MiniLit

I have been offered a job by the school I completed my first practicum at.  I will be running a literacy programme called MiniLit.  I have already done my training for this new role and I am excited (and nervous) to be going back to work in a field that will compliment my studies and further my teaching experience too.

picture source 

It is a 20 week programme so I will be employed for both term 1 and term 2 this year on top of my studies and other duties.  I hope to enhance my literacy teaching skills and look forward to working closely with a small group of children.

At the end of last year I spent a day at the school setting up my office and putting up my alphabet frieze and other materials.  I cannot tell you how good it felt to do that!  It does highlight the importance of conducting yourself in a professional manner while on practicum; you never know what may come of it not just long term, but in the short term too.

Productivity Apps

Work or play, you should have these apps on your iPad.  I love them!  Each heading is linked to the iTunes store so click over and download them or have a look.

Evernote

I have Evernote on my laptop so it just makes sense to have it on my Ipad.  Both devices sync with my account so I always have access to my information.  This is much better than trying to bookmark everything. The iPad app is a bit hit and miss, I can access the information in my account but I cannot clip anything from my iPad; it would be a lot better if I could.

Free

PDF Notes

I love this app so much I upgraded from the free version.  You can import PDF's and make notes on them.  Fantastic for making notes on lecture slides or marking up documents.  This is one of my most used apps.  You can highlight and add comments and notes which you can either save or delete when you are done.  It is really simple to use.
$10.49 (or free for the lite version).


Quickoffice Pro HD

If you use Microsoft Office on your computer you NEED this app.  It lets me open and edit word documents, spreadsheets, PDF's and Powerpoints.  With the exception of powerpoint documents I have used this a lot.  I would be lost without it!  You can share documents between your computer and iPad using the cloud or Dropbox etc.  It seems like an expensive app but it is worth every cent.  If you are an Apple person instead of Microsoft there are other apps that let you achieve the same things.

$20.99

Dropbox

Dropbox is amazing.  I have this installed on my laptop and my account syncs between all of my devices.  My uni friends use it to organise and share documents as you set the privacy settings for each file of folder.  I can log in to my account from any device so I am never without key files.  Handy!

Free!!

iThoughts HD

iThoughts is a great mind mapping tool.  Mind mapping is brilliant for planning and brain storming allowing you to organise your thoughts in a visual format that you can manipulate.  iThoughts is compatible with a number of other desktop applications such as the one I use on my laptop, XMind.  These compatability features as well as its easy to use interface make it worth the cost.  My assignment writing and study have both improved since using this app.
$10.49


Penultimate

A handwriting app for those moments you just need to jot down ideas or scribble some points down.  It can get a bit messy but overall I do still think it is a good tool.  Pity it does not support PDF imports.
Free

I use lots of other apps for fun, study or for my children.  I will review some of those in different posts.