September - Padlet, What a Tool!

     Part of the reason I love Inspired Learning so much, is that I constantly leave feeling inspired. One of the tools we were introduced to was Padlet. This is Wallwisher aka an electronic planning page, idea storage house for students. As we are transitioning into the new Lucy Calkins materials this year, I am having to change how I teach/think about teaching. This tool became of immediate use as we embarked on Lucy's first book. The students needed to generate a list of ideas/small moments that they could turn into a realistic fiction story. Instead of doing this planning in their notebook, I had them do it on Padlet. It was a huge success. Not only does Padlet link to their Google accounts so they don't have to register, but it will house this idea wall for the rest of the year so they can always refer back to it for ideas. There is no losing it or misplacing it, it is housed at all times online for their individual use. It also helped some of my students to generate more ideas because they weren't caught up in the pencil/paper work. They were able to click and add a new idea immediately.
     I am excited to use this tool moving forward as a successful option for student planning. I am excited by the work they have done so far, and I can't wait to see the stories that they generate from this first brainstorm of ideas.