Thing #8

Photo sharing is such a fun way to communicate with others, and websites such as Flickr help make the experience imaginative and creative. There are many tools and mashups created by Flickr users to create collages, puzzle pictures, and many other interesting effects for your pictures. One of my favorites to use is the mosaic maker on bighugelabs.com where you can create a mosaic collage of pictures with several different templates. Possibly the best feature of this tool is the search bar used to add pictures because you can search pictures on Flicker, upload pictures, and even link your Facebook account so you can chose directly from your own albums. I decided to use several of my favorite pictures with my husband and some adorable pictures of our siberian husky, Ivan. :)

I could see myself using these tools inside the classroom with my students in several different ways. I could create a mosaic collage of pictures to introduce myself at the beginning of the school year, almost as a way for my students to get to know me. In return, I could have them create their own collages too, and make it into a "show and tell" projects. I could also use this to create fun and educational displays, such as handouts with each subject that I teach, and as a cheaper alternative to decorate my classroom in posters. Hence, there are many ways to incorporate photo sharing and creative photo tools as a teacher.