12 Days Of Ideas I Got From TIES 2016: #1 Pechaflickr

I just attended the TIES 2016, an Educational Technology Conference, and was inspired by awesome educators and their awesome ideas. Over the next 12 days, I will post 12 things (or more???) I learned and plan to use in my own classroom or school.

Here we go!

#1 Pechaflickr

Here's the skinny, courtesy of Pechaflickr:

pechaflickr = the sound of random flickring

Can you improv a coherent presentation from images you have never seen?

Enter a tag, press play, and see how well you can communicate a coherent message illustrated by 20 random photos, each one on screen for 20 seconds. Advanced options let you change the number of images and/or the timing.

Basically, the app generates and displays random pictures on a topic you choose (write it in the pink "dog" box) and the idea is to have students create a "on the spot" (ad lib) story about each image that comes together into a (hopefully) coherent presentation.

Here are some ideas on how teachers can use Pechaflickr in their classroom:

1. New Concept Introduction - Instead of asking students about what they know about something, assess their prior knowledge in a quick, fast paced, and fun way! Think about it. The images will activate the neural connections in the brain and bring out some misconceptions. In addition, students are learning to think on their feet and present to an audience of their peers. To lower anxiety associated with presenting, you can have teams of 3-4 students come up and alternate describing pictures.

2. Vocabulary - you can choose a big concept as a theme and ask students to use newly learned words to describe the pictures that come up. You can gamify it by giving teams points for using more new terms and you can require them to use at least 1 (2 or 3 for higher grades?) new term per image.

3. Icebreaker - pick a random pop culture thing or fad or something funny and have kids improvise and create. At #TIES16 Dean Shareski used the word "beard." Hilarity followed...

4. Brain Breaks

Benefits?

Collaborative, meaningful learning in a fun, fast paced way all the while developing 21st century skills (creativity, communication and all that jazz). Just sayin'...

There you be. Can you use Pechaflickr in your classroom? Can you think of other ways you can use it? Please share so we can level up together. After all, I showed you mine...

You Have The Power To Change The World. Use It Often.