Tech Talk: Making the Most of Technology in Your Classroom Part 2: Presentation and Publication Tools Shelley Martin-Young Publishing students' work might be the last step in the writing process, but it is still an important part that is often overlooked. Students put time and effort into their writing and having a purpose for that writing can be a factor that motivates the reluctant writer. If students know that they will have an authentic audience for their writing, they are more likely to put extra time and effort into their work. Being able to have a goal to work towards keeps even the most reluctant writer in your class interested in the sometimes-difficult process. Celebrating our young authors is vital to the writing classroom. Publishing is the fun part where students can actually see all of their hard work in print. Publishing can be as simple as typing their final piece in a word document and adding illustrations and a construction paper cover, hanging their work in the hallway where everyone can see it, creating a class book of students' work, or reading their work to other students and parents. The use of technology is another important and easy way to publish students’ work. For the remainder of this piece I will include my favorite presentation and publication tools. Canva is one of the very best free tools for presenting and publishing students’ work. Canva allows students to make flyers, posters, infographics, magazine covers and more. This is a free website that lets your students use the hundreds of templates that are available, or to design their own creations. Canva has an unlimited supply of images, photo filters, fonts, icons, shapes, and templates. This site is easy to use and a great place to allow your students to make their work beautiful. As a matter of fact, many of The Oklahoma Reader's pages are designed using Canva. See the cover below as an example. Another perk of Canva is the Teacher Materials page. Teachers can look for suggestions and lesson plans from other teachers. You can access the Canva website here.
Adobe Spark is another tool that will work wonderfully in assisting your students in publishing their work. While Adobe Spark does have paid versions, the free version has plenty to help your students make their work eye-catching and more appealing. Adobe Spark allows your students to make photo journals, movies, infographics, portfolios, flyers, and much more. Adobe Spark will allow students' stories to come to life. It is easy for students to use and its ease makes it very engaging for students. Like Canva, Adobe Spark offers easy templates, and lesson plans for the teacher. Adobe Spark has safety measures in place that allow sharing students' creations
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