Day 4: May 14: Assigned Blogpost
Canva has been such a helpful tool in both my personal and professional life.
This week, I took a step back to think about how often I actually use it for posters, lesson plans, presentations, school assignments, instagram posts, EVERYTHING. You can use it for pretty much everything visual. Its a free website that allows you to make very professional-looking products.
It has templates for presentations, flyers, instagram posts, etc, with infographics and free images.
How to use it:
- Sign up for a canva account
- Choose the type of project you want to make (slideshow, worksheet, poster, etc)
- Choose a ready-made template or make one from scratch
- Use the tools on the left-hand side to add images, illustrations, shapes, colours and text.
- Download your final-product into whatever format you want.
How I use Canva in my professional life:
- I designed worksheets for students from scratch
- Presentations to coincide with my lessons
- Games
- Event posters and announcements
- checklists
I used Canava for every single lesson during my three-week block last semester. I made really fun presentations that aided in my teaching significantly. I added fun text, videos, and effects.
The SAMR model in the classroom:
- Substitution: replace paper worksheets with slides
- Augmentation: add interactive elements/audio/video clips
- Modification: Students can work together on digital projects/group posters
- Rediniteion: Students can create visual essays, digital portfolios, and even their own websites with canva
I have found that Canva is especially helpful with visual learners and EAL students.
Conclusion:
At this point in time, I don’t understand why teachers would not be maximizing their use of such a great tool. I cannot imagine how boring my lessons would have been with the help of Canva, or how long I would search the internet for a specific worksheet that fits my lesson, instead of just creating it myself on Canva! Its a 10/10, definitely recommend!
Hey! I totally agree. Canva has been a game changer for educators. This tool allows lessons to be more engaging and far more visually apealing. Thanks for sharing how you use it! It was a very inspiring read.