A Tech Upgrade for Flash Cards

Did you know that you (or better yet, your students) can create flash cards they can use on their phones or MP3 players by just using PowerPoint? Well, after today's post you will.  Mr. Coley, a 5th grade teacher in California who apparently has tons of spare time explains, how to do this (and many other cool things) at his website. There you can find detailed directions on how to create flash cards for our students using PowerPoint. It's really easy--you make a PowerPoint with slides like I've shown to the right, then save your PowerPoint as JPEGs. Now you will have a folder of "pictures" that you can upload to your phone, iPod or other MP3 player just like you would any other collection of pictures.  After the collection is created it can be emailed and shared with students. While I can imagine teachers making flashcards for a class to use, I encourage you to think about the learning that could happen if students made their own. Just finding the right picture for "smitten" helps the student learn and personalize the word.  But, of course, flash cards aren't just for vocabulary, so for this weeks post:

Explain how you could see yourself using/creating flash cards for your students. How would you provide access to your cards for students or would you have them make their own? Give it a try using his directions/tutorials and let us know your successes and challenges.  (Don't forget, if you want to earn clock hours, make sure to include your first and last name AND (CH) after your name so we give you credit.)