Storm your Brain with Padlet!

Teacher: “Let’s Brainstorm your ideas on the board!” Class groans. “I’m kidding, that’s too much effort for me, get on Padlet and write it yourself!” Class cheers. Padlet, the brainstorming sensation that’s gripping the nation! No it does not consist of a mini paddle for minions, nor is it a small pad of paper. It is an online collaboration tool (yes I know I love talking about these) where you can set up pages for students to ask their “burning questions” (sorry, had to use it), you can set up a quiz of sorts that they can all participate in, you can upload videos and images and really it’s just a nice collaboration space that everyone can use at the same time! You can share it with anyone and it is a fun tool for students to use. Rather than wasting 10 minutes trying to write every student’s ideas down on the board, missing someone and then wanting them to copy them all down, just get them to go on Padlet and put all their ideas into one ‘document’ so that they can see each other’s, you don’t have to risk your messy board writing and the students are entertained with technology! 

Be sure to read the fine print. Having a tool which allows students to post anonymously can lead to disaster if you haven’t set up the classroom environment to be respectful and appropriate. You need to make sure that the students are able to act responsibly and appropriately when using this tool so that you don’t have a huge quagmire on your hands with parents ringing in to complain about what Johnny said about Timmy on a Padlet. Use the technology to your advantage, not to your detriment.