Padlet for all!

You can use it for note taking, note sharing, brainstorming, anchor charting, organizational charts, retelling stories, showing their work or thought process, timelines, group work, discussions, the list goes on! You can upload your own pictures, images from the web, or just use words. So what is Padlet? Well it's basically a sticky pad or a cork board style website and app. As the teacher you can create the board and then share it with your students. You can use it to give students information to read, or you can give them the rights to write and post on the pad you share with them. It may seem like a lot of work, complicated, and maybe boring but honestly it is none of those things. It opens up a new kind of collaboration and a new kind of flipped instruction. So here's the 411 to get you started.

Go to padlet.com and create an account if you don't have one already. You'll have to click through a few screens but then it'll put you on your first Padlet to create. You'll have a task bar on your right hand side that will take you through setting it all up. Here's what it'll look like.

After modifying your Padlet you'll choose your People and Privacy settings as well as your options for sharing the created Padlet. This is probably the most important section.

Here is where you'll set your privacy for people searching on the web. You'll also give permissions here for if others will be able to read it only or write/ post to it. This is important for if you have kids posting, make sure you select that they can post.

Here you can add you kids' e-mails to it so they will get the invite to collaborate on it.

A QR code is handy!

From share you can get a link (to put in Google Classroom maybe or on Facebook to share with parents), along with your other sharing options that are more common. You also have the export option where you can save it a myriad of was. I think my favorite is the print option. Then you can write on it, grade it, and send it home for parents to actually see. OR if it's a really good one you can print it and turn it into a poster.

Check out this example I made as a lesson for my kiddos. You could have your kids create this instead though. (If you click on the image it'll take you to Padlet to see how it looks if you're just allowed to view.)

Now let's try one together where you can post a response. So click the image to go to the pad or click here  and double click on the pad. Enter your answer about your favorite holiday tradition- any holiday, any tradition. You'll notice when you double click you have

the option to type an answer and add attachments such as add audio, add video, add an image.

Padlet is a lot of fun for teacher and student and overall it's easy. I hope you check it out and test it out with your kiddos.

Till next time techies!