One tool that my kids have been using lately is the Shakespeare in Bits app for the iPad. It provides brief snippets of the Shakespeare accompanied by cartoonish graphics. I have been using the app as a Substitution/Augmentation on the SAMR chart. As a class, we viewed the first scene of the play using this app to help foster understanding of the action, etc. after reading the play and discussing as a class. For students who are absent (and therefore miss the discussion), viewing the play after reading helps them to grasp what is actually happening in the play... since Shakespeare--even in modern text--isn't the easiest thing to understand. Another app we are utilizing is No Fear Shakespeare which provides a modern translation of the original text-- this has made teaching Shakespeare worlds easier... the students attempt the original text first then read the modern text to supplement their understanding.
In terms of school programs that we use with our students, I would rate WVWrites as an Augmentation/Modification on the SAMR scale. Not only are students given the experience of writing their piece, but they are also provided with editing and revision suggestions/tools. This changes the game when it comes to the writing process. Instead of taking up to a week to have students write, in longhand, an essay, edit it, revise it, and turn in a final product, WVWrites allows for the student to complete these tasks in as little as a period or two.
I'm still thinking through the SAMR chart and how to bump activities in my classroom up a notch, and the word that keeps sticking out for my is Transformation. If we really want to transform the way that our students learn, retain, and demonstrate their understanding of information, then it makes sense that that very transformation has to begin with us...
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