I recently teamed up with fellow technology coach and founder of the TeacherCast Educational Network, Jeff Bradbury to offer a webinar session focused on digital learning activities. Our goal was to give our fellow coaches 10 learning activities that they could take into a classroom when working with teachers and students. Lots of these are also great for classroom teachers to use.
If you missed the webinar, you’re in luck: we’re sharing the list of 10 activities here too!
We hope you find something helpful here and we’d love to hear from you if you try any of these activities! Feel free to reach out with a message or tag us on social when you try any of these 10 activities! Tag us on Instagram @kgeducation.ca, Twitter @LeahO77 or Facebook @kgeducation.ca
Emoji Writing
For this activity, you’ll want to take (or source) some photos of everyday objects, then insert an emoji into the “scene”. You might end up with something like these:
I’d suggest making several images like this and allowing students to choose the ones they’d like to use for this activity. The fun begins when students are asked to develop a scenario or story to describe what’s going on in the scene. I encourage students to use who, what, when, where, why and how to add detail to their writing.
Students insert their image onto a slide and then add a text box to describe the photo. With some tools, like Seesaw, students might also have the option of recording their voice to read their scenario back to you (or as an option for early writers to add more details).
Through this activity, students get to do some creative writing, plus they learn a few features of whatever tech tool you choose (ie: how to insert an image, insert a text box, adjust font and size). Keep in mind that students can write just one scenario or as many as they have time for – just provide enough images that they continue to be inspired and engaged!
This fun writing idea was adapted from Kurt Klynen.
Tech Tools
This project works well with a variety of tools. Some tools you might consider include:
- Book Creator
- Google Slides
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Seesaw
Resources
If you’d like students to try emoji writing in Seesaw, use Leah’s Seesaw activity here.
6 Word Memoir
After watching this moving video and reviewing examples of 6-word memoirs, students are challenged to write the story of Raimundo’s life in just 6 words. I usually have them post their creation to a shared Padlet board for my school division where they can see others’ memoirs as well.
Next, students write a 6-word memoir for themselves and design a digital product to share their words. Mine looks like this:
Tech Tools:
- Padlet (for sharing Raimundo’s memoirs across the class, school or division)
- Pixabay (for sourcing copyright-free images)
- for designing memoir graphics:
- Canva
- Google Slides
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Seesaw
- PicCollage
Resources:
I suggest starting with the 6 Word Memoir hyperdoc designed by Sarah Landis and Lisa Highfill and then customizing it to suit your needs.
See examples from Leah’s schools in this blog post
Book Creation
One of my all-time favorite activities to do when visiting a classroom is to create a collaborative class book. Usually, I bring along a favorite mentor text like The OK Book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and we use it to inspire our work.
Each student contributes a page to our book and we put it together digitally. Often, I have students design their page on paper and then photograph it to be included in the digital book. Sometimes, we illustrate on paper and then add text digitally. Sometimes, we design the whole page digitally with images we source online and text they add. Some tools also give the option of adding voice recordings to make your book an audiobook as well!
Students often go on to publish their own writing projects as digital books once they’ve been introduced to this process. I’ve shared some examples in the list of resources below.
Tech Tools
Book Creator is my favourite tool to use for this activity and I appreciate that it is available as an iOS app or web version, but several other tools work for this too.
- Google Slides
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Seesaw
- Mixbook
Resources
How to Create Digital Books
Book Creation with Google Slides
Examples: Digital Publishing with Decker Colony Students
Examples: Student-Created Book Showcase
Are You A Super Hero?
This is one of Jeff’s favorite lessons to do with young students (including a very special group of EduTriplets). Using Google Slides, invite your students to share what they value about themselves and ask them to tell their stories. Halfway in the slide deck is a LEGO Mini-Fig where the students can build THEMSELVES as a real LEGO character.
In the second half of the slide deck, students are asked to get creative and turn themselves into a real SUPER HERO! At the very end of the slide deck is a POP! Figure where students can create their own self-super-hero.
5 Paragraph Podcasts
By the time students reach 4th or 5th grade, they have a pretty good grasp at how to write a 5-paragraph essay, but what comes next? In looking at the SAMR Model, you generally ask the question “what can you do to take the activity to the next level?” So, what do you do with a boring essay?
Enter Jeff’s tech-infused project…the 5-Paragraph Podcasts!
The concept is pretty simple. A 5-paragraph essay consists of an introduction paragraph, 3 supporting paragraphs, and a closing paragraph. What would happen if you put your students into groups of 3 and invited them to create a podcast together.
Project Goals:
- To create a 5-Paragraph Essay on a given topic
- To transform the essay into an audio format (podcast) to be shared within the community
The project might look like this:
Paragraph 1: All students will record an intro podcast having a conversation on the topic
Paragraph 2: Student 1 will record their individual podcast
Paragraph 3: Student 2 will record their individual podcast
Paragraph 4: Student 3 will record their individual podcast
Paragraph 5: All students will record a closing to their podcast as a conversation that includes a closing where they share what they learned about the project or topic.
Tech Tools
One of my favorite applications for this lesson is WeVideo because you can create collaborative projects where more than one student can record and edit at a time. The students would open a WeVideo project that the teacher would assign through Google Classroom. It doesn’t matter the order that they record in because students can edit each individual section as the project progresses.
Resources
Leah has also guided students and teachers with podcasting projects. They’ve tended to be larger-scale productions that take several classes to create, but they’ve been awesome learning experiences.
Free Resource: Podcasting Guide
Example: The Herd’s Point of View: A student-produced podcast
TV Weather Reporter
Are you interested in teaching your students about the weather? How about giving them the opportunity to gain some valuable presentation skills? What if you simply wanted your students to learn a little bit about geography?
In this lesson from Jeff, students can use Google Slides to become TV weather people!
Please click here to check out our blog post and download our free Weather Report template that Jeff used with his middle school students!
Google Drawing Memes
It was my first month teaching a middle school technology class and I didn’t have much prepared to start the school year. What do you do? Our school had a motto that each morning was read to the students to remind them how to best behave in school.
In order to show support for school spirit, we decided to create MEMES using Google Slides (or Drawings) and a little bit of creativity.
Booksnaps
This idea inspired by Tara Martin’s resources, puts a twist on traditional reader response activities.
I like that it allows students to share their ideas and connections to a text in a more visual way, incorporating some digital design skills plus reading skills! This activity works well with all ages and can be done with a variety of texts, including picture books, novels, non-fiction texts, magazine articles, a page of a textbook, research articles, or just about anything else.
When introducing this activity, I like to review exemplars with students, co-construct criteria and then model how to create a booksnap using the tech tool we’ve selected for the activity. Then, students can spend some time reading and pick out the part that resonates with them. I ask them to select something that makes them think, wonder, feel or make a connection. Then, they design their booksnap to meet our criteria.
Tech Tools
This project works well with a variety of tools. Consider what you have access to in your school or district and which tool is most age appropriate. For example, the original idea came from Tara Martin using Snapchat to take the “snap” of the book, but most social media platforms have a terms of use policy that requires users to be 13 years of age or older. Some tools you might consider include:
- Google Slides (Drawings or Jamboard can work too)
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Seesaw
- PicCollage app for iOS
- Social Media such as SnapChat or Instagram
Resources
See student examples from Leah’s schools in these blog posts:
Booksnaps: A Different Kind of Reader Response
Booksnaps by SCS Grade 10
Scavenger Hunts
Scavenger hunts are a great way to have students apply their skills and knowledge by finding examples of the concepts they’ve been working with. A scavenger hunt works well for any grade level and subject area because you can customize your list of scavenger hunt items to whatever skills or knowledge your students are working on.
All you need to do is identify the concepts that you’d like your students to “find”/demonstrate and put the list of items into a template. For example, you might ask students to find: a 4-digit number, multiplication, an increasing pattern. Students can then “hunt” for examples in their notebook, textbook, around the classroom, around the school, or even outdoors if it’s appropriate for your topic and situation. This activity tends to involve some movement, which is a nice added benefit!
I’ve found some good Seesaw scavenger hunt activities created by other teachers and now created some of my own templates to share. The beauty of a tool like Seesaw is that students have many ways to show their examples: they could take a picture, write with pens, type their response or even take a video.
Tech Tools
This project works well with a variety of tools. Some tools you might consider include:
- Book Creator
- Google Slides or Microsoft PowerPoint
- Seesaw
Resources
Here are a few of my favorite scavenger hunt activities in Seesaw, plus my templates that you can customize for your students:
- Single Page Scavenger Hunt Template
- Multipage Scavenger Hunt Template
- Colour Scavenger Hunt by Ronit Shapiro
- Text Features Scavenger Hunt by Mary Klempke
- 3D Shapes Scavenger Hunt Activity by Kirsten Lofton
Fun Things To Do With Google Sites
This year, Jeff’s elementary schools’ Library Media Center decided to take a new direction to not only excite students about learning, but engage them in some pretty awesome digital learning activities. In order to do this, we turned the LMS into the [School] Cinematic Universe! To do this, we used Google Sites to create a virtual “STARK Tower” where all of our lessons are being created.
This concept of using Google Sites for something other than a traditional website isn’t the only thing to use the application for. Google Sites can be used for posters, holiday cards, brochures, and just about any other type of infographic you can think of.
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About Our Guest Author: Jeff Bradbury
Jeff Bradbury is an ISTE Award Winning (2021) and globally-recognized educator, educational broadcaster, public speaker, and entrepreneur whose powerful message has inspired thousands of educators through the TeacherCast Educational Network.
Jeff Bradbury is a Technology Integration Specialist and the creator of the TeacherCast Educational Network. With a background in Music Education, Jeff began performing in front of live audiences at a very early age and grew to love the opportunities he had working with others. This led him to earn his Bachelor of Science in Music Education in 2001 and eventually his Masters in Music Performance in Orchestral Conducting in 2010.
After several years of being a Music Director for both orchestras and opera companies in the New York / Philadelphia region, including an opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall while directing the North Brunswick Twp High School Orchestra, he left the musical stage and began employment as a Technology Coach in a K12 school district and on building the TeacherCast Educational Network.
Created as a passion project to assist teachers in understanding educational technology, Jeff recorded the first TeacherCast Podcast in the summer of 2011. Since then, the TeacherCast Network has been accessed in almost 180 countries and has amassed a following of more than 50,000 followers on Social Media. With more than 1,000 audio and video podcasts recorded featuring more than 500 EdTech Companies and thousands of educators, TeacherCast is rated as one of the top 50 educational websites.
Learn more about Jeff here: https://www.teachercast.net/jeff-bradbury/about-jeff/