Language Arts

Free Rice

I'm all about this site! Students get to answer vocabulary questions (or any kind of question really), and if they answer a question correct, 10 grains of rice are donated to those in need! Free Rice is all about educating and stopping world hunger. I am also for both of these things. The students can work on their vocabulary, but also, they will be motivated by the fact that what they are doing actually matters and is having an impact on someone other than them! I think that in itself is a very motivating factor.

Students are able to see their bowl filling with rice which is also a great motivator. I think this would be perfect for elementary school and even primary levels. The teacher can even start a group which the class can join so the class can set group goals and work together to meet those goals.

Bookworm

This is a fun game for older elementary students. In the game, you are working on building words out of adjacent tiles. For each word, a certain amount of points is given. Even playing for a few minutes, I was already learning new words. I think it would be a great activity for students to try to find words that they did not know even existed, write them down, and then look them up later and do activities with those new words.

Drill Practice

Sporkle

Sporkle is an excellent website that could definitely be used for drill practice. I found myself in high school playing these kinds of games in study hall with some of my friends. We would all work together to solve some of the harder ones, like naming all 50 presidents in less than 5 minutes or naming all the states in Africa. This kind of website can be used in a variety of different content areas.

Geography

In the first game I chose, I was to name as many European countries as I could within 8 minutes. It started of easy, but after awhile, I got stuck. Talley was around, so I rallied her to help me think of a few more. It was a fun way to name the countries, and I was able to work with a teammate as well.  

I really like how at the end, it labels the countries you missed. That way, you can play again and again and work on getting more each time!

Language

This is my personal favorite category, and I found many games that I enjoyed. This, however was my favorite. 

In this game, players are to choose (in a very short amount of time!) the correct spelling for several words. These words all end in (-ent) or (-ant). When time runs out, words that you have not gotten to will turn run, and words that you got wrong will be crossed out. This could be a great warm up spelling game to see what kids know even before we work on these words. Then, we could sort the words based on -ent or -ant to see what similarities they find and whether or not they see a pattern to create a rule. Then, they could play the game again to see if their pattern works!

Science

Lastly, I chose a science game. This one was quite simple, but it does not allow you to name them out of order, so students must be able to name them correctly in order!

PROS:

Sporkle is fun, easy to use, and a great for if you have just a few minutes before class is over that you need to fill. It has so many categories, so the teacher is bound to find games that work. Also, the teacher can create his or her own game to use in the classroom!

CONS:

This could be difficult to use in primary grades, as you would need to know how to type and type quickly. Also, there is no autocorrect, so they may be trying their hardest to spell a correct answer, but Sporkle will not count it. There are also so many categories (some not as educational as others) that students may possibly get distracted by other categories if the teacher does not monitor well.

Tablets: Literacy for Education

Educational iPad App Review

My Spelling Test

What a wonderful app! I will definitely be using this in my future classroom. Instead of spending awhile giving a spelling test to a child, "My Spelling Test" allows the teacher to pre-record the words onto the app along with example sentences if they wish. In this way, the student can take the test on their own. The thing I love the most about this app is that the child can take the test at their own pace.  The child does not have to become bored sitting and waiting for other students to finish spelling. On the other hand, if the student takes longer to spell a word or needs the word given to him again, the teacher does not have to drag out the test for everyone else, and the students can repeat any words that they need. I also think the immediate feedback is so great. The child does not have to wait for his teacher to grade the test; they can see their results immediately and know which ones they spelled wrong and how to spell it correctly. I think this would be especially useful as a center activity where students could practice their spelling lists for the week. Gifted students could even record challenge words to quiz their friends with! It is a great independent app that can be used at home and at school alike.

 

Dictionary

Having a dictionary app is very useful in the classroom. When using a paper dictionary, you need to know exactly how to spell the word you are looking up in order to be able to find it. When using the Dictionary app, however, you can type in how you think the word might be spelled, and it gives you a variety of different words that are closely related to the spelling you chose. I also think that it is a great advantage to have an option to read the word aloud. English Language Learners would definitely benefit from this. Often times, they may look up a new word to know the meaning, but they still may not know how to say it. This gives them the opportunity to hear it said, so they can practice it on their own. There is a quick link that takes users to Thesaurus.com which is another great resource. It is almost like you are getting two apps in one! My favorite feature is the "Word of the Day." As a teacher, I would take advantage of this feature by doing some activities with that word throughout the day and giving points to my students when they use that word correctly in everyday class conversation. This is definitely a necessary app for every classroom. 

ShowMe Interactive Whiteboard

ShowMe is an app that allows users to upload or watch audio/visual tutorials of virtually anything. The app's features are very easy to use and record; children would not have difficulty with this app. This is useful for students who may be struggling in a certain area. They can look up tutorials in any subject and watch how-to videos to help them in their understanding of the topic. This could also be used creatively in the classroom with students pairing up and creating their own tutorials of what they have learned over a unit so that other (younger students) can watch. It lets them take ownership of what they have learned by becoming the teacher. 

Strip Designer

Strip Designer allows students to be their own comic book authors and illustrators. Students can upload images or even draw their own images. Users can add speech bubbles, experiment with fonts and colors, and essentially make it their own piece. This is a great creative project that students can use individually or even with a partner. When students are learning about different genres, they can learn about comics, write their own, and then transform them into masterpieces on this app.

Tablets: Basics for Education

Word vs. Pages

Similarities:

1. Compatibility is solid with both Word and Pages. If I need to start a Pages document on my Macbook, switch to my iPad, and finish editing on my Windows XP PC, my document's format will not change. The same goes for Word. Though they look a little different, there are versions of Word for both Macs and PCs.
2. Both Word and Pages offers a variety of templates to choose from even before you begin your document. You can choose a blank document or choose something that has already been formatted (such as a letter or a resumé).
3. Both Pages and Word offer easy ways to insert tables, charts, and graphs. There are internal spreadsheets, so the graph is basically computed for you. These can be displayed anywhere within your document.

Differences:

1. Pages has sharing features which allow users to easily send their documents in a variety of ways, and those who receive to open those documents with ease. Even if the person you send it to does not have Pages, it will send them a link to the document that they will be able to open regardless.
2. Word has an incredible amount of icons for every function imaginable, whereas Pages seems to consolidate for ease of use and simplicity by having only a few icons which still contain the necessities.

Preference: Word. This is mainly because it has so many features that I use often on my PC. I do, however, like the ease of use and simplicity that Pages has.

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iThoughts

• iThought is definitely an app that I would use in my future classroom. It is easy to use and might be more fun and more structured than allowing students to make their own mind maps on a piece of paper.
• I would use this app to primarily introduce the writing process. Before writing, students must brainstorm. Often it is easier to put these ideas in a mind map or brainstorming web so that they can be as random as they need to be in their thinking, yet their information stays relatively organized.
• It has several options for styles. Students could learn how different brainstorming tasks require different map layouts. Some brainstorming projects visually make more sense vertically, while others might make more sense in a fishbone layout. I like that these layouts allow children to simply put in the information without having to worry about where to draw lines.
• The conversation bubble would allow me as a teacher to go in to their brainstorming maps to offer suggestions without tainting their original project. They would be able to read them and delete them easily when they were finished reading without it damaging the format they have already set up.
• It even allows students to draw arrows which is just another way to show them that items are related to each other.
• I love the "research" option. If a student is making a brainstorm about the solar system, they can type out Jupiter, hold down the word and an option to research will pop up. This will take them on to the web to explore more about Jupiter and maybe even spur them on to think of something else they would not have if not for the research option!
• Ultimately, iThoughts is simple to use and teaches students the importance of organizing thoughts.

Safari vs. Rover

Similarities:

1. Both allow their users to browse the internet for information or for leisure. They can be very useful in the classroom to research for projects or do in-class assignments.
2. They have many of the same features, but Rover filters for educational content only.

Differences:

1. Because Rover is a free educational browser, game websites are often blocked, because they sometimes contain noneducational content.
2. Rover is only available on the iPad, whereas Safari can be accessed on a variety of devices.

Preference: I prefer Safari, but in the classroom, I definitely see the advantages of providing my students with the Rover app! I would feel confident with them browsing the internet in my classroom.

Traits of a Game

Chapter 1 of Jane McGonigal's book, Reality is Broken

1. Jane McGoningal shares an idea that often goes unsaid. There are negative stereotypes that accompany games and gamers. Phrases like "Don't play games with me!", "Do you think this is a game?" and even just the word "player" have negative connotations in our world today. McGonigal is frustrated, as she does not think these stereotypes and negative phrases represent what games are truly all about.
2. McGonigal mentions four different defining traits of a game. Whether the game needs a controller, joystick, cards, or a ball, these traits hold true. 5-second games, 24-hour games, single player games, massively multiplayer games, and everything in between fit in this category. These traits are constant even after you strip away all the enhancements and extras to games.
3. The first defining trait is that the game must have a goal. When there is a focused purpose, people feel like they are involved in something worthy and important. They have a sense of purpose which guides them.
4. The second defining trait of a game is its rules. Rules are important in many situations, but especially in games. Rules place limitations on players. However, these limiatations are often welcomed with gamers. For example, golf has a goal: to get the ball in the hole, but there are also rules. It would be no fun if players just dropped the ball in the hole. Instead, they must use a variety of clubs and hit the ball from a long distance. The rules make the game more fulfilling to the players and ultimately unleash creativity and foster strategic thinking in players.
5. The third defining trait is a feedback system. As humans, we are wired to desire instant feedback. We need to be told what we are doing right and how we are actually making a difference. A feedback system is set up to show progress, score, points, or levels. Feedback provides motivation to keep playing the game.
6. The last defining trait is voluntary participation. Everyone chooses to participate, play by the rules, engage in the hard work, and receive the feedback. This idea of choice is one of the most important ideas that McGonigal hits on. If we are given the choice to engage in the kind of hard work that best fits our skill sets, that has a meaningful purpose with clear steps, then we will find the work not only endurable, but pleasurable. 
7. According to Bernard Suits, a game is essentially "the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles." This seems quite bizarre. Why would people willing choose to put obstacles in their way of a goal? The fact is, often reality is too easy. Games challenge us with obstacles that put our best strengths to use. We like this idea of being able to complete obstacles using our own strength. It makes us feel important and necessary.
8. Games produce happiness and positive emotions. According to research, humans are happier when they are engaged in hard work that they enjoy than in just lying around, watching TV, are aimlessly surfing the net. These activities actually cause more restlessness than anything. When we are working hard, we are using our strengths and our own capabilities to make a difference, and this is invigorating! In games, hard work is completely customized to your ability level and preference, and with the feedback we receive, it is easy to see that what we are doing in the game is a part of a bigger goal.
9. McGonigal mentions several different kinds of work which takes place. These include high-stakes work, busywork, mental work, physical work, discovery work, teamwork, and creative work. When we are engaged in the type of work that we enjoy most, we feel capable and unstoppable! Personally, when I am immersed in physical work and make achievements, it is one of the greatest feelings. Maybe I run my mile time faster than ever before or score a lot in my basketball game.  I also feel capable when I work creatively, like when I can write or draw or paint. 
10. Although this is not one of the main four components, games also often produce fiero. More simply put, it is an emotional rush that we get when we experience an epic win. It is a rush that we experience when we overcome obstacles valiantly and are triumphant. This is the type of emotion that makes us feel unconquerable.

Montessori

Maria Montessori was an Italian educator known for her philosophy of education known as The Montessori Method. From her writings, I gleamed several things:

• Montessori began a lesson where she hoped to teach children to read the names of simple toys and games. If they were able to read the name of the toy, they could play with the toy as long as they wanted. After awhile, though, the children did not want to "waste their time" playing with the toys. They begged for new words! As educators, we should realize the importance of extrinsic rewards in certain situations, but often the gift of knowledge in itself is enough to reward the child. These children were overjoyed to read the knew words!

• The gift that teachers give children through teaching them to read is invaluable even outside of the school. Montessori noted that when her students began to read, their mothers would tell her stories about how their children were no longer running through the streets, but rather stopping to read the signs along the way.

• Although a child may be able to read, he or she may not actually be comprehending what they are reading. Montessori noted that she conducted a test where she had her student read a book to her and did not stop the child all the way through. At the end of the book, she asked the boy if he understood what he was reading. The boy responded, "No." The child did not yet understand that words actually conveyed meaning and were used to communicate ideas.

• One of the most important ideas that Montessori mentioned was the idea that children must arrive spontaneously at knowledge. Learning, reading, and writing can not be forced upon a child. All children learn at different rates and in different ways. When students come upon knowledge spontaneously, it is better received by the student, and often even more rewarding for the teacher.

• The most interesting part of the article was when Montessori described the moment she knew that her students were finally beginning to understand that the written and read language was actually conveyed meaning. She would write actions on the board, and the students suddenly began to respond! If she wrote a question, the students would reply aloud. If she told them to read the sentence silently, they would begin reading aloud until they read the word "silently" and would suddenly be silent. Montessori taught her children how to receive ideas mentally, not vocally.

Satisfying Work

Chapter 3 of Jane McGonigal's book, Reality is Broken

1. One of the ideas that Jane McGonigal hits on several times in her interviews and in her book, is the idea that humans need to be involved in blissful productivity.  The require the feeling of being a necessary component to finishing a meaningful task.  As humans, we desire results, and we desire them now. McGonigal explains that through gaming, game players experience these immediate and obvious results.
2. As an example in her book, McGonigal talks about the video game, World of Warcraft. In this game, players are given tasks to do which will improve both their avatar as well as the world around them. This game requires a whopping 500 hours of gameplay before players say that the real fun begins.  In the real world, this would seem unfathomable to work at something for 500 hours - or even to want to work at something for 500 hours! However, game players truly enjoy the work they are involved in and would be disappointed if there was less work for them to do.
3. Players want to be given more work! They love the thrill of a challenge that is just a little bit beyond their ability level. It is close enough to their skill level so that they can still experience success and not so hard that they will assume failure. In education, we call this the Zone of Proximal Development. It is just as important for students to be given tasks that are challenging, but they know they can be successful at, as it is for gamers to have these challenging, yet success-bound tasks.
4. There are two essential pieces needed in order for work to be considered satisfying. 
1. Work must have a clear goal. With a clear goal, we know exactly what we are supposed to do and why it matters in the first place.
2. Work must have actionable next steps. With steps, we know how we will go about achieving that goal. Steps are crucial, because without them, the goal becomes a problem. It leads only to frustration instead of satisfaction.
5. In World of Warcraft, McGonigal explains, there is never any doubt about what you are supposed to do, why you are doing it, where you will go to do it, how you will do it, or how you will know you have done it.  There is no problem solving to it; you are given a task and told how to do it. When you do it, you receive rewards. I think problem solving should definitely still be a major component in the classroom, but I do think that students would feel more successful when teachers told them what they would be doing and why it mattered even before beginning the task. Also, by given them instructions or expectations, the students would have more confidence and satisfaction in their work.
6. Another major component to gaining the feeling of being blissfully productive is by receiving immediate feedback. In the game world, gamers are easily able to see their progress through leveling up, achieving +1 statuses, and earning points and rewards toward their avatar or game world. In the real world we do not always get this same kind of positive affirmation. It is in our human nature to desire to be recognized for the good things we have achieved. We want tangible and audible records of a job well done. It builds our self worth and gives us a feeling that someone notices us and finds us valuable and finds our work important.
7. The visual effect known as phasing, allows game players to change their game world for the better. By beating a level or destroying bad guys, the virtual world becomes a better looking place. Being able to see a visual manifestation of all of their hard works, gamers are motivated to make other parts of their game more beautiful as well.  Gamers have the feeling that they are making an impact on their world.
8. The reason why video games feel so productive, when we are really just sitting on a couch, is because they have goals, steps, and vivid and immediate feedback. These are needed in any work environment. Happiness, success, and motivation comes from this feeling of being truly productive.
9. Even shorter games, or "casual games," can create a short burst of productivity. I used to play Diner Dash all the time when I was in middle and high school. This game was a simulation of being a waitress. During the game, I was constantly needing to take orders, seat guests, find the correct food, and bring it to the right tables to keep customers satisfied. I, myself, was satisfied when all of my customers finally went home for the night, and I was able to collect all of my points and tips. I believe it taught me multi-tasking, and eventually, when I became a waitress in real life, I almost felt more prepared to handle all of the things thrown at me. 
10. McGonigal says that the best-designed games work so well, because they have this idea of blissful productivity in mind. When we feel like we are making progress as well as an impact, we will continue to come back to games like this. Games provide a feeling of reward and satisfaction that we do not always receive in real life.

Happiness Engineers

Chapter 2 of Jane McGonigal's book, Reality is Broken

1. It is an undeniable fact that reality is broken compared with games. Game world is somehow so much more fulfilling and pleasurable than the real world. They give us a task, provide characters that entrust themselves to us for this mission, and provide feedback which tells us that we are doing well.  games give us an opportunity to feel important and successful. They make us happy! In this chapter, McGonigal explains the idea of why games create this kind of happiness in us. 
2. An American psychologist named Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi was the first to coin the word flow. Flow is "the satisfying, exhilarating feeling of creative accomplishment and heightened functioning." All games contain some element of flow, whether they are video games or games like basketball or ballroom dancing. Games with flow allow us to experience pure enjoyment while participating in a task with a clear goal, well-established rules, and potential for increased difficulty and improvement over time. When we are able to experience flow, we feel fully satisfied and full of life, potential, and purpose.
3. Csiksgentmihalyi could not comprehend why humans would waste their times doing things that seemed meaningless or monotonous. Why not structure real life to resemble gameplay, he mused. He said that if our society continued to fail to be involved with something full of flow that gives us life, potential, and purpose, we would suffer greatly.
4. From his ideas, positive psychology began to emerge. This is the scientific field of the study of how we, as humans, are able to achieve happiness. It may seem simple, but achieving happiness actually becomes more difficult the more you focus and work on it. Game developers have essentially become positive psychologists by experimenting with how they can make their games affect their players' levels of happiness.
5. McGonigal shared the story of David Sudnow, a musician and sociologist, who began playing a simple video game almost 40 hours a week. Although he never admitted it was an addiction, it was undeniably affecting his life. When he was not playing the game, he was thinking about the game and relating things in his real life to the game. He continually craved the game, and was immersed in to his game instantaneously.  Yes, he was experiencing flow, but at a supersonic rate. To experience flow in basketball, one must practice and train for sometimes years to become good at the sport and feel successful.  Even then, it may take an incredible victory or unseen comeback in a game to truly experience a high.  Sudnow discovered that in video games, the flow was instant. It required hard work, yes, but there was no need to train years and years! The discovery that flow could be accessed so quickly, cheaply, and reliably was literally a game changer.
6. However, as most people have experienced, flow can be exhausting. It is impossible to constantly experience flow in our lives. It exhausts our physical, mental, and emotional resources. McGonigal comments that "Too much flow can lead to happiness burnout." Astounding to me, is that game designers actually try to avoid this overexposure to flow!  I always believed that game designers had one specific purpose: to make games which guarantee that their players will become addicted to. Why? To make money of course! However, McGonigal says that this is not the case. Game designers know that if their players become to addicted, they will eventually burn out and stop playing all together.
7. Accompanying the feeling of burnout is the feeling that maybe they are wasting their lives. Gamers have second thoughts all the time about the amount of hours they have spent playing games.  They are often plagued with a sense of emptiness. It is important for game developers to take this into consideration by creating games that are more meaningful and that create flow for their players, but not complete addiction.
8. McGonigal next makes her main point: We can not find happiness, but rather, we must make our own happiness. She claims that this is completely possible to do. For example, our bodies are able to produce certain chemicals in our brains based on what we experience that trigger other chemicals and sensations directly liked to the "happy feeling." She says that we should not just sit around and wait for life circumstances to bring us happy feelings, but instead, biologically we should be able to create our own happiness through participating in autotelic work with intrinsic rewards.
9. Autoletic work is work that engages us. It satisfies us completely and creates meaningfulness in our lives.  So many people try to live the American Dream by gaining money and other material things or rising up in the corporate world or by receiving status and praise. However, the happiness these things bring are short lived. They are external rewards that actually do not contribute to true happiness at all, regardless of the fact that our culture has wired us to think this way. Instead, McGonigal suggests, we should chase after intrinsic rewards that come from within ourselves. She says, "When the source of positive emotion is yourself, it is renewable."
10. Finally, she mentions 4 intrinsic rewards that are most essential to happiness.
1. Satisfying Work
2. The Feeling of Being Successful
3. Social Connection
4. Meaning
11. All of the above rewards are found in games. So, the idea that gamers play games to escape life may actually be false. Instead, they are making their real lives more rewarding!

Better World

In Jane McGonigal's TED Talk, she shares her firm belief that games can save the world. Currently, gamers spend 3 billions hours per week. This seems like an incredible amount of time, yet Jane believes that gamers should spend even more time than that! She says that solving games in a virtual world can actually help solve real world problems.

Games create urgency and optimism for an epic win. Every gamer is playing for that high of success.  An epic win is an almost unimaginable outcome that is so surprising that you can not believe you actually accomplished what you did.  What would it be like to experience epic wins in real life? If people truly believed that they could be as successful in real life as they are in dreams, unthinkable solutions would be created to many of the world's problems. When playing a game, it is almost impossible to feel like a failure. Gamers always feel important, like their quest is valiant and worthy, and like they are always on the verge of an epic win. If people can feel this type of importance in success in real life, they can change the world.

Jane mentions a shocking statistic: Gamers spend about 10,000 hours playing games by the time they are 21. By spending 10,000 hours at anything, a person becomes as good as some of the greatest in the world at that task. Essentially, these gamers are virtuosos at what they do! So what then, are gamers so good at?

• Games produce an urgent optimisms, the belief that an epic win is possible and on the verge.
• Games create a social fabric. Trust is created among people playing together and causes people to like the people they play with more. The collaboration in gameplay is also completely transferable to real life.
• Games involve blissful productivity. Gamers choose to spend their free time working hard to solve the problems in their games.
• Games have epic meaning. These missions are awe-inspiring and motivate gamers to continue playing in order to accomplish even more epic things!

Before watching this TED Talk, I can not say that I found much value in games. Watching my brother play hours upon hours of video games and ignoring our family because of his time playing games only made me more bitter towards games. This video showed me some of the positives about games, and how they really can change mindsets to hopefully someday create solutions to real world problems. If games can truly empower people to make the best outcomes possible for the future, then games will have one more supporter in me!

Strengthen

Interview with Game Designer Jane McGonigalhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqKmzRw78S0

In her one minute interview, game designer Jane McGonigal describes how games can actually strengthen and enhance people's real lives. She says that they impact people in the following positive ways.

• Games increase optimism and sense of ambition. When people play games that they are good at, they feel successful. The feeling of success alone can motivate people to go out into the real world to set even higher goals to achieve. They say, "If I can achieve this, surely I can achieve that also." Personally, I have played games which were very difficult to pass the level. When I did end up passing it, I felt victorious and like I could do many other things if I put my mind to it!
• Games strengthen social relationships. When playing a game with someone, you form a common bond over the game. You learn to like each other more, and even to trust each other more if you are helping each other to beat a level. I have witnessed this especially with my brother who has Xbox Live. Here, he is able to play his games with his friends even if they are not together. They are able to talk through a headset and communicate while the game is taking place. Also, I know several boys whose idea of hanging out and spending quality time together is through play video games together. It truly does strengthen their bond with one another.
• Games give a sense of awe and wonder. When you are in awe of something, you are more likely to be cooperative of it. In one of my field experiences, students were able to use an app which allowed the teacher to drop them a question to their individual iPads where they could then write a response and send it back to her all wirelessly. The students were in complete awe with how this worked, and therefore they were very cooperative and engaged with this learning activity.
• Games increase productivity. Throughout a game, you are consistently "getting things done." For students who are very motivated by the feeling of being productive, this can be transitioned outside of the game to get things done as well. For me, I am very highly motivated by the feeling of being productive. Learning through a game where, for example, I must serve people at a restaurant or make a product to be sold or just any task in particular that has many parts to it, would motivate me to be even more productive outside the game world.

Engage

Engage Me or Enrage Me: What Today's Learners Demand

By Marc Prensky

1. There are three kinds of students found in every classroom: 
• Students who are self-motivated.
• These students find value in what they are learning. They are able to see how it affects their current life and their future life. They are engaged in most any type of teaching method, because their engagement comes from within and is not based on the teacher necessarily. These students are intrinsically motivated by goals and success and do not need extrinsic rewards for completing things. These are the students that teachers dream of having in their classroom, and honestly they are the most scarce to find.
• Students who go through the motions.
• These students do not find as much value in what they are learning. They realize that it is for a grade, so they may just do it to get it over with and get a grade for it. They realize that grades affect their future, so this is the kind of motivation they have. However, they are not truly engaged, because many of them have figured out how the system works. Most find out how much work they have to do simply to get by and will do nothing more. These are often the most common students found in classrooms.
• Students who are tuned out.
• These students do not understand how any of what they are learning actually relates to their lives. They can not make connections between what they learn in school and what they need for their future (or even for the present). Not even grades or rewards truly motivate them. If they are unengaged, they quickly become upset and annoyed by the teacher, learning, and school in general. These are the students that teachers often do not know how to handle.
2. Teachers in today's day and age are experiencing new problems that never occurred in their childhood days. As early as the 1960's, the author explains, students did not expect to be engaged every moment of their day. They did not have video games, iPhones, iPods, and other devices that would engage them. Students of this era never knew this kind of engagement, so therefore never felt that anything was missing from school. Students now, know that there is something missing. Schools are lacking real engagement that students are used to in other areas of their lives, and they definitely notice. The strategies of yesterday will not work for the students of today.
3. As teachers, we need to care enough about students on a personal level to discover what truly engages them. Every student has SOMETHING that they are good at, that is engaging, and that creatively enhances their lives. As teachers, we should seek to find whatever that something is and be able to transition and adapt that into the classroom. Students know that if all else fails, they will find something of value on the Internet. What would happen if students thought the same way about the classroom?
4. The argument here is not whether or not school can be engaging. It can! But rather, our task it to find out how. It is not even as simple as being culturally relevant to these students. It is more about finding goals that our students find worth pursuing. Students need to feel important and necessary; likewise, their goals should be important and necessary. If the goals are worth it to them, they will become engaged.
5. Students aren't looking for fancy graphics or pretty images. They want depth of ideas. They want strategy. They will think things through if things are worth thinking through. By providing game-based learning, students can learn in a way that relates to them, motivates them, and engages them.

Tablets: Options and Uses

iOS

Pros:

1. The iOS operating system includes the most amount of apps available among the 3 operating systems being analyzed. With over 700,000 apps available through iTunes, one can find whatever they need for either productivity, games, reading, music, movies, or anything else.  Many of the apps are free, and several are relatively inexpensive.
2. iOS also offers the largest array of cellular options. With built-in cellular technology, this allows users to connect to the internet in places that might not have wi-fi present. For places that do offer wifi, every iOS device is equipped with wi-fi and bluetooth regardless of the size of the device.
3. iOS has the most stable support. This means that updates are often, and there are always improvements being made and problems being tended to.  Therefore, the Apple products can work almost flawlessly, and when they don't, they are sure to be fixed and improved upon very quickly. Apple is both the manufacturer and support, so everyone is always on the same page and updates are made to all iOS products simultaneously.

Cons:

1. The iPads offered through the iOS system are often more expensive than Android, for example. The newest iPads range between $500 - $800 a piece.
2. Because iPads are known primarily for their music, apps, and movies bought through iTunes, they do not focus as heavily on books.  iAuthor and iBooks are available and provide ways for users to read and create their own multimedia projects and author their own books, but Amazon does offer a much wider variety when it comes to books.

Android

Pros: 

1. The Android products are some of the least expensive tablets and seem to be quite economical for environments where many are needed (like in schools). 
2. Amazon in particular has the greatest capacity for ebooks. Not only does it have the broadest array of overall content, but it also has some of the most affordable books available for purchase. The iTunes book market definitely can not match the depth of books available or the prices.
3. Android gives its users so many more device options than most operating systems. If you are willing to compare all of the devices, you can really find one that works best for you. For example, there are Nooks, the Kindles, Galaxy Tabs, and the Nexus tablets. Each has varying amounts of capacities, wifi abilities, and apps.

Cons:

1. Because Android operates under an open operating system, there is less support available. The updates are slow in coming, and the updates which do come might only be available for certain devices, not all.

Windows

Pros:

1. Windows devices are equipped with preinstalled Microsoft apps. Many of these apps are very expensive if bought individually and in a stand-alone method.  With them already being installed, users do not have to pay for standard needs such as Office, Word, Excel, and other productivity applications.
2. If you are looking for a device which is most similar to a laptop, this device is often accompanied by a keyboard and ports like a CD drive and USB ports that resemble a laptop. There are plenty of productivity tools included, so this would be very beneficial in a business environment.
3. Windows has a very large storage capability. This means it can handle the amount of storage that might be necessary for larger presentations, projects, and multimedia pieces. This excessive internal storage area makes it very easy to save onto the actual device without having to constantly dump projects, photos, or videos on to another computer or having to purchase external memory.

Cons:

1. Windows devices are still being developed, so currently there is not a phenomenally strong base or support system.  Also, because of the high amount of internal memory and storage available, are among the most expensive devices.

Cellular

In order to determine whether or not it is beneficial to pay for cellular data on devices, potential users must answer the following questions:

• Where will the device primarily be used?
• If the device will be used primarily in spots with wifi (a school for example), then cellular data may not be needed. However, with many devices sharing the same wireless connection, devices may run slow or not at all. If only a few are being used at a time and being used in a place with wifi, it cellular may be an unnecessary addition.
• If the device will be used in several areas that may not have reliable wifi, it may be beneficial to consider buying cellular data. With my experience, most iPads are required to stay in the school for school use only, but I have heard of a few schools which allow students to take their iPads home with them to continue assignments or to finish up projects. In this case, it is unrealistic to expect every student will have wifi in their home. Cellular would be a good option for cases like these.
• What will the device be primarily used for?
• Cellular is very capable of handling small jobs like emails or browsing the internet. However, if students will be constantly streaming videos, it may be better to invest in reliable wifi routers. Video streaming eats up cellular! Especially if students take their iPads home, there is no control over how much cellular they consume. This consumption of cellular is accompanied with data charges that the school may not wish to invest in.

Size Considerations

In an educational setting, it would not be the best option to buy small size devices. Although these are light and portable, they are easy to lose and easy to run off with (even if by accident). They are often pocket size, so it may be hard for students wishing to read.  Also, watching videos or playing apps could be inconvenient with this size screen.

The larger devices are better for reading and watching movies, but they are heavy and can not be held in one hand for long amounts of times.

The most optimum size for an educational setting is the medium size device. This size is lighter than the large, but still easy to read from and watch videos on. It is also very easy to transport, but would be difficult to lose.

Positives for Educational Settings

In schools, where most cell phones are banned, tablets prove to be an exceptional alternative learning device. Tablets are economical for schools in the long run, because textbooks on the devices are much cheaper and can be redownloaded for free on to a new device if anything ever happened to the device itself.
Having devices like these in an educational setting provides students with a new way to learn through both audio and visual. It allows for multimedia creativity through the various apps that enhances the total learning environment. 

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, I find the iOS Apple iPads to be some of the most beneficial devices for students. Not only does it have an abundance (and widest variety) of apps to choose from, but it is also one of the easiest devices to use. The system support promises users frequent updates and enhancements to the devices, so the reliability is a great seller point alone. The iPads are affordable for the amount of apps and capabilities it has, and is more relatable to students with its apps than Windows would be with its more business-directed production tools. Cellular would be unnecessary, as the data could get quite expensive with several devices in each classroom.  If each student had an iPad, the school would do better to upgrade its wireless connections to ensure that each student could have a reliable connection. Also, iPads would be kept at school to ensure safety, to keep them in good shape, and to keep costs down (as cellular would be unnecessary). iPads are definitely a long-term investment that benefit teachers and students alike.