Google Photos is another tool offered by Google that allows
users to store and share photos online. This tool is good for someone who might
want to store their photos online to have access to them wherever the person
might be, it can also be good for sharing photos with someone online, like a
family member who does not live in the same city as you. Most importantly,
Google Photos can be a great tool to use in the classroom! Teachers can use Google Photos for teaching and learning by having
students create visual projects and portfolios, to have students participate in
visual storytelling and essays and for vocabulary building activities.
I am a third grade teacher and I think my students would do well
with photo sharing and creating projects using Google Photos. The first
activity I would do with this tool is have students create visual projects and
portfolios. I think this could be great to use with a science unit based on
elements. The students would create a project about different elements that are
in different foods and can use pictures to illustrate that along with what the
elements actually look.
Another way I would like to use Google Photos with my third
grade class is for my students to have the students participate in visual
storytelling by creating essays with pictures. Much like we did in blog 17, I
would like my students to take their own pictures over the course of a weekend
and then use those pictures to tell a story. For example, in my blog 17 I
created a story about a busy teacher trying to decorate her house for Christmas
during Thanksgiving break. Using pictures of a wreath, ornaments, Christmas
lights, hot cocoa and slippers, I was able to illustrate my story with photos
and I was able to share that story with my classmates online.
A third way I would like to use Google Photos in my third grade
classroom would be to use it as a tool for vocabulary building. An idea I had
to build vocabulary through pictures is to use a weekly vocabulary word. For
the weekly word, students will have homework on Monday night to take a picture
of themselves or something in their home that represents the meaning of the
word. For example, if the word of the week is compassion, they would go home
and look up the meaning of the word and then can take a picture of themselves
doing something compassionate, like giving their dog dinner. They can add a note
to their picture explaining why the action shows compassion.
Google Photos is a great tool for teaching and I look forward to
using it in the future!
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful way to use Google Photos with your 3rd graders. I like how you think outside the box to incorporate in your class ideas to your students, where they will fill motivated to learn. The saying that “A Picture is worth a thousand words”, is so relevant with your ideas. You shared with us the idea of having the students create visual storytelling and essays from the photos/pictures that they will be sharing and creating in Google Photos. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your wonderful ideas on using Google photos in the classroom. I especially liked you suggestion for vocabulary with real world pictures that they search, this helps them extend the vocabulary and you are able to assess their understanding. I also like your suggestion for using photos in science projects. Great ideas!
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteI, too, thought that Google Photos was a great program to use for student portfolios. It is a way to showcase our students' work and expand the audience it reaches. No longer, will student creations be simply posted on a wall in a hallway to be viewed during parent night. Now, through Google Photos, we can share their work with pretty much any audience through the sharing of a link.
Hi Jessica, I agree with you Google Photos is an excellent tool that allows the users to store photos online and view them later using an electronic devise. You are right this tool is a great resource that teachers can use in the classroom allowing the students to create visual storytelling , essays, and vocabulary building activities.
ReplyDeleteJessica,
ReplyDeleteI really like your idea about students creating a storyline from a few photos. This would be great writing project about inferences. Students have a hard time with inferences and we can start a writing project by displaying several photos and letting the students come up with a story about what they think the pictures relate to each other. Students would receive different writing prompts so all the stories are different but they are all connected by the pictures in the album. I am definitely going to use this one with my students Thanks for sharing.
Those are great ways to use Google Photos in the classroom. Most of our students do relay on visuals when learning vocabulary therefore using Google Photos to strengthen their vocabulary skills will be a great idea and resource in the classroom. Using Google Photos for storytelling would also be a good idea.
ReplyDelete