This learning journey has really pushed me out of my comfort zone and I’m super grateful for it!
There were many frustrating times, and many joyful and rewarding ones too. Overall, I am extremely glad I decided to choose Canva because it has opened an entirely new creative world that I didn’t previously understand!
I feel really confident in the many different skills I have acquired to help me become a better educator for my students to help with engagement and excitement within each lesson :). This project has inspired me to take up more skills online – I’m thinking guitar will be my next challenge! I may even decide to start my own little Canva TikTok page cause why not?!
I’m so happy my friend recommended this class to me, it was time to become more digitally literate and I feel much more equipped to teach lessons with the help of Canva as well as delivering my students content online that they can have access to for the entire year.
Some of the online resources I used this semester to help me learn about Canva & create my blog content were:
Students can write the summary for each chapter & then search for photos that match
This is an incredibly helpful idea because it provides a way to use an existing template in an entirely different way! I love this idea because the students can use their computers to create their own interpretation of each chapter by reporting on the key events from each chapter. They then have the ability to add any lines, arrows, shapes, or other graphics they may want to make the design their own! Lastly, they can add images, icons, or illustrations to visually support their thoughts & ideas!
Create a Design by using a template or make one of your own.
Use ChatGPT to help you write the text for each slide
Add text boxes where you want the data to go.
2. Open Bulk Create
Select “apps” from the left toolbar then click on “bulk create”.
Clear each table
Example: Name each column the title of your “morning slides”
Paste the ChatGPT output into the table
3. Manually Enter Data
Select “Enter Data Manually” instead of uploading a file.
Type each set of data into the provided boxes (like student names, math problems, or writing prompts)
4. Map the Data to Your Design
After entering your data, click on each text box and match it to the correlating data sets.
5. Generate Your Designs:
Click “Continue” in the bottom left corner to allow Canva to generate individual pages for each data set.
You go from 5 to 125 slides in the blink of an eye!
This tool is unbelievable because it very quickly creates entire batches of personalized designs, doesn’t require the prep of a spreadsheet, and is awesome for a range of different things like certificates, flashcards, and custom slides. The amount of time saved by utilizing this simple app in partner with ChatGPT is simply amazing.
This week, I took my learning to everyone’s most loved/hated app – TIKTOK !!
I cannot believe the range and amount of information you can find on there to make the lives of you & your students so much more exciting makes me so happy 😎.
You may need to change the font if it doesn’t exist on Google
Everything is Editable after that!
This tip is new for me because last week I watched a tutorial that said it wasn’t possible to save a Canva presentation to Google Docs – happy I have now learned how!
I will absolutely be using this because I like to have ALL of my materials saved to Google Drive where I can access them forever and easily share them with my coworkers!
This is an incredible way to send a resume, portfolio, or any kind of professional work that you may want to showcase to a potential employer for the future! It is a very easy way to present your work in a way that is easy to digest and that you have the ability to design exactly the way you want it!
Find the posters you’d like (i.e., subjects, quotes, saying
Copy and paste the colour palette image on top of the poster > apply colours to page
Select paint roller from the tool bar and use it to apply style to other pages
This tip is life-saving when it comes to decorating your classroom and filling it with the posters you need and want to share with your students – rather than spending a bunch of money to get packages of materials, you can use what’s free to make it yours!
As we can see, TikTok is a tremendous resource to help us learn more about Canva! There are people from all over the world, with all kinds of different jobs, who are experts in different fields that can give us new skills we may never have even thought of for ourselves!
This week, I decided to take everything I’ve learned so far and make a video that is all encompassing of the new skills I have learned so far!
I went ahead and followed this video to create my own tutorial this week!
In this video, he takes us from beginning to end on how to create a presentation based on the topic you are covering and finding the design you like all the way to the sharing, saving, and presenting steps!
I learned some of the new ways to combine different slideshow templates, how to properly save your presentation depending on what platform you like to use, and more ways to make your presentations engaging and record your presentations!
I have recorded my own step-by-step tutorial to show you every detail of how to make an exciting and engaging presentation for your students!
By choosing a new creator to learn from on YouTube this week, it helped me put all of the pieces of the puzzle together. I was able to dive deeper to connect and build upon some previously learned skills while adding some new ones as well! Everyone learns and explains things a little differently and I found this channel – Charlie’s Lessons to provide a really valuable video, paying attention to all the details!
This week, I decided to continue building on the foundation of skills I have acquired over the past 7 weeks.
]I have previously shared and explored videos from the YouTube Channel: Pocketful of Primary, hosted by Michelle Emerson. Aside from her breadth of knowledge on how to use Canva, she also provides a wide range of advice when it comes to being an educator in general. She has many different playlists containing videos on: Organization & Productivity, Technology, Lesson Plans, and Interviews & Resumes. I highly recommend her content, it is extremely engaging and easy to watch!
This week, I am exploring a different channel called Busy Miss Beebe. Her aim is to assist teachers with the productivity tools they need to live a fulfilling life inside and outside of the classroom!
She breaks down how to access Canva for Educators, and exactly how to create your account. It is free for all educators!
She also breaks down each piece of the menu at the top and the different materials it gives access to.
One of the other points she highlighted was using a feature called Canva Classwork – a feature I hadn’t yet heard of (4:23 of the video).
This tool allows you to actually build your design then ASSIGN it to your students. The video below explains exactly how this process works and how to select your class, subject, and student. Once the assignments are turned in through Canva, you can grade and give feedback to each student in your class. The other cool part is you can allow other students to view each others projects and give them feedback and comments on it as well. We all know that peer-assessment is a great way to motivate students learning, develop a critical lens, and enhance learning through an exchange of ideas.
After an interesting discussion in class about AI and the ways in which it works and can be used in our classroom,
Furthermore, Busy Miss BeeBe also has a video on “Free AI Tools for Teachers”
This week, I decided to get creative and find some new ways to use Canva to make a simple lesson plan come to life!
I used an awesome new screen recording tool called Loom to record my explanation and video! Loom can be used for creating and sharing video in the workplace or personally. I decided to watch the first few videos on the website under the “Getting Started” section that gave me a quick guide on how to use the program – including how to record introductions & presentations!
Rather than just recording the audio as I have in the past with ScreenCastify, I actually recorded the video of myself on camera explaining it as well.
With Loom pinned on your toolbar, this is how you turn on both your camera and microphone:
I wanted to work my way up to this point & I feel it worked very well! I know that when I listen to podcasts, I often like to watch the YouTube or Spotify video that accompanies it. For whatever reason, being able to see the person makes the video that much more engaging and entertaining for the listener!
After I finished recording my video, Loom had a number of suggestions with the help of their AI assistant on how to improve the quality.
It instantly adjusted the video to 1.2x speed which brought it from 27 to 22 minutes. I then selected the “Edit & Trim Video” option:
In this video, I explain the ways that Loom helps improve your audio to make your video sound much smoother and more by removing filler words & silences:
It’s amazing how big of a difference these simple changes can make – it sure makes your videos much sharper and sound much more professional.
In this video, I explain how to bring your lesson plan to life with all sorts of different pictures, elements, graphics, and ways to make a boring task much more enjoyable and dynamic 🙂
After recording this video, I also began thinking about how I could also use this tool to record my lessons ahead of time and allow the students to access them online.
I remember during COVID when I was completing a psychology degree, most of my classes were asynchronous online. For me personally, this style of learning was extremely helpful and effective!
According to the article, asynchronous learning “offers the flexibility to learn at your own pace and without the need for real-time interactions with an instructor”.
My most important takeaway from this article was the point they made about being “accessible to all learners”. They discussed how it provides a significant advantage to those who may have a learning disability.
Sometimes as educators, we have a tendency to overload our students with information and it can be hard for them to try and remember all the steps and instructions correctly.
An solution to this shortcoming is having all of your information accessible online:
Video Lessons/ Recordings
PowerPoints
Worksheets
Additional Resources
Websites for Extra Practice and Information
The sooner we can train our students to use this to these online tools advantage, the better.
Just as we have access to materials in University (UR Courses/Canvas for example), there is no reason we can’t have this for our elementary to high school students as well. Giving the students and their parents unlimited access to our daily lessons, materials, and handouts, worksheets, etc is invaluable.
The school I am currently pre-interning at uses a program called Edsby, students are able to hand in and take pictures of their work here for their parents to view and teachers to mark.
This could be particularly helpful for students that may have certain learning difficulties (hearing, writing, listening, etc.) that would benefit from a different style of delivery.
If you notice that certain students are benefitting from this method of delivery, you may use your discretion to decide how/when to use these methods potentially over others.
Additionally, this is beneficial in the event students are absent, would like to hear the explanation or parts of it again, review the materials during class, or while they are working on a task at home.
Giving unlimited access will assist in collaboration, communication and understanding for your students 🙂
I decided to try a new tool called Animoto for my screen recording & it worked very well! I was hoping to use it for my video, but the free version didn’t quite provide what I needed! I wanted to be able to speed up, edit, adjust, and add audio to my clips that I was unable to do. Instead, I decided tried something else for the first time which was make a TikTok video!
I actually really enjoyed using it because there are so many choices and ways to make your video engaging! Everything from choosing catchy music, to adding different transitions that make the video less choppy and more aesthetic, to all different kinds of texts, colors, backgrounds. I used this website from TikTok to help me learn how to edit!
1. Inserting & Aligning text to the middle of the page using the grid tool
Picking up from where we left off last week, I am going to show you the sweet new tool called “Magic Write” that is basically your brain/schedules new best friend 🙂
Maybe you’ve exhausted the materials that Canva supplies and you still aren’t finding exactly what you’re hoping for. This is where Magic Write comes in …
Also known as your Personal AI assistant there to help you with anything you could possibly want to create/plan/organize.
It could be anything from a lesson plan, to a presentation, to a worksheet, to a exit slip, to an activity. Whatever you may need help with or an idea on – it’s got you covered!
Simply select the “magic write” option from the left side of the toolbar
You will then be asked to enter in what you are hoping to create or need help composing!
I have created an Instagram Reel you can watch by scanning this code to see the steps!
*ps. I know it’s not perfect, but it already took me too many tries LOL – my skills still need work!!
** Side note: I found another handy tool via Instagram from a teacher named Amy McMahon this week called Magic School (check it out if you need help putting ideas into lesson plans, differentiating, writing assessments/feedback, and communicating more clearly) ***
The video below also shows you exactly how to get there!
I created this video with the help of Screencastify which allowed me to show my screen while recording my voice so I could talk you through exactly what I was doing.
I then clipped my recordings in the editor and saved the entire video as an mp4.
After that, I opened YouTube and selected the “Create” button that looks like a video camera with a + (shown in top left of photo).
I then selected “upload video” and dragged my mp4 into the box.
It will then prompt you to answer detail, audience, and visibility questions
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It then chose to allow only users with the link to have access to viewing rather than making my video public.
STEP 3: CHOOSE YOUR LESSON PLAN
I have provided examples from Grade’s 3 & 8 in the video below for different types of math lessons and worksheets!
STEP 4: EDIT & TAILOR THE DESIGN TO MEET YOUR NEEDS/PREFERENCES
In this video, I show you how to change color schemes, add elements, and make the presentation your own!
Did you know that Canva has SECRET FONTS? I’ve rounded up some unique ones that you can use for your next project. Check out this list below: 1. Magazine letters 2. Pink Bubble Gum 3. Neon letters 4. Fluffy letters 5. Bamboo alphabet letters 6. Ice Cream Cone letters 7. @Cocomomo 8. Set:nAFENR3S-dk 9. Tropical letter watercolor illustration Try them out and let me know what you think. 🤗 If you also know some secret Canva fonts, share them in comments section. 🌻 #canva#tipsandhacks#canvasecretfonts#fonts#canvatips#canvahacks#digitalproducts#digitalproductseller#graphicdesign#canvacreator
Next week, I will continue using Canva Design School to show you how to edit lessons you’ve previously created outside of Canva (as pdfs, jpegs, etc.) to enhance their design!
I really enjoyed my learning process on Canva this week, the videos were easy to follow along with, the steps were descriptive and specific. They also did a great job of explaining when and why you may want to use these resources.
I found my process of using Screencastify to be quite simple and super helpful in my explanation of how to access the resources I was trying to describe. In many ways, it can be easier to say and show you how to do things rather than try to type and explain it! It provides a very basic way to make a simple video of your computer screen which is helpful in giving instructions.
It also allows the option for you to have your camera on but I chose not to for the purpose of this video. Once your video is created, you can crop your screen in the editor to capture only the necessary parts you’d like to share. This allows you to hide your top toolbar and the tabs opened up top without having to close anything out. For my next video creation, I would like to add music and possibly some effects so I think I will try to create an Instagram reel instead!
SAMR MODEL
The other great part about this tool is that you could use it to record digital lessons for your students ahead of time. If they are tasked with learning something on their computer, instead of directly teaching them how, you could have them actually using their computers to watch the video and follow along with you as they go! In my current pre-intern experience, every student has their own computer and they all use a program called Edsby that allows them to upload their assignments for grading and to keep the parents in the loop about what they’re working on. There are many times where the students run into different issues when downloading, uploading, and saving their work from different programs. This would be a perfect opportunity to have tutorial videos uploaded on how to complete these tasks rather than answering the same question 35 times (haha).
I know many students (including myself) tend to be visual learners and sometimes need to see things multiple times in order to properly understand. If you create a video lesson, they will be able to watch as many times as they want (even at home!). This is also beneficial if students need to catch up from missing class.
It also provides the option of choice, where you may have students who would rather be shown how to do it directly, which you can do with them as well. Some students also find it easier to use technology rather than write down the steps and then try to follow them – an example of a modification and substitution in the classroom as discussed in our article during class!
Simply copy and paste the image into Canva anywhere ONTOP of your original image.
You can then right click the palette image, select “apply colors to image” and BOOM – you’ve got this gorgeous look:
After finding this trick, I continued exploring “All Day April” on TikTok & found a couple more helpful tips:
Since you want to be wandering about your classroom while teaching your lessons rather than being tied to your computer (obviously) she shares how to use your phone as the remote to control for your presentation slides by scanning the QR code connected to your slideshow. This allows you to go from slide to slide, and use the magic shortcuts such as (curtain calls, the “shhh” emoji telling students to be quiet, and confetti).
She shows you how to take old pdf’s and insert them directly into Canva – this way if you are using some older material you’ve taught or a lesson/worksheet you’ve gotten from a coworker or online, you are able to make it your own very simply. You can switch up the fonts, colors, and formatting as you please.
I will absolutely be revisiting her page for future content and hacks!
My favourite new hack I learned was using AI Integration with the Magic Write tool – which is very similar to ChatGPT! (9:50 in the video). This option is available when using the Doc or Presentation format.
Click the circle in the bottom left corner with the stars and type in “magic write” to select the tool
You can then type in exactly what it is you are looking to create.
In her example she uses: “Write a permission slip for a fourth grade field trip to the Museum of Natural History”.
It will then generate an outlined permission slip for you to edit and use as you please.
This is just another example of how to be extra efficient when creating the necessary forms, slips, letters, and other materials needed on a frequent basis!
Another secret to using this tool is to actually have it write your lesson plans for you with the given topic and time frame you have … more on this later 🙂
The thing I love most about learning from platforms like YouTube and TikTok, is how easy it is to find the videos and how quickly you can learn an entirely new skill! I find it very easy to make sense of this type of content because you can pause the video in order to follow it step by step yourself as you go. Whether you are simply looking to expand your knowledge more generally, or are looking for how to do something specific, both of these platforms can reliably help you find the answer to the question you have! The beauty of both of these resources is that they can be accessed by anyone and anytime, and their videos give a nice demonstration of exactly how you navigate the tools you are aiming to use.
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Create a Design
Create a Design
from the tool bar and use it to apply style to other pages
Elements
Draw
Example Questions to use in the classroom:
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