Module 9: QR Codes

QR Codes are neat little boxes that can take you many, many places. They add interest to learning and are a great vehicle for interactivity and can be created by teacher and students alike. Scanning a QR code can transport you to a video, a book report, instructions on writing a book report, a poetry reading, a rock concert — I could go on and on. If you’ve never used QR codes, never played around with them, then after first doing so you just might find yourself walking around for a day or two saying to yourself, “Well, now, if these aren’t the neatest things since sliced bread!” Here’s an article talking about 5 ways you can use them, and another giving 25 more.

You can gather information using QR codes to gather information from students and stakeholders. Post them at school events like parent-teacher night or band concerts or sports events. Families can scan the QR code with their smartphones or tablets and it takes them to a Google Form and they just fill in the information, and you can use QR codes for quick access to documents.

Below are three examples: a QR code asking parents/guardians for information, another asking students questions for the new semester, and one taking students to a video explaining how to adjust the Draw Weight on the Genesis Original bow. Scan each, if you will.

For most any class you could post QR codes on each student’s desk to provide quick access to regularly used resources like the class website, a class Google Drive, an online assessment tool. QR codes can make traditional bulletin boards more interactive. Displaying student artwork in the room or hallway or cafeteria? Add a QR code that provides additional information about the student-artist. Below are three QR codes with interesting information about three authors most high schools students will read.

A Reflection Wall

Analyzing how the same subject is handled by different artists in different mediums is a good focus for delving into what each artist is trying to express. Students may well not agree on their interpretations, but that is not to say there is only one right way to look at the works. Listening and discussing differing interpretations and appreciating the differences is a good way to reveal the many layers in works of art.

A wall or two inside the classroom or outside in the hall for posters with QR codes about different works of art is one idea. What inspires artists to create art? Scan below to see an example:

Pairing Bruegel’s The Fall of Icarus with Auden’s Musée des Beaux Arts will give students a lot to think about, talk about, write about. Below is a poster:

The poster was created on Google Drawings. Click here or scan the QR code below to go to the drawing: 

My poster example is a little crowded. If you have the space, divide it up into two or more posters. Add posters with media about other paintings, poems, music — anything emanating from the human capacity to create.

Another idea is for students in teams to choose certain poems. Each team will divide up their poem amongst the team members and each member will create QR codes about the portion of the poem they are responsible for. I  would first “preview” the code for accuracy and appropriateness before it is posted.

In an ESOL classroom QR codes pulling up specific resources could be posted about the room in designated areas, say certain walls or sections of walls, or group study tables, or on class books.

 


Focus: the Truer the Aim the Sweeter the Life

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