Creative Ways to Use a Scanner in the Classroom
Teachers are masters at coming up with creative ways to use the tools they have at their disposal for many purposes. Having multiple uses for one item is an excellent method that many teachers employ for gaining funding for those items. Today, we’re going to look at a student work scanner for teachers. Of course, scanning student work is the primary way you’ll use this scanner, but if you’re looking for other ways to put this tool to use, try some of these creative ideas.
Showcase Student Work in the Classroom
A scanner is indispensable for scanning student work into the computer so you can take home fewer physical papers and other projects. Simply use the scanner to convert students’ physical and handwritten work to your computer, usually in Google Drive or other cloud-based applications. Then, you can simply take your laptop home and grade from there.
But, you can also use the scanner to showcase student work in the classroom. Simply take a scan of amazing work, print it out, and tack it up in a special corner of your room. That way, the student can take the original home, but your classroom will be brimming with examples of high-quality student work that visitors can easily view.
Create a Newsletter Incorporating Student Work
Parents love to see what’s going on in the classroom, but it can be challenging to get work examples into digital or paper newsletters. Certainly, you can take pictures of work, but sometimes, that doesn’t capture all the facets that make the project incredible. A scanner will allow you to incorporate student work into a newsletter so that parents can get a more in-depth look at what their children are doing from day to day.
If you’re already scanning work to your computer that you’ve remarked on or graded, you can easily access those pieces, remove the grade and remarks with an editing program, and put the relevant work into the newsletter. The editing capabilities of scans is what makes this a practical way to use scanned student work for public viewing.
Make Learning More Engaging
Scan and enlarge unusual objects like leaves, rocks, coins, and other items that have tiny details that make these objects more interesting than things kids see every day. They get an up-close-and-personal look at things they take for granted. You can even play a “what’s this object” game by scanning extreme closeups of items they use every day to see if they can identify them from up close.
Get Organized
Let’s face it. While teachers like parent conferences because they get to know more about their students and make connections with families, they’re exhausting to plan for. Use your scanner to create a folder for each student at the beginning of the year and keep their work in chronological order. This method can show parents just how much progress their children are making in your class and you don’t have to spend hours the night before trying to create a timeline of physical work.
Conclusion
The possibilities for using a scanner in a classroom are endless. They can benefit you as a teacher by making your life more organized, but they can also help you get the word out about all the great work your students are doing.
