Tune into Technology 7/29: QR codes

I'm linking up with iTeach 1:1 for a cool linky called Tune into Technology.

This week's theme is QR codes! I have been called the Queen of QR codes at my school. I put them on everything! One thing I love to do is put them on the products I make so kids can check answers. I have even put QR codes on products I have bought and on information for parents. If you don't have a clue what QR codes are or how they can be used in classrooms, check out the post I wrote about them here.

I branched out a little last year and used QR codes to make student work come alive. When we studied the solar system, students made these adorable accordion books to demonstrate their learning. You can get the Solar System and Planet Flipbook Reports from Creative Classroom Lessons.

Then, I asked them to write a 3-5 sentence "speech" summarizing what they learned. I gave students at least a dozen sentence starters to help them craft an interesting speech. The last thing I wanted was: "Jupiter is a large planet. Jupiter is next to Saturn. Jupiter is cool. Jupiter is.....". BORING! I had the kids practice their "Power Speeches" with a buddy several times before I recorded them. Click on the link to hear one student's
space report. You can also scan the QR code:

 Now, you can see and hear what kids have learned. I set them up on desks (gallery walk style) and gave pairs of students iPods to scan the QR codes and listen to their classmates. Now the kids are learning from each other and getting visual and audio input. Let me tell you how impressed their parents were!

You may be wondering how in the world to make an audio QR code. This is the way I do it but there may be an easier way and I'd love to hear it if you know!

 Thank you to Amazing Classroom.com for the use of the tablet clip art!

I know this was a loooooong post! I hope you found it helpful. As always, if you have ANY questions, please comment below. Also, feel free to pin the heck out of this post ;) and if you'd like more info on technology use in the classroom, check out my Classroom Tech pin board.