The Academy of American Poets has a fantastic database of poetry-inspired photography called the Free Verse Project. You can access the photos on the academy's website, or check out the "Free Verse" group on Flickr. This would be a wonderful way for students to find poems that they may enjoy. This year, I'm thinking about having students participate in the project by bringing in their own poetry-inspired photography and posting it in a highly-visible location at school in celebration of National Poetry Month (April). Of course, students' photos would also make a wonderful addition to a classroom webpage. Note: While visiting the Academy of American Poet's homepage, check out their available lesson plans, searchable database of poetry and poets, and their audio recordings. Teachers can also request a free copy of the National Poetry Month poster, and find NPM activities for their classroom and community. Update: As of March 2011, my students are currently working on their own Free Verse Project. Photos will continue to filter in until the April 8, 2011 deadline. http://pilgreenenglish.weebly.com/free-verse-project.html Below, I'm embedding the handout that I distributed to my students. If you would like a copy as a Publisher file that you can edit and customize, please send me an e-mail.
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Mighty Optical Illusions make great writing prompts. I'm always on the lookout for interesting or strange paintings, photographs, etc. to inspire student writing. I have the MO Illusions widget installed on my iGoogle page, so I get a new one sent to me every day. For more fun writing prompts, I recommend Googling the terms "Guinness Word Records" or "Ripley's Believe It or Not." You can also check out the Snopes website; they have some interesting pictures under the Fauxtos section. If you want something less strange, but equally inspirational, check out the Photo of the Day on the National Geographic website, and search their database of past photos. Creative Commons allows users to search for media online without violating copyright laws. This is a great tool for teaching students about fair use, copyright, and plagiarism. If your students are looking for images that they can display publicly on websites and blogs, have them use the Creative Commons. Create falling sand art. Need I say more? While this could have some educational functions, it's also just plain fun! Bomomo is an unusual, and extremely addictive art tool. I could see this being very useful for creating backgrounds for slideshows, as well as abstract art for websites, blogs, wikis, e-portfolios, or other student pieces of work. It could also be interesting to have students use art generated by Bomomo as a creative writing prompt. Sumo Paint is a free website that offers some pretty impressive features. In addition to mimicking the appearance of real art tools, such as paintbrush, ink and pencils, it also has some unusual features, including: smudge, blur, rotate, custom shape tool, and many more. The images below are from Sumo Paint's "Popular Artwork" section. With the right amount of time, patience and talent, Sumo Paint is capable of creating some truly inspiring artwork. Juxio is a website that allows you to create custom posters. several templates are available, including a set aimed at educators. Juxio allows you to combine photos and text to make organized, eye-appealing collages. Create and share your "jux" with others for free, or buy printed versions of your creations. Be Funky allows you to upload digital photographs and then add special effects. It's completely free, with nothing to download and no account necessary. Simply upload your photo and then choose the effect you want to apply. You can edit the photo first (crop, resize, rotate, adjust brightness, etc.) and then apply an effect (pop art poster, cartoonizer, charcoal, vintage colors, and many more). My favorite effects are color pinhole and cyanotype. This is a great option for creating visually appealing images for students projects, publications, digital storytelling, and websites. Big Huge Labs has an endless supply of fun creation tools for photos. My personal favorite option is the mosaic maker (pictured left). I created a mural of famous African American writers to display on a classroom homepage. You can also create motivational posters, puzzles, magazine covers, movie posters, trading cards, slideshows, and tons of other goodies. This a great website for anyone who wants to create some visual appeal for their handouts or websites. You could also have students use the website to create interesting visual aids for projects and presentations, or for posting on e-portfolios. Read Write Think has a fantastic template for creating Character Trading Cards. These cards are in-depth, too; they require a rather careful character analysis in order to complete. When students are finished, they can print the card and add hand-drawn illustrations. I would love it if images could be imported to add to the card before printing, but students could probably print pictures separately and glue them in place if they want a cleaner look than a hand-drawn illustration. |
AuthorDr. Jessica Pilgreen, Ed.D. Archives
December 2020
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