How To Start Making An Interactive iPad Lesson on Frolyc
When I was first introduced to Activity Spot I was enthralled with its capability and was eager to get started. After all I have been writing lessons for over 30 years and I prided myself in trying to make them constructivist, fun and engaging. I quickly registered and opened my first authoring link. But something happened. I became paralyzed. I couldnât decide what to do next. I wanted to make a lesson for fifth graders but couldnât conceive how to lay out my six pages. How could this happen? I have written for Scholastic, Pearson, Learning A-Z and the state of Texas yet I found myself with a huge writers block. I could not get off square one when this was something I was so motivated to do.
 A voice inside my head said simplify, simplify. Make it easy Di something even a kindergartner could do. So, instead of making the best interactive plan in the whole creation I started thinking what was the easiest most needed lesson I could make? You see I ha made the classic mistake of not reading the direction first. In this case I had not familiarized myself with the systems tools. I just assumed it would come to me, or I could figure it out as I went. For me, this approach wasnât working.
So I thought, âWhat is something every kindergarten teacher teaches at the beginning of the year and so would love an interactive lesson for her students to do?â I came up with numbers and letters. Finding 4 was my very first Activity Spot lesson. It only uses one template - the drawing template. I found the drawing template to be the most versatile, constructivist and easiest to use. I wanted the students to âshow what they knowâ and the drawing template allows for this.
So I had up to six pages to fill and I started thinking, âWhat do you want children to know about four? What opportunities for learning do you want to open?â I found that putting information in a table helped me organize my thoughts.
Once I got my flow down this simple procedure made it easy for me to explore the other templates. My second lesson was âI Know the Sound of Bâ. In this lesson I was ready to explore using the capability of linking to videos to build background. Next, I wanted the children to be able to show me what they learned, that they indeed listened to the video so I added the concept map, multiple choice and word search templates. I discovered that I could drag the pages on the sides and reorder them. That was great because I made mistakes and changed my mind about the sequencing.
 I would periodically go ahead and published my activity and view it through the test ID that the system gives you even though I was not completely done. I did not care that the activity was not complete as I thought the odds of anyone finding it right away and using it were slim. It was more important to me that the activity actually played out how I envisioned it.
 Once I like the flow, I published my first activity and I felt a huge sense of accomplishment. I was stoked now and went on to create three more lessons that sitting.Â
So, my advice in making your first activity:
Start with a very easy concept that you know well (it is OK the topic matches content in grades below where you teach)
Limit your activity to one or two templates.
Make a concept map, a page flow, of how you are going to execute your lesson.
Publish it a couple of times to check that the flow is what you envisioned.
Once you have done one lesson, the second is a breeze and you can start right away making lessons targeting the needs of your students and your classroom.
First appeared on Kathy Burdick's blog.
To view all of Kathy Burdick's interactive activity creations for Activity Spot iPad app, click here.