Please use this button on your site for DigiLit Sunday posts
In an attempt to get more participation in DigiLit Sunday, I tweeted out a topic this week, One Little Word. My students worked on their OLW projects the first few days of our return from break. I think this helped them focus and get excited about a new year.
As usual, I offered choices for their project. But for their blog posts, I had three requirements: an image, commentary, and poem. Many chose to write acrostic poems. Most of them chose to use Canva after I showed them how it worked.
Canva is a platform where you can create posters. We did not print the posters, but I uploaded them into their blog posts. Using thesaurus.com, they found synonyms for their words and in some cases, changed their word to one found in the search.
I have been thinking a lot about digital literacies, in particular visual literacies. How does the image convey meaning? I was careful to ask my students, “When you think of your word, what is the image you see?” For Jacob, his word Believe meant blue ocean water. For Madison, her word Effort was communicated by a rocket. Vannisa found a word that connected her interest in sleep (her passion project topic) and her zodiac sign (Pisces) by choosing Dream. She worked with the shape tools of Canva to create a cloud behind her word.
Kielan supported her choice of a star image (her word is Sparkle) with this piece of writing: “There are over a billion stars in the sky. Out of all those stars, there is one particular star that stands out from the rest. All those stars are one color, but this star is all colors. Blue, Red, Green, Purple, you name it. I want to be just like that star. I want to be bold, stand out, sparkle, and be like no other.”
Believe by Jacob
Dream by Vannisa
Effort by Madison
Link up your DigiLit Sunday posts. Topic for next week: Balance (of digital and nondigital)
Reflections on the Teche 
These are just beautiful, Margaret – I’m always so inspired by what you are able to do with tech in the classroom!
Lovely visuals … and ideas …
[…] Simon has invited bloggers to share their OLWs on her DigiLit Sunday Roundup today. Please be sure to visit her there to see her students’ Canva […]
Thanks for the encouragement, Margaret! As always, your students amaze me.
Margaret,
Your posts are always a great source for student mentor texts! What a strong beginning for 2016! ❤
Color says so much. It pulls at an emotional thread inside us, and it’s personal, just like our OLWs. It helps get to meaning as well. How we “see” things involve all our senses. Your students provide a great model for mine. Thank you!
Not sure why I didn’t really tune in to color, but I remember Madison was intentional about black because it means space.
[…] morning I played around with my One Little Word, digitally. Margaret Simon’s DigiLit Sunday link up inspired an exploration of color and […]
I’ve really been giving visual literacy some thought now that we’ve been talking about it. It’s not something that’s usually on my radar, but I am aware that my blog posts with images are better received. Images help people understand where you’re coming from–what’s in your mind.
Margaret, I am not sure how I missed commenting on this post so I will add one now. Images do convey meaning that is why I am constantly creating. There is a strength connected with a visual. Others gravitate toward them so asking your students to do so at the start of the year is a wonderful passion project. Can you please ask Madison if I can include her image in the next gallery and send me a DM or tweet after you speak with her? Effort is a strong OLW. Thanks for sharing.