Week 5 - Item 10 Image Generators

I had a busy week and had not started the Week 5's activities until Thursday night. At school on Thursday afternoon I had the 7th grade Reading teacher in and she was very frustrated with a lower Reading Class. She just could not find anything to inspire them and most of the group just hates to read.

This is the first year for me in this building so the collection needs lots of help. The kids can legitimately say that I do not have a lot of new Fiction they would enjoy. Well the conversation was left that she might want to try some type of research. I had no clue what to tell her but she wanted me to think of something.

That night I started with the Image Generators and got to thinking. I love Magazine Cover from Flickr Toys! It seems easy to fill in a couple of things the Magazine Cover asks for but to do it well would take thought and background knowledge. You can see one I created at the left. This is my husband who dresses as characters from the Bible and tells stories.

I can see having students:

• Select a topic of personal interest, research, create their own magazine cover and write an article that would appear in the magazine.
• Make a cover that would represent a period in history they researched.
• Make a travel magazine cover for a country they researched.
• The possibilities are endless.

Boy was I excited when I got to school and found out that Flickr Toys is not blocked. I met with the teacher before school and she wanted immediate time in the library. She loved the idea! So later next week students are coming in just to read magazines and to discuss magazine covers. I also see this as a great in because of the fact that students may not like a book but they may feel more comfortable reading magazines. I am hopeful that it will work.

The timing could not have been better and I am excited to see how this all works out! I will let you know what happens.