Smart Phone Smarts

Smart Phones are ONLY as smart as their owners!

I’m constantly discovering new way to use my iPhone, especially the camera function! I also show my students how to use this powerful technology with intelligence!

I take a photo of :

where I parked the car because I can never remember!
clothes/fabric I’m trying to match
the description of a restaurant menu item–so I can prepare the dish at home
students who fall asleep in my class. I say, “Now I can show your mom why you have a D in this class.” They never nod off again!
anything funny to use in a future blog
old family photos
some thing I can’t decide to buy
any information I don’t want to write down
ideas/examples for later projects

I tell my students to use their SmartPhone to:

look up definitions/pronunciations of vocabulary words
search for facts related to whatever we’re studying
find answers to those random questions they sometimes ask about the author or text we are studying
take a pic of notes or lengthy instructions I wrote on the board

I even created several SmartPhone lessons.

1. Symbol Scavenger Hunt: In groups of 4, students break into teams of 2. The first team goes out onto campus, takes pic of something symbolic of ______________. (teacher provides topics like, love, teenagers, school, sadness, joy etc) and forwards it to Team 2 back in the classroom. Those students must articulate/write 3 different reasons what the object is symbolic of. The teacher accepts or rejects their rationale and gives them the next topic. The group with the most successful explanations/rationales wins!

2. Texting Shakespeare: Students must rewrite their most wordy text using Shakespearean language.

3. Hashtag: Students hashtag a literary passage.( Much more fun and effective than asking them to find the main idea or theme)

4. Tweet: Students must write a 140 character topic sentence. This exercise helps them learn to write concisely!

My debut novel is FREE this Friday and Saturday!