Tara Rocha, our Digital Learning Specialist, attended TCEA 2018 – Texas Computer Education Association, a conference held each February in Austin, Texas. Thousands of educators come together from all over the country, showcasing over 1,000 informative, interactive, and engaging sessions/hands-on workshops to help them learn the best practices for integrating technology into their classrooms, libraries, and school.
In a session titled, “What You Talking Aboutâ€, Tara shared some of her very favorite storytelling apps to a room of librarians, teachers, speech pathologists, and specialists. During the 90 minute hands-on workshop the presenter shared how to use the BridgingApps website to find apps appropriate to match skill, device type and cognitive levels. Rocha gave an overview of more than 10 BridgingApps favorite apps and how they can be used in a classroom setting with students of all cognitive abilities.
She also included “out of the box†ideas relating to storytelling, such as setting up a private classroom Instagram account (managed by the teacher) to share classroom stories with parents on a regular basis. A favorite ah-ha moment that was shared is the ability to now create screencasts on device using iOS 11 without needing to download any apps by just turning on this new feature in the control center found in settings.
Make sure to check out digital resources here. And if you have never attended this great event which will be in San Antonio next year, you might want to mark your calendars! For more information on useful storytelling apps, visit BridgingApps.org.