Week 4: Let's Talk about Canva.

Have you ever wanted your images and lesson plans to look professional and fun but found that page design and images were too complicated to make on your own?
Meet Canva. A simplified graphic design tool that can help you personalize

images and lesson plans in your classroom.

I have yet to see anyone write about this tool in depth.

Vicki Davis does write that "Canva is a powerful design tool. This year, my students made infographics and blog graphics with Canva. I like its predefined sizes -- whether we're using Twitter, Facebook, or designing an ad, the templates and sizes are already set." But, this brief description does not fully express how useful this tool is.


I searched the archives of the blogs I'm following. Unsatisfied with my findings, I looked to Google to supply more information. After a quick search, I found that Canva wrote about themselves and how they can be useful in the classroom.
https://www.canva.com/learn/10-ways-to-take-your-lessons-to-the-next-level-with-canva/
I recommend reading through their different educational ideas.
They also have a page of different teaching resources.
https://www.canva.com/learn/teacher-resources/

I cannot express how much this tool has helped me in teaching and want as many people to be exposed to it as possible.


Fun fact. The image from my first blog post with all the little social media graphics? I made that with Canva.

Second fun fact. My "Word of the Day" activity from last week's assignment? I also made that with Canva.

Feel free to go look back at them.

For the lazy who don't want to go searching through previous blogs, I'll illustrate different ways that you can use Canva below.
They have templates for every possible graphic need - from simple pictures, to social media posts, to classroom worksheets, to logos, to animated gifs. The list goes on and on. You can also ask for custom dimensions if you have a specific size need for your picture.

There are pre-set templates that you can use such as the following image:

Or you can design something simple on your own :D

You can create infographics for your students.

You can have students create things themselves. For example, one of my students created a slideshow to present certain letters of the English alphabet - this is the cover slide and an example page.

Another idea for an activity is to ask students to create an Instagram story post using Canva and add it to a school social media page - assuming your school allows that kind of thing.

It is a really really great tool to use in the classroom and I recommend trying out the different graphic options yourselves. Have fun creating!