Google Classroom and iPads in a Music Classroom

I love being out in schools and hearing how teachers are using the technology they have available in their classrooms and it's even more exciting when it comes from a non-core subject teacher.

In one of our schools in out region we have a music teacher, Jordan Bremrose at Ione Community School, where students have one to one iPads. She reached out to figure out a workflow for using the pdfs in Google Classroom of music note activities that she uses in her classes.

As with any technology little glitches were occurring along the way.  We had to make sure students were logged into their network filter which was a common issue because Google Classroom would load and refresh even without logging onto the network but when they tried to open the PDF it wasn't viewable.   Next we worked through how to make the pdf open in another app.  This was an issue if the students were logging into Google Classroom through the browser and not in the app on the iPad.  

For pdf annotating we used TinyPDF.  It was free, highly rated, and very easy to use - just remind students they can zoom in and out when tying to draw notes on the staff with their big fingers! Then the last major step how to send it back to classroom or drive so that they could turn it in.   Lots of steps to us, but for the kids, they worked together and quickly figured it out.

While visiting, Jordan also shared that students turn in practice videos to Google Classroom.  Older students are allowed to take their iPads home and students are encouraged to record themselves practicing and upload them for homework.  This way Jordan can listen to students practice, as well as students being able to listen and watch themselves play.  As I left that day, we had a brief discussion on mp3 recorders on the iPad as well for auditions and other assignments.  

It's encouraging to see teachers embrace and think of new ways of using the tools they are provided with.

Google Docs on the iPad - Continuing to Improve - Table Editing!

A frustration for many of the teachers and students has been the limited usability of google apps on the iPad.  It seems that Google hears the needs and does work on adding them....slowly but surely.

 A recently added feature to the Google Doc app on the iPad is the ability to finally view and edit in a table!  Tables have always caused a problem in the app before this.  Requiring students to use the browser to access which is always a few extra steps that teachers would like to avoid.


With this great addition, there is still a few things missing like creating the table inside the app.  This is hopefully an option that will make an appearance soon. (fingers crossed)  Right now it's just editing in an already created table.








Another Quick Google Doc Tip:  If there is a file you access often, or would like to continue to work on even when lacking internet access, be sure to choose to make that file available offline by choosing the option to "Keep on Device".  This is great to show students especially who have access to their iPads at home but may have little or no internet access outside of school.

My Story - Book Maker for Kids

My Story - Book Maker for Kids is an ad free iPad only app that makes story writing and book creating simple for your primary students.  Today, September 5th, it is free, normally this app is $3.99.

A few of the features of this app make this an ideal app for a classroom with a center of iPads.  The app allows for the adding of multiple authors, which all of us with centers knows, is not always possible inside apps.  This allows students to each work inside their own project without having to finish or delete other work before starting.  This is super!

 The work space is easy to navigate with drawing, text, sticker, and photo album access.  Students can also record themselves on each page as well. 

Finished products have multiple ways of sharing, including email and iBooks.  This makes sharing of projects to other devices very simple.