App Smashing Ideas from the #FlocabChat Community
During last month’s #FlocabChat, we talked about all things app smashing—using two or more edtech tools together in the classroom. Simple as that!
We covered a lot of ground, so we thought we’d pull out some key highlights and tips for our Flocab community. Here are some of the tools that our #FlocabChat friends suggested (in addition to some of our own tips).
Padlet works like an online bulletin board, and teachers have come up with endless ways to use it for curation in the classroom. During our chat, ThingLinkEdu—a tool for creating interactive images, videos and 360° photos—was shouted-out as one great smash with Padlet. #FlocabChat host Lee Araoz shared some examples of app smashing with Padlet though an ELA formative assessment and an end of year class reflection project.
App Smash Idea: Have students reflect on what they learned in The Week in Rap by creating an entry for The Week in Rap Shout-Out Contest. Collect student responses on one Padlet, and use it as an opportunity for students to share their writing with their peers (maybe even pull up the Padlet in the front of the classroom and have a group discussion). Afterwards, submit the entries to our contest for your class’ chance at Week in Rap fame!
Teachers agreed there were many opportunities to use Google’s education tools with other technologies. Lee suggested Google Slides as a “canvas,” then smashing other apps together by embedding links to multiple tools in the platform that support a lesson (Smore Pages and Kidblog are great canvases, too!).
Pennsylvania educator Lisa Butler does some awesome app smashing with her middle school students using Google Maps with Flocabulary: she asks students to plot where different events from The Week in Rap take place in the world with different colored markers, based on the topic of the news story. Learn more about this strategy on her blog.
A3: Yes! @googlemaps into just about anything, namely @buncee to label and annotate. #FlocabChat https://t.co/ZBF64azwU1
— Larry Zuares (@TechCoachZ) October 12, 2016
With Seesaw, students create digital journals with images, videos, links, text or audio to showcase what they’re learning in the classroom with their teacher, classmates, and parents or guardians.
A3: Puppet edu and seesaw to share literature circle expectations #flocabchat
— Mrs. Turlington (@mrs_turlington) October 12, 2016
App Smash Idea: Try smashing Seesaw with Flocabulary by having students link to a Flocabulary video in their Seesaw journal, or maybe snap a photo of the class while they’re answering questions from Flocabulary’s “Quick Review” questions and annotate it with a caption or audio clip. Students can then share their journal with their parents to show what they’ve been learning throughout the day.
Musical.ly is essentially a lip synching app that lets you record a video of a song performance. While you may think there aren’t any educational implications behind such an app, social studies teacher Matt Farber has great lesson ideas for project-based learning by blending Flocabulary with Musical.ly. Learn more about this lesson idea (which also includes other audio tools like Audacity and GarageBand) in Matt’s recent post on our blog.
What tips did #FlocabChat participants have for people looking to try app smashing? Just start somewhere (even if it’s small) and allow yourself to grow into it (this might sound like advice you share with students from time to time). 😉
A6: Start with a platform you’re comfortable with and begin smashing apps from there. Baby steps…#FlocabChat
— Lee Araoz (@LeeAraoz) October 12, 2016
Thanks to all of our #FlocabChat participants for the great ideas! Don’t forget to join us for our next #FlocabChat on Tuesday, November 15 at 8 PM ET. Details on the chat topic comin’ next week!