Are You Apt To Use An App in Your Library?

By Karen Mason               June 13, 2016

Don’t be shy! Using apps can save your library time, keep students occupied and double your teaching time. Am I kidding you say? No really! Here’s how.

Here comes your first second grade group of the week. What a  lovable but rowdy bunch. You have forty-five minutes and you need to work with small groups of them to teach them how to cite their sources for an upcoming research project. You also need to finish teaching dictionary skills to close out your midyear SMART Goal. What are you going to do? Well you can flip your classroom, (http://knowledgequest.aasl.org/flipping-in-the-library/ )use an app and get both pieces of learning tucked into your seven year old darlings in no time flat. 

Ahead of time make a video of the salient points that you want to teach your second graders about dictionaries.  Use the Enigma app and make a QR code. Dig out those iPads or iPods and have your students scan the code and watch you teach. The students then practice what they have learned and take an assessment on the Seesaw app, taking a picture of their work. Seesaw sends you a copy of their work to quantify for your SMART goal data.  Viola! Your students are occupied. You rotate through your groups and before you know it you have doubled your teaching time.

Apps can be very useful to school librarians. Students get the chance to be responsible for their own learning. They are naturally engaging and many apps are highly recommended by library professional organizations like AASL, http://www.ala.org/aasl/standards/best/apps .  There are great ideas from many in the library profession who have already discovered the joy of apps like the Elementary Librarian who loves to find free apps, https://elementarylibrarian.com/ipad-apps-school-library/ , and  get even more at eschool news.  http://www.eschoolnews.com/2014/02/19/innovative-librarians-apps-408/ .  Get up your nerve and opt to app in your library.