Middle School Confidential: Be Confident in Who You Are {Review}

Middle School Confidential 1: Be Confident in Who You Are is a stellar graphic novel app I couldn't wait to get my hands on. It is an engaging comic that brings readers into the lives of middle schoolers who are simply trying to figure things out. Issues such as bullying, blowups, looks, popularity, stress, peer approval etc. are all addressed.

Readers get a glimpse 6 middle schoolers (colored)

Jump to any of the 8 chapters

What I love:

• Not only does this graphic novel address hot-button, relatable issues middle school students face in their daily lives, they also offer strategies for dealing with them.
• The layout deviates from the typical picture books for those in elementary school and thus makes it more appealing to adolescents. 
• Stories involve kids talking to other kids and doesn't come off as "preachy"
• Chapters are broken up in a manner that allows for users to work on and address issues and concepts over a period of time, not all at once. This gives users time to process what they've heard. 
• Users are able to view the full page or view it panel-by-panel. The zoomed in panel view allows for prediction and foreshadowing to take place.  

Users can view the comic via full page or zoom in and view each panel

• Each frame is accompanied by music and sounds. No narrator here, the user is the reader. 
• It's a great jumping off point for deeper discussion on the issues addressed in the comic. Important language skills/concepts such as perspective taking, foreshadowing, problem solving, can all be targeted.

Bottom Line: This is app is a gem and worth more than the $2.99 price tag!

App Compatibility:

Be Confident in Who You Are is Compatible with NOOK, Kindle Fire, nabi, Android tablets, iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. It requires iOS 4.3 or later.

Take a look at this demo provided by Apps for Children with Special Needs


Disclosure Statement: I was provided a copy of this app by the developer. No other compensation was provided. This review includes solely my opinions. 

Tense Builder {Review}

Identifying and conjugating verbs is a skill that many of my middle schoolers need improvement on. Tense Builder contains engaging animated video lessons to assist users in gaining a deeper understanding of tenses.

Home-screen view

For $14.99 users get:

• 42 verbs with accompanying animated lesson (will expand to 58 by December)
• Audio instructions (can be turned on/off)
• Verbal reinforcement (can be turned on/off)
• Sentence recorder - users are able to record their sentence and play it back to check for accuracy
• 2 levels of play. 
• Level 1 plays a video clip and gives you 3 pictured option. Users select the image that goes best with the sentence.
• Level 2 plays the same clip as Level 1 and asked to fill in the blank ("The man ____ the painting")

• Choose between 2-7 choices when playing at Level 2 (see below)

Example of 7 options when selecting a response

• Select the type of tense(s) you would like to target (future, past, present, or all)
• Choose verb type to be targeted (regular, irregular, or all)
• Select specific verbs you would like targeted  (42)
• Choose from the "long" or "short" lesson style. This lets you decide what happens when a student selects the incorrect response.
• Access to the video tutorial.
• Users are able view lessons regarding the respective verb prior to making selecting a response
• The ability to track and email user results (see below)

Users are able to have their performance tracked and shared

Things I liked:

• The graphics are very engaging and will grab anyone's attention 
• There are a great variety of verbs to choose from
• Users are able to obtain and share data regarding performance  
• Great way to elicit receptive and expressive language use

Some things I'd like changed:

• The video tutorial is a great way to acclimate users to TenseBuilder. I would have liked to pause the video and come back to where I left off, but was unable to do so as the tutorial does not have this capability. 
• Price: Although Mobile Education Tools have churned out quality apps,  $14.99 is costly for the average SLP/educator. 
• This is a great app to use 1:1, however it isn't able to be utilized in groups (how I mainly service students)
• The wording can make selecting a correct response difficult (even for me!)

This was one of the more confusing sentences

App Compatibility:

Tense Builder is Compatible with the iPad and requires iOS 5.0 or later.

Take a look at this video to see Tense Builder in Action:


Disclosure Statement: I was provided a copy of this app by the developer. No other compensation was provided. This review includes solely my opinions.