Une Carte Postale

The original lesson:

In this particular lesson, my students learn about the Loire Valley and the many French castles found there. They also study traveling vocabulary as well as several grammatical structures including "il y a, depuis, savoir et connaître." When I first started teaching, I had students make a post card out of scrapbook materials and then type the written portion. Once my school went to 1:1 iPads, I had the students use a Post Card maker app to complete the project, but now that requires approval and access to the app from the technology department.

What I changed:

When Christine and I met, she suggested that I show students how to make a digital post card in Keynote. The students could add interesting features such as text rolling in, fireworks, etc and make the card more aesthetically pleasing and attention getting. This was such a an easy option for the project and the technology only enhanced the work; it didn't compete with or interfere with the French language--which sometimes happens.

The impact on student learning:

When I showed the Keynote features to the kids, they had a blast! They were experimenting with it and having so much fun in the process! I was also happy that I could introduce new learning to students that could be transferable to other content areas.

#ELCO