A year ago I posted an article on this blog about how I used Padlet in an online poetry writing class where students wrote poems on a shared Padlet board together.
Since then, I have used Padlet in class for a lot of other writing activities. The great thing about Padlet is that students just click a link to the Padlet board (they don't need to sign up) and start writing. Their writing appears in real time and they can read what others are writing as they go. The layout is also aesthetically fun. Here are some successful ways I've used Padlet in class:
Academic "translations"
When teaching academic writing, students need to practice style and one great exercise is to provide them with a text in an informal style which they should try to "translate" into formal, academic style. Students can easily compare their translations with other students and appreciate the many different ways the task can be done.
Paraphrases and summaries
Being able to paraphrase and summarise the work of others is such an important skill in academic writing. You can simply provide a passage from an article and ask the students to write their paraphrase/summary on your Padlet board. You can also practice citation as I did in this lesson using an
APA Style 7th Edition exercise.
Quotations
A similar skill is embedding quotations into writing, something that we assume students know how to do, but in fact, they need to learn. Writing these together on Padlet helps students become more familiar with the punctuation of quoting as well as the different ways to embed.
Texting
Now for something completely different.
In
another post I wrote about using fake texting apps to create fictive texting stories. Padlet can also be used and its format allows everyone to view the texts that others have written. Students can consider how their language might change according to who they are texting and the subject. For example, the student above wrote two different texts - the first to their boss and the second to a good friend.
Descriptions and character sketches
Students can look at a picture and write a short description or they can prepare to write a story by building a character sketch.
Flash Fiction
You can even write stories on Padlet.
An activity that my students really loved was
six word stories. They are simply stories consisting of only six words. They are quick and fun to write and share on Padlet.
More
There's much scope for using Padlet in an online class (either synchronously or asynchronously).
- Do you use any online tools for writing together?
- Do you use Padlet? How?
(By the way, Padlet is not sponsoring me!)
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