Google Photos can be used in many ways in teaching and learning. Students can use pictures to illustrate their writing, create a story, and even make inferences. These are only a few ideas but there are countless more.
I thought about having students illustrate their compositions in order to have them be more interested in writing. Unfortunately, a lot of students do not care about writing too much. Consequently, they do not score well when they are assessed in writing. I think that if they are able to illustrate their narrative compositions that would get them excited about writing. Expository compositions can also be illustrated using Google Photos which will cause more enthusiasm among students. Students spend so much time on social media that they are not too interested in writing if it is not accompanied by images. Google Photos would solve that problem.
Another way that Google Photos can be used is to accompany a story. Once a year our students are asked to write a story for a writing contest. I think that using photos to go along with their story will create more interest among the students. I am not sure that the photos will be admissible in the contest, but the students can use them to present to the class. I enjoyed creating my short story using the photos that I am sure that students of all ages would do the same.
Students do not test well on inferences and pictures are great to use when it come to inferences. To introduce pictures for inferencing, the teacher can first share photos whole group and ask the students what they think the person in the photos are feeling and justify their answers using the clues in the pictures. When the students become pretty good at this whole group the teacher can then place them in a literacy station to have students answer inferencing questions based on the photos. The students that continue to struggle may need to work in a small group with the teacher guiding them. The teacher may also upload photos in Edmodo to create an assignment where students can make inferences based on the photos.
I thought that using Google Photos was going to take me quite a while to search and find pictures, but locating the photos was actually easy and quick. Using the photos for learning and teaching will definitely make learning and teaching more interesting.
Susie,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that using Google photos, student would be more interested creating compositions than only writing. Regarding to search photos for completing the assignment to create an album was not so easy for me. Although the process was easy, in my case, the number of photos with characteristics that I was looking for was so limited because the rights uses. Thanks for sharing.
Maria
Susan,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your ideas for how you would implement Google Photos in the educational setting for teaching and learning. I really like your ideas for using Google Photos to help incorporate student writing. This seems like a great way to take a quick formative assessment on student learning. Thank you for sharing your smart ideas. :o)
All the best. :o)
-Melissa Holt-
Hey Susie,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post this week. I think you had a good idea with using Google Photos to help assist students with inferencing. My girlfriend and I were just talking about students poor inferencing skills earlier this week. This is definitely an idea that I will share with her!
Hello Susie,
ReplyDeleteI like how you explained ways to use Google photos to engage students more in their writing, but sadly writing is one of the necessities for even those students of mine who have no desire to do so in my English class. I would like to incorporate your idea of using Google photos for writing and have my students use photos as part of the "brainstorming" process; having students look up photos relating to the topic they need to address and write out how their pictures relate to the topic. Having students form a visual connection and begin to connect it in writing will definitely have them begin to move in the right direction of completing their writing tasks. Thanks for the ideas!
Susie,
ReplyDeleteI like your idea about using Google Photos for making inferences. This skill is of vital importance for our students to understand. I like how they would look at the picture and describe how the person is feeling just by looking at the clues. This is an idea I will definitely use with my students.