Do you ever have one of those moments... one of those ideas... where you go "I'm a freaking genius!"
I have one....... maybe every 5 years..... if I'm lucky.
I had one this week.
For the last two years I've felt like I was pulling teeth, begging my students to send/bring me pictures for the Yearbook.
My idea?
I started a Facebook account for me as a teacher - very restricted - very professional - and I'm inviting my kiddos to be friends. They can tag me in a photo and Facebook sends me an email with a link to the photo. I then drag that picture to my computer and - BAM - I have pictures for the yearbook!
I set everything up and gave 4 of my classes time to go onto FB and tag photos for the yearbook. (Maybe 10 minutes per class today.)
The result? From what they did in school and since they've been home I have over 80 pictures.
GREAT pictures. Pictures from in school, at recess, field trips, and best of all outside activities. Kids in my school do such a range of activities: football, basketball, baseball, soccer, volleyball, hockey, tennis, golf, skateboarding, skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, cross country, track, rodeo, ice skating.... the list goes on and on.
In the last two years it was all I could do to get ANY pictures. Now I have a bunch of great pictures and more on the way. I even have pictures from the out-of-school activities which I never had before.
This works because FB is something the kids use all the time - it is part of their lives and part of their "social networking." They already take pictures. They already load them onto FB. Now they just have to click a few times and they can submit pictures to me. It's practical, easy and relates to what they're already doing. I'm also using it to teach responsible use.
That was my one genius idea for the next 5 years.
I think it was well spent.