One Wall for All!

    

    Communication, Critical thinking, Creativity, and Collaboration are known as the 4C skills in the new education era. Teachers are no longer seen as the main resource and actor in a classroom. To me, as an English teacher, enabling my students to gain 4C skills is one of my teaching goals. It is likely to promote these skills in class because English is a communication tool. Students are expected to use English to communicate and express their ideas. It is obvious that they are going to sharpen their critical thinking, creativity, communication, and collaboration skills during the learning process. Our task is to facilitate them to have such a learning process and Padlet will help us to do it! 😁

    Padlet is an online board that can be a place for teachers and students to post texts, videos, images, audio, links, or documents. Interestingly, it is also possible to take a picture, record a video, record audio, and even record your screen! 

    There are many ways to use Padlet in the class! We can explore the templates in the gallery section to get ideas on how to efficiently use this platform. I used Padlet once in my online class last year, however, I have just found that Padlet can do more than I imagined 😎. before I present how the templates in the gallery inspire me to use Padlet in the future, I will share with you what I did in my class last year.

    I asked my students (9th graders) to comment on a question I posted on Padlet. I was using a procedure spoken text (video) on how to make yogurt for a listening lesson in the class. The question in the Padlet was meant to brainstorm the students before they listen to the video. At that time, the students were engaged in the topic. I did this activity to activate their schemata about the topic they are going to listen to in the video. I think I did not efficiently make use of Padlet in my class. Now that I am trying to explore this app, I found that there are actually more things I can do with it! Here are some ideas I can apply in my future class.

💨 Creating a Written Online Group Discussion

    I believe encouraging students to express their opinion and thoughts will promote their critical thinking and also communication skills. We can prompt the discussion before or after listening or reading lesson. For example, teachers can ask students to discuss in pairs or in a small group, then students post their discussion results on Padlet. By doing this, students will be able to see what other students think about the discussion topic. They will not only learn how to report a discussion result but also broaden their horizons about other people's perspectives and learn from that. 

💨 Assigning Students for a Group Work 

    To enable students to work collaboratively, teachers can create a group task and use Padlet to collect it. The template above is a writing task, but remember that we can also upload links, images, audio, and videos. I want to try to group my students and instruct them to create a podcast and attach the podcast link to the Padlet wall. Then, using the podcast they created in the listening section. Such recognition will motivate students to do their best in completing their tasks.  

💨 Assigning Students for a Collaborative Creative Writing 

    I used to ask my students to do a story chain in a class. They wrote one sentence to continue a story they made up. It is fun for the students to collaboratively construct a story plot. It may end unexpectedly! Now that I know Padlet can replace the whiteboard in front of the class, I will use it in the next story chain time! 

💨 Assigning students for a book report 

    Yes, it is not over yet! Padlet will allow us to wildly explore our creativity to create a lesson activity. Asking students to read a book and report it on the Padlet wall will give them a chance to practice their critical thinking. The task later can also be a summary booklist that can be used by students to choose a book for their reading list. 

💨 Assigning students for making wishing cards

    Just one more idea 😆! This idea comes to me as writing a simple wishing card is one of the learning outcomes my students need to pass in my country. The students can create a simple wishing card, such as a birthday card, thank you card, or congratulation card by searching for an image and writing their wish in the caption then sharing it on the Padlet wall. 

    I am starting to think that the use of Padlet is endless! It is possible for us to post links on this wallboard, so I believe it is possible to create a WebQuest here. Students can also record a video and audio. Teachers can assign students to use these features for completing their speaking tasks. 

Padlet is the real one wall for all! 

So, is there anything we should consider?

yes

    Padlet is meant to exhibit students' work, but sometimes it can be intimidating for the less confident students or the weak ones. They will be aware that their work will be seen by others. It can motivate them but it can also possibly frustrate them. In this case, teachers have to be the ones who ensure a secure learning environment. Teachers can also assist the students if necessary.  

and

    Padlet is free to use limitedly. Unless you pay for the platinum package, you can not create unlimited numbers of Padlet. The basic mode will let you create only 3 Padlets with 20MB file upload limit. If you have more than three classes to teach, it may be wise to use one Padlet for all classes. But still, you can only use Padlet for three lesson activities. 

sources:

Images: https://www.pexels.com/

Screenshot padlet.com