Technology is a double-edged sword in that it is not the fix for everything, but it is useful for many of our activities in school. Namely the presentation. I try to think back to how I was when I was in high school and presenting in my classes, but I can’t remember. I know now, I enjoy presenting to others. I’m specifically indulgent when it comes to my presentation slides as I’ve shared before. But in the past? I haven’t the foggiest.

A 9th grade English teacher wanted to add some technology into some of her units this year especially because she isn’t completely comfortable either. We chatted and settled on a group project where they present their poem to the class and discuss some of the elements of the poem and central idea. I shared Adobe Spark with her and said it would be a great visual addition to use the Spark web page design to lay out the poem and build in a reflective piece asking them why their group chose specific photos and videos to highlight the text by using the breadth of beautiful stock images (or their own if they chose to import). I created an example based on my favorite poet, Pablo Neruda, and she was sold.

Then it worked out spectacularly that I would be observed teaching this lesson and the stars aligned. Students took to the site and dove right into work. All four sections of her class were like this and I was astounded by their willingness. The ease was because of their ability to use their GSuite login to create the account (and some were guided to use Canva also using their GSuite login) to add extra pizzazz. The only drawbacks were that as a group project, they could not share and/or edit together. While all had input on it’s creation, it was only under one student’s account. But what it did have was the ability to share to Google Classroom (in addition to a few social media options, embed code, or a link) making it easy for classroom teachers.

Their feedback reflected its ease. Many students liked using something different, but just as many unfortunately said they would have liked to use the ol’ standby Google Slides, which as a librarian is a bit disappointing because of the domination of Google products in education and students’ forthrightness but unwillingness to think about the adventure of something new. Through observation though, I know that they enjoyed the adventure in the moment, but when all was said and done, they would rather use a trusty tool. I get it, people like what is comfortable.

The results were phenomenal as were their reflections about the process as a whole, and the teacher was satisfied. I’d call this successful too. In part because as a librarian I’m always sharpening my skills by taking courses like Polly Farrington’s Cool Tools for School (which is where I learned about Spark a few years back). And I had an impact on a teacher whose professional goal was to incorporate more meaningful technology in the classroom.

A win on all fronts.