Photo Talks! What a Brilliant Idea!

Today I met with our 8th grade social studies teachers during their PLC and they introduced me to a new idea: Photo Talks using Smart Notebook 11. The teachers had tried to use web apps such as Fotobabble to do this activity but found that with Notebook, the students could actually keep each Photo Talk on a new page so that ultimately, the students would have their own portfolio of the units they had studied. I absolutely love this idea!

So you ask, what is a Photo Talk? Well, the teacher has the students find a picture that they feel represents the unit they have just studied via a Google search. Students copy and paste the picture onto a page in Smart Notebook. Students then insert a recording on the page that explains what they have learned about the topic. Students must include the academic vocabulary in their recording as well as a detailed explanation of what they learned. What an amazing way to have students reflect on their learning and work on their own discourse at the same time!

So how do you add the recording? It is very simple! Click on Insert on the menu and then select Sound. You will get the window shown below. click on Start Recording to begin. When finished, click on Stop Recording. Students then have an option to preview their recording to see if they need to make changes. If they are satisfied, they can click on Attach Recording at the bottom of the window. The recording is placed at the top of the page, but can be moved by clicking and dragging. Each recording is limited to 1:00 minute in length, however, students can add multiple recordings if necessary.