May 2014 APP ED REVIEW Roundup – Poetic Apps for ELA!

We Welcome Back App Ed Review for Their Second Post in a new Monthly Series

Are you looking for educational app reviews and instructional ideas? App Ed Review has you covered. Every educational app reviewed by App Ed Review is analyzed against a comprehensive rubric in a consistent, informative manner by a panel of state-certified teachers. Plus, 3-5 instructional ideas for how to integrate the app into your classroom are offered. For this month’s Roundup, poetic apps is our theme, and we have spotlighted four of them for use in the English Language Arts classroom.

FridgePoems

Remember brainstorming quirky sentences with those magnetic word strips on your refrigerator as a kid? FridgePoems is a fun, interactive authoring tool for America’s aspiring refrigerator poets without blocking the refrigerator door. FridgePoems combines the thinking skills of creating coherent poetry by way of a limited word bank with the creativity of utilizing space and different word packs. This app has the potential to engage students as they piece together unique poetry with FridgePoems’ touch interface and varied word choice. This app is free and scored a 7.5 out of 10 on App Ed Review’s app evaluation rubric with its strengths being its design and engagement. Take a look at the full app review and instructional ideas here.

Word Mover

Word Mover allows students to remix famous poems and poetic works like “America the Beautiful,” Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address,” MLK’s “I Have a Dream” and Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 18,” or create their own poetry with the aid of a word bank o by using their own words. Users drag and drop the words they want from the word bank, resize, rotate, or recolor their selections. Word Mover also has a gallery of artistic backgrounds users can select to add their own imaginative feel to their poetic masterpieces. If a Word Mover poem is missing one or two words to make the poem pop, have no fear, users can input their own words to complete their work! Word Mover’s ability to input user-typed words into its word bank offers the instructional possibilities of infusing vocabulary, spelling words, and lesson themes into students’ poems. Word Mover scored a 7.4 overall with its core strength being engagement. Check out the review and Word Mover’s classroom possibilities here.

The Poetry App

The Poetry App by The Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation is your ticket to exploring a universe of poetry. With an array of support systems built right into the app, students can read poets’ biographies, their poetry, have poems read to them, and even create their own poetry! A unique feature of this app is the main menu, which is set in a turn-of-the-century parlor room. In the parlor, students can tap on certain objects to reveal hidden poems, facts, and recordings. The Poetry App earned 8.1 out of 10 on App Ed Review’s rubric, and its differentiated approach to poetry, the app’s overall design, and the control learners have over how they can explore the app were its strengths. For a complete review and ideas for using this app in your classroom, access the complete report here.

Theme Poems

Theme Poems provides users with templates and prompts to support them in composing their own poems, and it is endorsed by ReadWriteThink, the International Reading Association, and the National Council of Teachers of English. In the app, students first create a profile before selecting a themed template and brainstorming words and phrases that will be used when they compose the poem. After brainstorming, students move to composing the poem. Here, they can see the all the words they previously brainstormed. As they compose, the app automatically inserts the words into the template the student selected. Once the poem is finished or while they are still drafting it, students can save or email their work. Overall, Theme Poems scored a 7.5 with strengths including its rigor, design, and interactivity. For a complete review of this app, please click here.

That’s all for this month’s Roundup. If you would like more information about any of the apps mentioned in this Roundup or that are on the App Ed Review website, please contact us at info@appedreview.org. And remember, apps are only as effective as the teacher can use them.

Related Posts (if the above topic is of interest, you might want to check these out):
The APP ED REVIEW Roundup for April – 4 Highly Rated iPad Apps for the Science Classroom
15 Favorite iPad Apps As Selected By Teachers
Call for Proposals for Teaching & Learning with the iPad Conference