Hi friends! I've started a series on my blog, Teaching Maddeness, where I share cool apps for the ipad. It's called "Appy Classrooms" and I thought I would pop over here today and share one that could be used by all teachers!
App Name: Chwazi
It's FREE to download in the app store.
Here's what you will look for:
Chwazi isn't meant to be an app for teachers, but you know us teachers....we can adapt anything to use in the classroom, right?!
This is basically a "finger picking" app that was built to see who would pay the tab after dinner with a group of friends, or who will take the garbage out tonight since everyone claims they did it last time. :)
But, it comes in super handy in the classroom for picking students to be leaders or organizing students into different groups.
Here's how it works. You can select either "fingers" or "groups." We'll start with "fingers." With this option, you get to decide how many fingers you want to be selected. Let's say 8 students all put a finger on the ipad but you're just looking for a line leader. Then you would select 1, so that one finger would be selected (and that person would be line leader). Or, if you're looking for 3 people to help with a specific task, you would select 3, so that three fingers would be selected and you would have your helpers.
You can see in this picture, I put three fingers on the ipad to represent three student fingers. All of the fingers will light up with colors, but since I only selected for it to choose 1 finger we will leave the fingers in place until the one finger is selected.
And.....we have a winner! What a fun, quick, and random way to select students for specific tasks!
Now, let's take a look at the groups option.
This options is perfect for putting students in pairs or groups. Let's say you're working on problem solving in math. You could easily put an ipad at each table of 6 students. Program it to make groups of 2 and let each student put a finger on the ipad. Wait until the colors appear and the students with matching colors under their fingers will be partners! They could even come back after each problem and get new partners. It's that quick and easy!
You can see that in this picture, the two greens would be partners and the two blues would be partners.
Just a few notes about using Chwazi:
I hope you'll go download this app and try it out! Do you have ideas of how you might use it in your classroom? Post them below to share with everyone!
Check out these other #appyclassroom posts:
Do you use cool apps in your classroom? Share them on Instagram with this hashtag - #appyclassrooms - to connect with other teachers!
