Empowering your students - one padlet page at a time.

What if I told you by creating one simple Padlet page you could totally transform your whole classroom in one week or less, sound interesting?

The other day we were shown a page that some teachers at MOSAIC Elementary in Mehlville were using. At first glance, it was like any other until I leaned in and really studied it. What I saw was beyond what I thought possible.

What you see above is a sample we recreated based on the original image. 

At the beginning of each week, the teacher creates a new Padlet page. The purpose of the page is always stated at the top, for this idea the purpose always remains the same.

The student's only post to this particular board using one of two categories, strength or coach.
     Strength - Use this to indicate something you are pretty good at. This could range from posting to Seesaw, accessing an online resource, a subtraction method and on from there.
     Coach - This heading would be used when you need someone to come over and give you a little help. The idea of an academic coach could be new for the kids, a little explanation and modeling would be necessary.

Throughout the week the kids reference this page when they need a little coaching and to post about things others can come to them about. This Padlet is totally student-run and think of how these two categories could transform your classroom today.

This idea goes right along with an article we have been reading in ELITE this week about moving from engagement to empowerment. Using Padlet is a quick way to start building the capacity of your class today. I love the idea of empowering the kids to take steps in building a tighter community within the classroom. While the two categories are academic I think the impact goes much deeper.

This idea grew from a picture that Craig Hamby showed us after his visit to MOSAIC. I later talked with Rob George who helped me focus this idea. At the end of the day, Tara Sparks helped us craft some of these ideas you see above. This illustrates the development of an idea, we can't do it alone, it always takes a team.

Interested creating a Padlet? Check out this post.
Have you seen the newest updates just released? These new elements allow your kids some pretty impressive ways to make their ideas and thinking visible.