"Silence speaks when words can't." SO DO PICTURES! This is the first year that I have begun my school year with iPads for every child in my classroom. OF COURSE in everything school - some things take time. My class has 18 iPads for 23 kids. So I thought I would share with you the things we have done in groups, pairs, and even by ourselves through learning. I will share my thoughts over the next few posts.
The whole "Silence" theme today is mostly because I haven't written since August 22. Kids came and just like that - everything was a whirlwind of excitement and learning! On "Meet the Teacher" night (the Thursday before school began) I set up 2 accounts for my classroom. You are welcome to follow us. We post an average of 100 things a week.
Twitter - millerclark3rd
Instagram - millerclark3
For those of you who don't know much about these - Instagram was explained to me like a Facebook without many words - mostly pictures. It is very visual. I heard growing up that "A picture is like a 1000 words." This is what it looks like on a computer. When it is pulled up on a phone the viewer can see a picture and the words about what we did in the classroom below it. The viewer can also add comments. I enjoy reading the kind words they have for their children.
Twitter has hashtags (#) to group things when writing. It has links to pictures, sites, articles, etc. It is a wonderful place to learn new things and get into chats online about educational topics. I am not good at using the hashtags yet - I am still learning. This is what a couple of my "TWEETS" from my class look like:
MANY of the parents in my classroom didn't have an account on either. I didn't have an Instagram account personally until this summer. So - we are all learning this together. Learning together is fun and scary at the same time. It can give you that rush of joy when you all learn something new and someone to smile at when you learn it together!
TIME SAVING TIP: When I post, I make Twitter and Instagram mostly the same. I load the picture through Instagram and then share the post with Twitter. I am finding many of the parents like either Twitter OR Instagram - not both. By posting on both - the parents have the choice of what works best for them.
TIME SAVING TIP #2 - When the kids have a lesson they have learned - get them to explain it and type it in under the first picture in Instagram. THEN - copy the words before you send it and paste them into the pictures that belong with the same lesson. Notice the example above from Twitter about our Our Time meeting this morning. Both posts tell the same thing about the lessons. While we don't ALWAYS do this - sometimes it is great for saving time.
Finally, I will tell you that my classroom has "Instabugs." (I don't need an exterminator.) We created the word. We defined the job. We have 5. Instabugs in my classroom are assigned days of the week. When it is their day - they take the class mini iPad with them to specials (like Music and Gym), to lunch, to recess.... Their job is to take pictures that will tell about their day. We have a list of classmate's names on the front. Each time a photo is taken the Instabug quickly puts a tally mark beside each name. This helps to make sure that everyone in the classroom is included a few times a week in our feeds.
In my classroom the Instabug and I take turns with pictures. If I am working in a small group - the children can go and talk with the Instabug about learning stations, lessons learned, acts of kindness, etc that need a picture. The Instabug takes the picture and then when we have a minute - we work together to think of words to express the learning that took place. I am the only one that can give permission to hit "SEND."
I like to share instantly with the parents. The parents feel as if they are in class with us. They can have the feed pop up on their phone or computer all day - or they can check it at night. They don't have to check it at all if they don't want to. BUT the information is out there. I have shared things like when Grandparents Day was. It was a reminder on that day that the Grandparents could eat lunch with their grandkids. Reminders about Scholastic orders or bragging on Random Acts of Kindness. With all of the positive information going home daily about what they are learning and doing - everyone has a positive attitude about learning.
On a final note - I am continually amazed at the engagement with the children. The iPads are just tools, but in that one tool we have camera, video, productivity apps, notes, journals - everything in your hands. We have been SO engaged and into our learning - I have no time for anything else. Which is WONDERFUL!
My goal was to light the fire in them that will bring them joy as they learn more and more this year. I think I am doing just that!
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