Last week I attended the Virginia Department of Education's From Vision to Practice Conference. During a session facilitated by iSchool Initiatives, a wonderful group of young people from Kennesaw State University, who are touring the country demonstrating how ipad apps can be used in the classroom, introduced us to the app TourWrist.
The TourWrist app is, in my opinion, a great app for two reasons. First, the app allows students to view other parts of the world. They can see landmarks, schools, businesses, entertainment, and other points of interest, all without leaving the classroom. It exposes them to elements beyond their community, circle of friends, and imagination. It shows them things that they may not see in everyday life and sets up discussions or comparisons of elements that are typical everywhere and elements that are not.
This tool is also wonderful when used as a writing prompt. Students can write about what they have observed or what was missing or not a part of the shot. Students are visual and instead of writing a prompt on the board, they can view their prompt using the TourWrist app. They can create a story about a portion of what they saw. For example, one person viewed a tour which looked like some sort of costume party. They could write about one character at the party, the host of the party, or they could be creative and write a complete story around what they have viewed.
I would recommend that educators explore this app and find ways to incorporate it into their language arts and history lesson plans. It is a great way to incorporate technology that our students are already using and expanding their experience beyond the classroom.
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