and

students. These lightweight and mobile computers

have become a boon for students, allowing them

to communicate clearly and quickly with teachers,

increasing empowerment, and reducing frustra-

tion. The devices help students who have motor-

skill problems and can accommodate those who

need to leave their seats and move around. Though

some of the apps are expensive—such as the nearly

$200 text-to-speech Proloquo2go—these prices are

a bargain compared with past solutions.

SPECIAL ED& TABLETS

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TABLETS.EDU

6 GREAT SPECIAL EDUCATION APPS

iLEAP Touch Spot Addition, Subtraction and

Multiplication Similar to the TouchMath program used in the classroom, these three apps teach visual learners simple arithmetic using touch spots, so students can solve problems by counting the spots. For iPhone and iPad. $0.99 each. egames4kids.com/apps

Proloquo2go One of the most widely used apps in special education, Proloquo2go helps those with speech difficulties develop their language skills. It combines text-to-speech capability with an extensive library of common words, basic phrases, and 14,000 images. For iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. $189.99 (educational discounts available). assistiveware.com

Duck Duck Moose The developer’s rich lineup of apps employs nursery rhymes and songs to foster cognitive, language, and motor-skills development. For iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch (requires iOS 3.0 or later). $0.99–$1.99. duckduckmoosedesign.com

Injini: Child Development Game Suite The suite offers a wealth of learning games andpuzzles designed for children with special needs. They develop a variety of abilities, including cognitive, fine motor, and language skills, phonemic awareness, and auditory and visual processing. For iPad (requires iOS 4.3 or later). $29.99. injini.net

SentenceBuilderTeen An intuitive, easy-to-use inter-face helps middle-school-age special needs students develop their ability to construct grammatically correct sentences. The app can track a student’s progress in specific areas, such as verb tenses. For iPad (requires iOS 4.1 or later). $5.99. mobile-educationstore.com

Look In My Eyes Designed for kids on the autism spectrum, this set of social-skills apps encourages kids to get comfortable with eye contact. For iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch (requires iOS 3.0 or later). $2.99 each. fizzbrain.com