Chapter 7: Fun With Flickr

Flickr was something that I had never heard of prior to reading this chapter. After reading about this, I think that there are some very cool ways to incorporate Flickr into the classroom. One of the first things that I found to be super fun for my class to do would be to randomly find a picture on Flickr and write a story about it. I think this would be a great way to get their creative juices flowing. I also think that it would be very cool to have students comment on someones photo that lives in a different country or something to learn more about the picture they are viewing. Students can also comment on each other's photos and create a discussion. This can help with student communication, which is always a good idea to work on. As a teacher I would love to have a classroom Flickr space. This could be used for class pictures, projects, field trips, guest speakers, and students doing good deeds. I think this would be a great way to keep not only the students connected, but also their parents as well. This is just another way that parents can keep in touch with what their child is doing on a daily basis in school. I also like the fact that there are security settings on Flickr, which can limit the people that can view the pictures. Especially if I am using this with my students, I don't want some inappropriate person looking at my class. I also think it is very important to go over safety with my students when they are using this site. Like the chapter discussed, these pictures get filtered but some inappropriate ones can get through. If students see something they know they shouldn't be looking at, I hope they would know to simply exit out of it. This is will always be a problem with the Internet, and I think teaching kids about online safety, there is so much to offer to them. I really enjoy reading this book because I am discovering so many fun ways to incorporate technology into my classroom! I really think Flickr can really add something special and interesting for the students in the classroom!