Flickr

Can you think of ways [|Flickr] can be used to support ELA learning?

I think that Flickr seems fun and entertaining, but it does have its instructional uses. I think that one way it may appeal to ELA is that you can share your written thoughts and ideas as well as pictures to give the visuals that your students may need. It can be used in the classroom, lab setting, or at home at the students' own leisure. There is no pressure; I feel that people often like writing their thoughts instead of speaking them verbally. It is a little freer than sharing your thoughts in the classroom with your peers. It is also a good way to make some projects that students may not get the opportunity to make otherwise, using the toys. (Sara)

I agree with Sara that Flickr can be fun and entertaining, however, it also has it's instructional purposes. I have already created lesson ideas where it can be instructional. I think allowing students to get creative with illustrations for their usual core classes gets the students more excited then just notes or reading. I also think that by being able to share a picture, especially for Social Studies, brings what the students are learning to life. It then has more of an impact. For [|ELA], it can be an excellent journal prompt by using pictures allowing for creativity. A student could create a whole story based on just a picture of something that intrigues them. (Renee)

During this class i have used Flickr to create two slide shows that I used in differtent lessons. The first slide show I created was for the first assignment for the language arts and technology which was based in the book [|Nine Oclock Lullabye]. The second I created as part of my midterm project with a theme of [|ladybugs]. I love using the tools offered at Flickr, I can think of using this tools in many content areas such as, ELA. science, social studies and math. (aimee peguero)

Flickr has become part of almost every lesson I teach. I teach living environment and my students know that at the beginning of each section ( Evolution, Reproduction, etc.) they need to create an assignment in Flickr and present it to the class. I find that the visual association of many difficult scientific terms become easier for students to remember. Another benefit is that they have fun creating the assignment and try to out do each other. (JP Lang)

Supporting ELA Learning through the use of Flickr Tools with students in an Alternate Assessment Classrooms by: Dianne Van Dunk

English Language Arts

http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/ela/elastandards/amap.html

New York State Alternate Assessment Guiding Principles http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai/ela/elastandards/guide.html

Students enjoy taking pictures of themselves and their classmates. Although many students may not be able to write about the pictures the can describe the pictures and use picture symbols Mayer-Johnson BoardMaker to assist in their writing. Using the Flickr Tools to meet the criteria in the ELA Standards. Having students make a magazine cover about a classmate and students writing about it. The teacher can have a class discussion about different magazine covers.

Students can also make comic strips of themselves and their classmates. The teacher can have different students read about their classmates wrote.

The teacher can take historical pictures and use Flickr Tools to make the presentation more interesting for the students. For example making a mosaic of events in history. A topic such as Famous American Woman or Famous African American, student can learn and write about this and have a class discussion and / or presentation.

Flickr adds a new dimension to teaching. The classrooms at my school is teeming with various posters. With Flickr, posters can now be digitalized and saved for prosperity since all posters are normally removed at the end of the school year. But not only posters can be digitalized: I have used my digital camera to 'flickerize' 3-D models. And these can be seen year after year by new students and the public: [|http://www.flickr.com/photos/70421145@N00/.] Even my flickr icon, a bears head, was taken from a students work. It is a source of great pride and admiration when students see their work published online.

The students have also used the flickr toys, http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/ in preparing their work- look carefully at their published works.

I have also used Flickr as a source of extra-credits- I created new Flickr groups and students are able to post work only after I send them an invitation. Also there is the potential to make comments about other students work.

Flickr has basically created a new medium of expression for students- publishing their work online for the public or just their classmates. Louis Morgan