QR??

I am continually and thoroughly amazed at the ongoing creativity and expertise of our teachers, staff, and administrators.  As one example (which I got permission to share), Steven Ybarra, principal of Sierra Middle School provides a weekly communication to his staff called Friday’s Final Thought.  He does this late on each Friday and highlights some of the great work that has been done by the teachers and staff at Sierra MS.  This week was no different – however, I thought I would share his “final thought” from this last Friday as it serves to illustrate the good work that is happening at many levels with our RUSD staff.  Thank you Sierra MS!!  Thank you Steven!!

====================

From: Ybarra, Steven W. 

Subject: Friday's Final Thought

Good Evening.

I am sure by now you have all seen one.  Curiosity may have even got the better of you and you have used one.  But unless your name is Rochelle Kanatzar or Deb Stanley, I am pretty sure you haven’t used one as part of your instructional program. 

Friday’s Final Thought is QR Codes. 

A QR or Quick Response Code is the trademark for a type of matrix barcode consisting of square dots arranged in a square grid on a white background.  Teachers can use a QR code to direct students to a particular website and/or text for that particular code; which is exactly what Rochelle did with her students yesterday.

Rochelle’s students worked in groups to analyze a court case.  Students had to first read primary source documents related to the court case and then Rochelle had each group scan the QR code.  The QR code directed students to a website in which they had to assess the impact of photos/visuals on people’s perceptions of the case.

There are so many different ways you could utilize QR codes if you think about it.  The first thing that came to mind for me was to use a QR code as an activity for a rotation center.  Students could access the QR code and be directed to any variety of media.  You could also embed text in a QR code and pose questions to your students.  All you need are three things:

1.  A QR Code Generator
2.  A QR Code Reader   
3.  Creativity

A QR Code Generator is what allows you to create your QR Code.  And let me tell you, it’s simply a matter of copy and paste.  Very simple.  Deb Stanley has provided us with a link to the following QR Code Generator:

http://createqrcode.appspot.com/

A QR Code Reader is simply an app one would install on their smartphone or digital device.  Our students could install one on their device though the Google Play Store.  In fact, Rochelle found that most of her students already had a QR Code Reader installed on either their device or smartphone. 

Creativity…well I’ve been here long enough now to know that we’ve all got that----it just comes down to “trying something new.”

So once you have your QR code reader you can scan away.  Whether it be on paper or the computer screen.  The three below are examples of the many different things that can be done.  Scan for yourself to see. 

Remember the Name                   

Five more work days to Spring Break                      

Question?

Have a great weekend.

Steven