After reading about using GIFs in the classroom from Meredith Aker's blog, Grow, Reflect, Share, I knew I had to find a way to incorporate this within my classroom, and soon. This week, we have been learning about the cause and effect text structure. My students have been struggling to determine the causes and effects within a text on their own. In order to give them more exposure to these relationships, I planned another cause and effect activity using GIFs!
After modeling the steps of planning and creating a GIF, students were placed in teams of 4, and given an effect. Students had to think of at least 2 causes for this effect. After planning and practicing the GIF they would create, students were given Chromebooks. I had already logged in and bookmarked andtheniwaslike.co to help the process go more smoothly. Two chances were given for each pair within the team of 4 to create their own GIF. Their hashtag was the effect they were given and their group number. After creating their GIF, students were asked to copy and paste the link into a classroom Google Doc for viewing later.
At this end of their recording time, we discussed the purpose of this activity again. Almost all students were able to tell me that we created GIFs to help make connections between effects and their possible causes. Students were highly engaged and more than willing to work together to complete this assignment. I was surprised by the parent involvement in this activity. I posted their GIFs to class Dojo and got great feedback. A first grader, who visits my classroom for reading, even told his whole class about it. The teacher reached out to me about doing the activity in her classroom. We are planning a paired activity with my students serving as experts to support her students.
Below you will find links to some of the GIF my students created. Happy Viewing!
#igotsick
#babycried
#thecarcrashed
#lostkitty
#lostkitty
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Julia, thanks for sharing how you implemented the GIF activity with your students. I also read Meredith's blog post but was nervous to try it since I was unsure how it would go. You definitely showing Dr. Lattimore's advice about just jumping in and trying a new technology. I loved seeing your students' examples. I think I'm going to use them as examples to show my kids. There is power in displaying kid creations.
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