As most of our students were taking their math & reading STAAR tests, we are out in the land of portables, creating infographics using ThingLink! ThingLink is a website digital tool that allows learners to create an infographic. By "tagging" their image, learners are able to consolidate many digital resource into one place. Though I've had previous experience with creating Thinglinks for lessons and professional learning experiences, I thought this would be the perfect way to introduce our learners to a new digital presentation. It's time to move away from the safety of a Power Point presentation and step into the 21st century!
The 8:40 bell rang and learners quickly logged into Google classroom to find today's task...Creating a ThingLink for the Best University! Because of the newness with this presentation platform, we thought it was best to create a Google doc with step by step directions, including helpful links and pictures to guide our learners. Some kids chose to go step-by-step by themselves, while others worked with the guidance of a teacher or peer.
Students were given access to directions as well as a sample TCU ThingLink
Despite having our classes mixed together in 10 different groups, our learners were able to access Google classroom all of their research materials! One joy I had during these 2 days was teaching our learners how to save images into their Google drive. They were truly in amazement that they could save their file in drive and then access it from a different device...true example of Joy!
As I walked around our temporary classroom, in the land of the portables, I was amazed at the various colleges our learners were researching. From schools in Texas to the coast of the United States and across the oceans, conversations were sparked about why they chose their school and what made their school a great choice for them.
After we saved & uploaded an image that represented our school, learners hit the web and found a version of their school fight song. Copying the share link and adding a tag into our Thinglink was the next task on our to do list.
Because not all resources are web based, we walked through the process of adding text to our Thinglink. Students used either their chromebook or phones to determine the mileage between our campus and the school they felt was the best choice for them. Many were once again amazed how we encouraged our learners to use technology to devise a solution to their questions. In fact, it was amazing to watch them step outside of their comfort zone and use Google to find their answers.
Here are some samples of our students' ThingLink infographics
No comments