Today was my 4th snow day this month, and I was getting a little itchy. So I started reading an educational magazine and spotted a cool article about creating infographics to help demonstrate curriculum to our students. This is certainly common-core appropriate, since we are supposed to give our students access to multiple mediums of content.
But then I thought, actually, it should be the kids creating the infographics. This would be a worthwhile formative assessment where they have to synthesize information and figure how best to show it to their peers. They might enjoy a little variety from the usual posters and PowerPoints. Certainly History, Sociology, and Science classrooms would benefit from this. And I would think clever ELA teachers, like myself, could think of a use as well. So I made one about my snow days.
As you can see, I used piktochart.com. There are many other infographic generators out there, but this is the one I selected at random.
In order to give you an idea of time required for classroom activities: it took me 45 minutes to create this. That includes registering and skimming the options. I chose the blank template because it would take more time starting from scratch. Also, I had no idea what information I would put on the graphic until I started playing around. Then I actually chose images and backgrounds and created the charts. All that was 45 minutes.
Therefore, I would assume a small group who has already gathered their information could easily create one of these within one class period. Research and presentations would take additional time.
For more quick formative assessment ideas, you can check out No Time Like Real Time.
Tony Varrato's Rambling Blog 