Using Canva in FACS!

Canva use in Child Development 1

Last semester my new trial in class was using canva.com. (www.canva.com) I was introduced to canva at a general digital session this past summer during Missouri ACTE Conference in Springfield. In short, canva can be used to make several different things such as posters, ads, cards, etc... It is easy to use and has some cool graphic features. It kind of reminds me of an online version of publisher that is actually, in my opinion easier to use.

My school district recently went 1:1 with Chromebooks so I have been looking for new tools to enhance classes. Canva caught my eye and I think it might catch yours too!

How I Used Canva

First I introduced Canva to the class on the projector. I showed them how to log in using the google sign in feature that pretty much automatically sets up your account. The first page that opens is a demo page - students can play around with this but it is really just as easy to jump right in.

You can start your own poster by clicking where it says Canva in the top left corner of the screen! From there I let the students choose their own background. Students could easily do this on their own, I allowed them to work in pairs hoping by having two minds they would be able to better troubleshoot while learning the new program.

Canva allows you to search things like grids, borders, and images. It also has pre-made layouts you can use as well as graphics and fonts. It is really pretty user friendly and has lots of choices for students to make it their own.

I used Canva as kind of a reading thought organizer/summary of text - if you will. I gave them a short section that had 4 different parts. For each of the 4 parts they were to read and then write a heading with 2 statements that summarize what that particular section was about. They were to use 2-3 pages on Canva to share what they read and thought was important.

Once the students were finished they were to make their poster public by clicking "make public" and then done in the top right. Then they were to share the poster with me and classmates by going to the share option, copying the link, and then posting the link in the comments section under the assignment that was posted on Google Classroom. This seemed to be easy! However, I did have to do some "how to" copy and paste using your Chromebook tutorials!

Negatives I Experienced

- After posting the link not all posters would show up - I narrowed this down to be a network issue as some would and some wouldn't. **This wasn't too bad, by the end of the day I figured out the students that should not show their poster from the posted link could download the pdf of their poster to their chromebook and then link the pdf in Google Classroom. After this it opened up! Kind of an extra step but not a difficult one. I did have to reassure the students that even though it didn't show up from the link it was still in their canva account.

- Some students found some of the formatting to be a little irritating

- Took a little more time than maybe a hand drawn poster  

**But I think they did get to use some other skills -editing, use of colors and graphics, getting to use their chromebook (copy and paste was new for some with the 2 finger click) and mix things up a bit. I also feel like they took this more seriously than when if I were to ask them to write out the summary's.

-If you want to print - there is only a small selection of free backgrounds, fonts, etc... to use but if you want to just share digitally the options are pretty endless!

Positives

-Seemed to work well with the chrome browser. I only had 1 student out of nearly 90 that it seemed to open slowly for.

-Lots of options to make them original

-Could use for various things in class

-Almost all students I questioned had something positive to say about the experience.

-Sharing in various ways - by link, facebook, twitter, are all easy with this website!

Let me know what you think or how you are using Canva in your classroom!!!

Padlet Intro to Child Development 2 Class

Padlet

I was just introduced to Padlet and wasn't sure how I wanted to use it but knew I would like to try it out.
Padlet basically lets students send responses from their device (cell phone, tablet, computer, etc) straight to the screen where everyone can post ideas and thoughts about something.
It was super easy to set up and has some basic choices but also allows for pictures and things to be uploaded.
What they post can go straight to the screen or it can be first viewed by the teacher before being approved to go to the screen. 

How I Used Padlet - 

I split students into groups to read sections about Emotional/Social Development just as an intro to some discussion information about where children are in their emotional social development between the ages of 4 and 6. I asked them to bullet point some information about things that characterize emotional/social development of children between 4 and 6 after reading with their group. 

Here is a link to what they came up with. I did not filter it and got something about poop - I was able to delete that after a threatening glare in the direction I was sure it came from. 

http://padlet.com/adevore/emotsocdev

Students seemed to like it for the most part and some commented that they thought it was pretty cool. In a class of 25 none of them said that they had used padlet before. SCORE ME! 

Obviously, this was not anything huge and only took maybe 10 minutes but I am excited to use it as something more soon. 

Students can post links, pictures, video, etc... with their comments - today we just did a very basic "see how it works out" activity. I think it could have a lot of uses! You can set it up like a stream, or random, or in a grid where it would almost look like Pinterest. 

Below are some random pictures of students learning to use padlet. Most used cell phones, I did have maybe one IPad and 1 Kindle or tablet user. 

Please let me know how you have used this or any ideas you have. Thanks for checking in on my blog! 

Why a Blog about Technology Used in Family and Consumer Sciences Classrooms?

Why am I taking my very little spare time to start blogging about technology and new practices within the Family and Consumer Sciences Classroom? 

First of all, I recently attended a technology forum hosted by Eric Sheninger and he suggested that blogging was a very good idea in one way or another. During the one day I spent listening to him and what he has seen and accomplished throughout his career I realized there is so much out there, especially in the world of technology that is constantly changing, improving, and emerging. There is literally NO way to keep up with it all or let alone try it all. However, if you are like me you spend a good day or two per week brainstorming and searching for something new that might just excite your students to actually take what you are saying and put it into some sort of action.

So, this brings me to today and setting up this blog - well I just attended the forum yesterday (but I wanted to go ahead and get started.)
I was on Twitter, something that I am kind of new to using and I was searching for Family and Consumer Sciences sources to follow - Well guess what! There are not very many. This made me extremely sad. As FACS teachers we always are facing the dreadful "oh, you mean Home Ec, you like cook and sew and stuff" and sure we MAY do that occasionally but it is no longer our focus. Our focus is on CAREERS (of many sorts) and FAMILY. (I mean who doesn't want to grow up and have a healthy, well functioning family?) So, I decided I would start trying to share what I do in my classroom more regularly in hopes that other FACS teachers around the state of Missouri and possibly the country will start to share what they are doing too! I always love new ideas and I know all of you do also.

What is my goal for this blog? I would like to see FACS teachers sharing comments, ideas, and things they have tried or want to try so that FACS teachers can really start to show what we do. I sure do get tired of people often assuming we just bake cookies and sew all day so I would like to have something that might serve as an example that we are SO MUCH MORE!

Hopefully, I will be adding at least 1 new thing I am checking out or trying each week in my classroom. Sometimes it will just be using something old in a new way, other times it will be something completely new that I am trying out for the first time. I'm sure sometimes it will fail and sometimes it will fly but I would like somewhere to share that experience. That way I can hear from others about how it works them. I would also love if it inspires other FACS teachers to also try something new! So please share and comment away.