Revolutionize Classroom Posters and Bulletin Boards with QR Codes

Mission:  

To make old posters in my classroom more interactive and interesting.

Tech Edventure:  

In this previous post, I talked about how I placed QR codes on every word on my vocabulary word wall.  This school year I plan on doing something similar, but to many of the posters in my classroom.  I'll have four or five iPads in my room and students will be able to scan these posters if they have free time.

For example, I have this ancient Bo Jackson reading poster that I proudly display every year.  Sadly, the students have no idea who he is!  

I found a great webpage that gave a brief summary of him and made a QR code that directs to that page.  If you have a QR code reader on your smart phone or tablet, you can even scan this on your computer screen.

Visuals that I plan to add QR codes to at the beginning of this school year:

1.  Native American bulletin board

2.  Math terms poster

3.  Parts of speech pencils

Outcome:

Most teachers will agree that for as much time as it takes teachers to put posters up in their rooms every year, these posters seem to go unnoticed.  By adding QR codes to posters and bulletin boards, students will become more interactive with and learn more and more about the visuals that surround them all year.

A Quick Way to Make Your Own Groups in Class with Team Maker

Mission:  

To quickly put your students into groups and display in front of the class so students can see the groups.

Tech Edventure:


Team Maker is a site I recently found to break the class into groups.

This is what you will you see when you first get to the site.  Unless you want to name your students after every character of The Office, I'd suggest quickly changing their names.

I decided the best way to do this quickly would be to just type in their student numbers.  I also changed what the team names are based on.

When you click on Output format you have three options (as seen below).

Here are how all three turn out and the advantages / disadvantages of each:

Show Preview (HTML) - You would have to scan through and not be able to see all of the teams at once.

Save as Excel (CSV) - This may be the best option for a complete overview, especially if projecting in front of the class.

New Window (HTML) - Shows almost all of the teams in an average size class.

Outcome:

I think this is a fun and quick way to split students into groups.  What sites do you use to make your own groups?