Guest Post by Rachelle Dene Poth
New Year, New Buncee
In the start of the new year, I am always looking for new ideas to try. As we prepare for the end of our first semester I wanted to come up with some new ideas to have students create with Buncee. Buncee has me covered when it comes to bringing in some new ideas to use in my classroom. If you haven’t ever used Buncee, I definitely recommend following them on Twitter to see some of the visually engaging tweets of Buncees and Buncee Boards that have been created and shared by educators from around the world. Then create an account and explore the many templates available or choose from some of the fantastic ideas in the Buncee Ideas Lab! Maybe even start by creating your OneWord!
What I love about Buncee is that they are always adding new templates based on educator requests and that are current and relevant to events happening in the world. So many options to choose from! Simply select “Create” and look at the newly added templates or search from the possibilities on the left!
I always start the year with an About Me Buncee and encourage students to create using the templates and then add stickers, animations, text, emojis and more to express their interests. Throughout the year, we use Buncee for our Spanish projects. My students are currently working on midterm projects. Level One students are completing a food project focused on the culture and customs in a Spanish speaking country and then creating a placemat menu. They are having so much fun creating using Buncee and adding in stickers, animations, videos and even 3D objects to their projects. Having a template to start from also helps with students who might be a little hesitant when it comes to technology so that they can focus more on creating with the language and have fun while doing so.
Students in Spanish Two are creating a travel journal where they are advertising a trip to a Spanish speaking country and then writing a postcard in Spanish to share their experience from the trip that they took. There are several wonderful templates available but I chose the virtual travel journal and shared it with my students to make their own. It is nice for them to have the structure set up so that then they can focus on finding their information and adding more to it to tell their story. And it’s fun for me to see what they have learned and to add it to my own knowledge base! We are just getting started this week and I cannot wait to see what they create!
More Ideas to Try
Perhaps create your class lesson in a Buncee and easily share all of the information about your class and design your virtual classroom choosing from many the templates available. You can even add in your bitmoji and record audio or a short video to go along with it. Throughout the year, it is important for our students and their families to be able to see and hear us and learn about what we are covering in our classes.
Try some of these ideas for a change! Explore the templates available in the Buncee library:
History themed Buncees
Create a timeline
Share a recipe
Daily journals
Time capsule activities
Digital citizenship lessons
Social media profiles
Record a video for genius hour
So many choices!
Explore the many new templates and have students create vision boards and more with Buncee! Virtual lockers, class schedules, organizers, newsletters, About me Buncees and so many other options to get started with here.
Updates and Training!
If you’re looking for some help in getting started with Buncee, don’t miss out on the daily live training that is offered throughout the week. I also recommend that you join the Buncee Educator Facebook community to connect with other educators using Buncee and share your ideas or look for some! Coming up in January is the Buncee Idea o’clock live session with Don Sturm to talk about creativity!
About the Author
Rachelle Dene Poth is an edtech consultant, presenter, attorney, author, and teacher. Rachelle teaches Spanish and STEAM: What’s nExT in Emerging Technology at Riverview Junior Senior High School in Oakmont, PA. Rachelle has a Juris Doctor degree from Duquesne University School of Law and a Master’s in Instructional Technology. She is a Consultant and Speaker, owner of ThriveinEDU LLC Consulting. She is an ISTE Certified Educator and currently serves as the past -president of the ISTE Teacher Education Network and on the Leadership team of the Mobile Learning Network. At ISTE19, she received the Making IT Happen Award and a Presidential Gold Award for volunteer service to education. She is also a Buncee Ambassador, Nearpod PioNear and Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert.
Rachelle is the author of five books, ‘In Other Words: Quotes That Push Our Thinking,” “Unconventional Ways to Thrive in EDU” (EduMatch) and “The Future is Now: Looking Back to Move Ahead,” “Chart A New Course: A Guide to Teaching Essential Skills for Tomorrow’s World” and her newest book, “True Story Lessons That One Kid Taught Us.”
Rachelle is a blogger for Getting Smart, Defined Learning, District Administration, NEO LMS, and the STEM Informer with Newsweek.
Follow Rachelle on Twitter @Rdene915 and on Instagram @Rdene915. Rachelle has a podcast, ThriveinEDU https://anchor.fm/rdene915.
