Padlet

I'm excited to join Margaret Simon and other friends in this DigiLit Sunday post. Check her blog for others writing about technology in the classroom. 

This week we wrapped up our Mock Caldecott unit. Well, truly we have one book left. However it isn't released until next week, so we finished the rest of the unit. As we read 

The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, I couldn't help but feel a connection to Roget. He loved order, lists with words marching along in a neat line. And I smiled, and shared with my students the connection I felt with this man who had a fondness for words.

I love words, of course, but I also love order. My husband would disagree, pointing out the mess I can make at home on a regular basis. The classroom, however, is a different story. Order rules the day. My students know that stacks of paper make me crazy. My heart speeds up, I feel anxious, overwhelmed. Even our lunch count magnets I prefer to be in number order, not jumbled up. I like things put away, no stacks. And it is for these reasons and more that Padlet is my new favorite website.

In our Mock Caldecott unit I have students take notes on every book they read. Last year they would record their reactions on index cards and I held on to those cards for them. They could go back, reflect on their reactions to books, and then pick their favorites at the end of the unit. However, almost eighty students, twenty books, and the stacks of index cards made my heart speed up. So this year, enter Padlet.

The students have had fun recording their thoughts on a new Padlet for each book. (They are archived on our class blog HERE.) I've loved scrolling through to assess their thoughts and having no stacks upon any tables in my room. It's a win-win for everyone.

And Padlet? I think we've just begun to scratch the surface on the possible uses. I'm intrigued by Katie Muhtaris's uses in her room, some of which she wrote about HERE. I think this site and I are going to get along just fine.