I’m back from the CUE (Computer Using Educators) Conference this weekend in Palm Springs, California. I had a great time seeing old friends, meeting online friends, and being (re)energized by engaging sessions and words of inspiration. I’ll write about the conference itself shortly. However, I woke up today with my head full of ideas about …
Author: Mathew Needleman
Mathew Needleman, Apple Distinguished Educator and Google Certified Innovator has been pioneering the use of instructional technology for over two decades. He has been a classroom teacher, literacy coach, conference keynoter, and he currently serves as an elementary school principal in Los Angeles, California. He is the founder of the independent education studio, Needleworks Pictures.
Our iPad Apps
When deploying iPads to my schools I chose to place all of the apps in folders so that teachers who were not familiar with the apps would feel comfortable exploring apps based on what they were trying to teach. Below you’ll see a screenshot of one of our iPads which gives you an idea of …
How to Add a Favorite Web Page to Home Screen
You may wish to add favorite web sites to home screen. We do this at our school to have easy access to attendance, DIBELS, and treasuresresources.com. Here are step by step directions. 1. Visit favorite web site. 2. Select share icon to the left of address bar. 3. Choose “Add to Home Screen” 4. Confirm …
Is There a Place for “Drill and Kill” on the iPad?
Last week, I posted on Twitter when a highly engaging math app went on sale for 60% off. I didn’t oversell it by any means: It’s just drill and kill simple math facts with fancy graphics and music but it’s fun. I’m torn on whether to mention the name of the app here (I will …
My Guide to iPad Deployment in School
Almost two years ago to the day, I wrote a post, “The iPad: Why Teachers Should Care.” Flash forward to today, both of the schools I work at have purchased one iPad for each classroom. Although I’ve already mastered how to manage all the iDevices in my personal household, learning to manage iPads in an …
Parent Better and Change the World in 2012
On a recent journey to Costa Rica, I had the opportunity to reflect on good parenting. Due to a brief layover, we had to switch planes mid-way and on each leg of the journey, we found ourselves sitting in front of children (yes, the same people we left our classrooms to get a …
The iPad as RTI Intervention Toolkit
While waiting for the iPad to arrive in my reading intervention classroom, I’ve had a lot of time to think and plan how I will use the device. Ground Rules I don’t want hundreds of apps. I’m looking for a few favorites. I don’t want more drill and kill. The reading intervention programs I teach …
Creating Your First iPhone App with HTML Flowchart
I led a workshop this past weekend for Computer Using Educators: Los Angeles on how to create your first iPhone app based on my previous post, “How to Create Your First iPhone App.” In order to further simplify things, here is a flow chart of steps to take in order to begin the process of …
The True Case for Independent Work Time
For years, I’ve tried to assist teachers with setting up Independent Work Time in their classrooms. Independent Work Time goes by many names—workshop, universal access time, centers, small-group time. IWT is simply a time of day when teachers allow students to work independently while the teacher has a chance to meet with small groups to …
New Book: What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technologies
I’m honored to have a chapter I authored on integrating digital video production in the classroom published in the just-released hardcover book, What School Leaders Need to Know About Digital Technologies and Social Media edited by Scott McLeod and Chris Lehman. The other chapters are written by several of the educational technologists whom I’ve come to …