Watching and Doing

Watching/Listening

Interviewing students and teachers led me to question how often do I see qr codes in my life, how can I make them applicable, can I use them as a promotional tool to enhance my students confidence and publicity? It made me think of an old NPR episode on the radio where teens were talking about being, "relevant" to their peers (Glass). They discussed how their confidence was based on how many likes they got through social media. I started to wonder, what if I could generate confidence in my students writing ability by generating views on their blog.

I started testing the idea by discussing with my Practical Writing students that each time their blog was viewed it had a hit mark on their chart. I discussed that professional bloggers often have add campaigns and can make money by the number of people that visit their sites. I explained to my students that they must be willing to publish their work and having strangers read it. The students were intrigued and a new idea was born.

If the students were willing to take the link from their blog and turn it into a qr code, they could share the qr code with a friend or family member who would automatically be able to read their writing even if they didn't have access to a computer. I tasked the students with one goal, share their blog with just one other person using the snapmyinfo website. After this class, the students came back to me and shyly announced that they had shared it with a teacher, friend, or parent, and I could tell that they were proud of themselves. The idea that they were published authors enhanced their confidence and made them more engaged with the concept of writing each day.