Power of Padlet

   A while back my wife told me about Padlet, but I never really tried it out.  I just watched a podcast giving some tips about Padlet and figured I better give it a try!  I had been using smore to create flyers as a type of webquest, but I think I have found something better!!  Every site is going to have its ups and downs and each person will like different aspects of them, but I really like padlet for a couple of reasons!  The first reason is that I can create as many boards as I want and I do not have to pay for it!  With smore, I can only create 5 free flyers before I have to start paying for it.  Padlet allows people to post to the wall just like a corkboard.  Now some people may not want to allow others to post to their board.  That is perfectly ok!  Because you can change the setting so that no one can post to the board.  You can even have it open for a while for students or teachers to post to the board and then once everyone has posted, you can lock the board so no one else can add to the board.  

    There are several ways you can use Padlet in the classroom.  One way would be to post a question about your lesson on the top of the board and have the students post their responses to the board.  This way, the students can see other students responses and learn from what the other students wrote.  Some may say that is bad because students will just copy someone elses response.  That will be up to the teacher to set the norms before they begin the activity and make sure the students know that they must post a different response than other people.

    Another way to use Padlet, would be to create a webquest for your students.  You could take a topic that you will be working on and create a lesson for the students to complete online.  You can put a picture in the background that deals with the topic and then add several different pictures or videos onto the board.  Each video or picture can give the students more information about the topic.  You can link the pictures to specific websites that will give them more information about the topic.  After the students have completed all of the reading and watching videos, you can have them answer some questions.  You can do this several different ways, but one that I suggest is a Google form.  You can create a Google form and then put a link to it on the Padlet wall.  If you have not used Google forms, read my blog about The Amazing Flubaroo.  

    One other way you could use Padlet would be to post a topic on the top of the board and have students ask their questions about the topic.  You could do a great inquiry lesson with this!  Have the students post their questions they have on the topic and then just start going over some of the questions.  Once you answer the questions or show them where to find the answer, you can post that on the board right next to the question.  That way it could be used as a review later on.  The students could come back and reread their questions to refresh their memory.  And if they forgot what the answer was, the source will be right there for them to go back and read about it.

There is a lot that you can do with Padlet to keep your students involved and interacting with your lesson.  Like with anything else, just take a little time to explore it and see what works best for your classroom!