Tech Play-Creativity
Creativity with technology is one of my favorite applications to use in the classroom. The possibilities are endless, and another application is developed as soon as you find your favorite one. Teachers can need help incorporating this into their classrooms due to time constraints. It takes time for them to learn the application and to teach it to students. Then, you had to build time in for the students to create with it. I had to be an expert on whatever application we used. However, I quickly realized that the students would likely figure it out for themselves and learn more. I am there to troubleshoot and make suggestions, but it's really on them to discover and apply.
I have many favorite applications we use in the classroom; here are some that make the top of my list that we come back to repeatedly.
Canva… does it get any easier than Canva to create any type of visual media that you need? I love it, and my students love it! We use Canva to create presentations to share with the class. The students also create weekly newsletters to send home to parents with it. Canva gives you templates or a blank slate if you feel very creative. Most teachers at my school also use Canva for their daily slides for instruction. Students can easily share work with classmates and teachers, making it a great collaboration tool. I have been having students create their anchor charts for math on Canva. They can express themselves, record their thinking, and have a digital copy that is always accessible. Allowing students to record their thoughts their way gives them more ownership of their learning.
Chatterpix. Chatterpix is a highly engaging application that lets you take a picture of anything and make it talk by recording your voice. We have used this one in several lessons, most recently when discussing the different attributes of a mixture and a solution. This can be a challenge for students to identify the properties of each and compare them. We used Chatterpix to boost engagement and to allow the students to show mastery orally. In teams, they found a picture of a mixture and a solution, then “cut” mouths out of them and had the objects report why they were a mixture or a solution. The recording time is relatively short, which works well for a short response. The students find this hilarious and love to show each other their products.
Garageband. This one is something we use all year to record podcasts. For the past two years, I have been working on getting student more comfortable talking about their thinking. Over the last few years, I have noticed that students' communication skills could be improved, and they struggle to express themselves academically. So, I started having them record a podcast episode after each unit to discuss the big ideas we covered. They get into partners or 3s, write an episode outline, and record using Garageband. I am then able to load all the episodes together to share. They have to listen to an episode and then provide feedback to their peers. It is the easiest way to get students engaged in this project. Who wouldn’t want to compose your opening song for your podcast and hear your voice in all the funny microphone options? With so many creative options built-in, you must give students plenty of time to play and explore with the app. Once they understand how it works, the time it takes to record an episode is pretty minimal. The biggest con with Garageband is that it is an Apple app, so you would need an Apple device to use it.
Incorporating different tools can increase student engagement and allow your students to show their thinking in new ways. It can be out of your comfort zone, and you must be prepared to have significant failures, but there is learning in success and failure.
