Tools You Can Use: Ignite the 16-17 School Year with Adobe Spark

If you have not yet heard about Adobe Spark, listen up! This FREE set of creations apps is available on devices and in web browsers making it super accessible no matter what device your students use. It’s the perfect set of tools to jumpstart your school year. The following is a brief summary of the three apps and a few ideas for how to use them for teaching and learning during the first few weeks of school. 

Spark Post
Allows you to create graphics with text that can be used for any number of things such as infographics, memes, announcements, invitations, etc. Use them on your website, in emails, etc. You can choose from a collection of images, or upload your own.

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Ideas for Teaching & Learning

• Building Classroom Community: Have 3rd - 5th grade students take a selfie and add some text that shares information about themselves, perhaps a favorite quote - something that will inspire them for this school year. Teachers can have a bank of quotes for them to choose from.
• Other ideas include creating an advertisement for a favorite book they read this summer, infographics depicting classroom expectations, etc. 

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• Teacher Tip: Use Spark Post to create eye catching images for your class website or parent emails. Create graphics to add to your Smartboard slides. Better yet, have students create graphics to use as parent reminders for all those pesky housekeeping items that need to be taken care of that first week. Examples might include uniform do's and don'ts, school supply lists, specials schedules, etc. Then pop them into your new, digital newsletter - see below for details!

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Spark Video
Video creation made simple. Seriously. Combine text, graphics and music to slides using provided themes (or your own) to create a beautiful story told through video. You can also choose from a selection of story structures to build your video. Preloaded templates include: an invitation, show and tell, promote an idea, teach a lesson, etc.  I love how simple this tool is, yet how stunning the final product turns out! When I discovered this suite of apps I handed my iPad off to a seven-year-old and here's what she came up with. Within a few minutes she had the app figured out and created this video (embedded below).

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Ideas for Teaching & Learning

• Create a video for a specific classroom procedures such as the expected morning routine (unpack, turn in homework folder, etc.). After seeing your model video, have students create their own for a specific routine or expectation. You can watch them each morning as reminders. You can also share them with parents via email so that they can reinforce the expectations at home. As you are working on these projects, remember to make them accessible to all learners. Have a bilingual student record each procedure in his or her native language. This will not only help the student, it will also help his or her family know what is expected in your classroom.
• Are you a PBIS school? Have your class create videos for each positive behavior you expect them to use around the school. Teams of students can be assigned different locations of the building. For example cafeteria, media center, hallway, etc. Here is a basic example - but the students could really get creative modeling positive behavior in these short videos!​ They will serve as great reminders throughout the year. And again, parents will be more willing to watch videos sent home via email if they know their children are the stars!

• Have students take selfies (​​or use the “posts” students created in the example above), to create a classroom community video. Each student can record their name and something about themselves.
• Have each student create a video about themselves. This could be planned out and illustrated on paper first. They can photograph their drawings to insert into the project, then narrate using their written words.

Spark Page
Allows you to create “web stories” or webpages of information pages such as journals, articles, portfolios, etc.

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Ideas for Teaching & Learning

• Create a page with a section for each student. Have the students write a paragraph about themselves and add a selfie. The final page is a great way for you to get to know your students and for them to get to know each other.
• Use pages instead of newsletters, but have students create the content. At the start of the year, they could make one all about their classroom, classroom expectations, etc. Email the completed link to parents. Use this on a regular basis as a high-tech version of an old school newsletter. How much more likely will parents be to read the weekly newsletter if they know their child had a hand in creating it? Check out this sample newsletter (embedded below).
• Later in the year, students can create pages to publish their written work in any subject area. They can cut and paste directly from Google Drive or other document creation apps.

What ideas do you have for using these tools in your classroom? Share with us in the comment section below. The options for using Adobe Spark in teaching and learning are endless! Head on over to the Adobe Spark website, set up your free account and start creating. Also check out the Adobe Education Exchange for tips and ideas. Your students can't wait to see what you come up with!


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