One of my goals this year has been to increase the amount of digital writing in the classroom, so posting my digital learning on Sundays will push me a bit. Thank you Margaret for inviting me and I look forward to reading all of the thinking offered here. I am a beginner in this world, but what I do know is you must do to really learn! I heard Katharine Hale and Troy Hicks’s podcast this morning. It is well worth a listen. That is exactly how I want my classroom to be. It is so great to have mentors out there blazing trails for the rest of us to follow on.
Last week I posted a little item about finally using QR codes in the classroom and Margaret asked me to write a little about it here.
In a nutshell a QR (quick response) code can provide easy access to anything that is alpha numeric with a scan of the code. Typically it’s a URL. In an upper grade classroom where students have access to iPhones and iPads, this this a perfect way to give them quick access to information for research. I have used this to get them to websites quickly, no time is lost on typing in the URL. It seems silly, but I have seen students spend up to ten minutes trying to type in a URL. It takes away from their learning and usually another child’s learning as they help them. For sites we are going to use for a unit of study I have taken the time to load them on to the iPads, but that takes prep. With a QR code, all I need to do is print it out and students scan it. To create a QR code I like qrstuff.com. It allows for color which helps students get to the correct code to scan. Imagine today’s links for the debate are in red, for social studies in blue. A QR reader app need to be loaded on to iPads, but that is a one time thing.
There are amazing ways teachers have been using QR codes in the classroom. Check this google doc for many examples. I particularly like #52 on this list where students create their own scavenger hunt. Pretty cool stuff.
To Read To Write To Be 
Thanks for sharing Julienne! I was very curious about the various uses of QR codes in the classroom. A second grade teacher is using them at Harry Bridges. It’s so funny how we fear technology because it seems hard or foreign, yet it seems to make the little things in classroom life so much easier!
Thanks for sharing and linking up. I really think we have a lot to teach each other. Sometimes it just takes a brave soul to try out something new in a new way. Then share it. I am still not sure how I can use QR codes because we do not have ipads or iphones. But my wheels are turning.