ACTFL's Unit and Lesson Planner (iPad App)

While I was preparing to facilitate the 7/12 conversation about unit design for the Langcamp book club on The Keys to Planning for Learning, I came across information about ACTFL's app for unit and lesson design. (Click here to access the app through iTunes.)

I immediately explored the app. 

• It's only available for the iPad at this time.
• It works well as a complement to the text The Keys to Planning for Learning.
• It's free.

The app contains:

• Resources that are within the book.
• Common Core Anchor Standards
• Essential Questions Chart, which is tied to global themes and proficiency levels
• Blank Unit Template
• Blank Lesson Plan Template
• Balanced Lifestyle Unit
• Balanced Lifestyle Lesson Plan
• Education Standards Based Unit
• Chinese Lesson Plan for Third Grade
• Language Functions
• Steps to "Plan a Unit" and to "Plan a Lesson." These processes guide users through completing all of the fields found within a unit or lesson plan template.  Users can export their plans as a PDF.
• "My library," which stores all unit and lesson plans created.

What I would add in an upgrade:

I would like the app to also include links to useful resources, such as the ACTFL World Readiness Standards, AP themes, or P21 standards.  Also, typing in the various fields with the iPad could have improved functionality.

PDFs only?

The app only exports as a PDF.  However, though my laptop, I was able to save the PDF then open it in Word, and was then able to edit it further.

The bottom line:

This app makes lesson and unit planning a breeze, and makes a complex process seem very manageable.