Ten Ways to Use Pic Collage in the Classroom

One of my favorite apps to use as of late has been Pic Collage! My own kids use it at home, though not for educational purposes. I have found many fun ways to use it in the classroom. I love it because the students have choice in how they want to create their pic collage and they can show off their creativity. It is super easy for them to save their finished product to their camera roll and then export it from their. They have uploaded their creations to Schoology, Google Drive, Keynote, Explain Everything, etc. You can send your pic to Twitter or send it via email.  There are just a variety of ways to use your pics!

The one thing to caution you about is that there is a social media aspect to the app. I didn't know this right away. When I found this out, I had my students set their accounts to private to avoid any issues.

Below are some of he ways that I have used Pic Collage in the classroom...

10.  Students created pic collages about their Genius Hour topics and embedded them within their presentations. They would add the image to a keynote or website to showcase their topic. These were a great way for the students to show off their creativity and what they learned about their topic. 

9. A new twist on the old "genre poster." When studying genres, each student was given a genre to research with a partner. They added photos of different texts that matched their genre and added some text that explained their genre to create a genre poster. We then uploaded each genre poster to Schoology so that everyone could access them.  

8. During our read aloud of "Rump-The True Story of Rumpelstiltskin" the students created a settings poster. They added photos of the different settings from the story and labeled them with the text feature on Pic Collage. The students came up with beautiful setting posters for our read aloud. 

7. At the end of the month, students can create a pic collage of the books that they read that month. They could do this at the end of a grading period or even at the end of the year. They could then be saved to their camera roll and then uploaded to their Google Drive portfolio. 

6. Sequencing events in a story! Students can sequence the events in a story by adding pics to show the most important events from a story. They can then add transition words to show how the plot progressed over time. Students could then write a summary about the text that matches their Pic Collage. 

5. #piccollage Another way that we have used Pic Collage is to simply use it as a way to post on Twitter. I recently introduced #5BookFriday in my classroom after reading about it on a blog.  On Fridays, I introduce 5 books to my students and get some excitement going around the 5 titles. I then take a picture of the books or the students with the books and create a Pic Collage to post on Twitter or in my weekly newsletter. 

4. Poetry! Students created poems about our African Dwarf Frog...Squirt... that lived a short life. They wrote odes to Squirt and some students chose to create their poem on Pic Collage. Here is a little sample...they were cute!

3. One of the choices for word study is for students to take their word study words, type them into Pic Collage, and then add pictures that illustrate the words. Students love all of the choices that go along with Pic Collage and they do not even realize that they are studying their word study words because they are having so much fun creating their collages. 

2. Another way to use Pic Collage is to have students find examples of figurative language in their books and create a collage about onomatopoeia, similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, etc. They can then share out their examples with other students in the class and students can check to see if they identified the figurative language correctly. They can save it to their camera roll and then email me the pic that I can easily assess. 

1. Nonfiction Text Feature Posters! Students can find examples of nonfiction text features in books, take a picture of it on their iPad, and create a nonfiction text feature pic collage. They can add text to identify each feature. A great twist on our nonfiction text feature book! 

The possibilities are endless and FUN! 

Genius Hour...One Year Later!

 

     I have been madly getting ready for a Genius Hour presentation at the TIES 2014 Conference in MN next week with a colleague of mine and I got to thinking that it was just over a year ago when I started exploring Genius Hour. I was looking for a "choice unit" that my gifted coordinator wanted us to incorporate into our full-day gifted program. I didn't even know what a "choice unit" was, but I had some ideas in my head.
     I had used Envision units in my classroom in the past with a fair amount of student enthusiasm. Some of the students loved the creativity and application to the real world, some hated the work and the organization that went along with it, and some just completed it because it was assigned. All of the final projects were always stellar...(or mostly stellar) and the students would walk away proud of their work.
     I then experimented with Project Based Learning(PBL). I had been awarded an amazing technology grant and had to come up with 6 project based learning projects for grades K-5. I was able to do this using a Project Based Learning framework and I was able to incorporate the use of technology into all of these projects. We studied seasons in Kindergarten, habitats in 1st grade, nutrition in 2nd grade, free choice related to STEM in 3rd and 5th grade, and designing a park in 4th grade. The projects all turned out well, with just a "little bit" of stress along the way, and a total of 18 different in-class parent observations. Yes, it was insane...but I learned quite a bit, and was able to incorporate technology into classroom projects for the first time ever.  
    Then I happened upon Genius Hour. I had happened upon a post about Genius Hour on Pinterest that looked intriguing. I decided to finally take a close look at it in December of last year. I put together a plan and had NO IDEA WHAT TO EXPECT! We started it in January and at first they literally groaned about the thought of another project. I was a bit worried, but I persevered. After two weeks of introducing Genius Hour and working on it in class, the students had done a complete 180! They were begging to have Genius Hour, begging to have more work time, asking if they could work on it at home(yes!), getting together for Genius Hour playdates(not kidding about this), and had a new enthusiasm about learning. I couldn't believe the student engagement and I began to truly see the value about voice and choice. I am now on my 3rd round of Genius Hour since January and I have tweaked it each time. I have learned just as much as the students and continue to grow as a teacher. I have given students even more choice throughout the process, have continually refined my lessons on how to pick a "deep question," conferred with students one-on-one and guided them along the way, created ways for students to authentically reflect on their progress, given students chances to share their work locally and globally, provided opportunities for the students to collaborate and share their knowledge about creating products like websites, Prezi's, Keynotes, iMovies, etc, and continued to stress that this is a PROCESS. I'm expecting to see growth each time they complete a Genius Hour cycle, both from the students and from myself. The students have commented so many times..."I didn't know anything about any of this in September and now I can make my own website/keynote/Prezi/Nearpod/iMovie about my topic." We are finishing up presenting over the next couple of weeks and I'm already amazed about the ideas that they have already for the next round of Genius Hour. This is personalized learning at its finest and it is amazing to watch the students shine as they share their projects. It makes me so proud of them!