Jamboard templates for articles, authentic resources and novels

I have been wanting to take some time to play around with Jamboard- one of the apps on Google. I have made a few this or that activities on winter traditions and the Super Bowl. One of my favorite features is how easy they are to edit! My students (especially my fifth and sixth graders) were able to do this quickly- much faster than Google Drawings- which I was using for a similar activity.

Jamboards do have their drawbacks. While you can see who is editing them (somewhat), they do not have a version history like Google Docs, Slides or other collaborative tools. So if a student decides to delete something or post something inappropriate, it may be hard to catch. My classes are smaller, so I have been able to do a whole class Jamboard. However, with larger classes, I would suggest splitting students up into small groups of five students and providing them their own Jamboard to work on. This way, students aren’t trying to show off to each other, and they are more focused on finishing their goal.

If you haven’t played around with Jamboard, I have made all of these templates with a background. This means that students cannot edit the background itself. (Unless they change it…). Then, students can add a sticky note, image, text or shapes. For these activities, students could add a sticky note to write on the board or the text box. Then, some students can also add images as well. Another thing I like about Jamboard is that students can easily put in GIFs using the image search.

Overall, I have made these Jamboards with the idea to use them with novels, authentic resources and news articles (in particular the news articles that I produce with Martina Bex and Nelly Hughes- El Mundo en Tus Manos.). I made the backgrounds in Canva before uploading them to Jamboard.

Finally- one more note! Don’t forget to go to Edit-Copy to make your own copy of these boards! 🙂

• First, I created a default for a timeline where students can write important events in chronological order.
• This Jamboard allows students to compare two people from two articles or two articles in a Venn Diagram. It would also be good to compare an authentic resource from the list with the article. (This would be for intermediate level students!) For a novel, students could compare two chapters or two characters.
• I got this idea from my new favorite blog: Spark Creativity! This allows students to read and answer questions. For novice learners, the teacher can pose questions on each Jamboard. They should be either application, personalized or critical thinking questions that would have more than one response. Then, students can answer the questions on each spot. For intermediate learners, they can each come up with a question and then their peers in their group answer the questions. (Tip: Give some suggestions, so students don’t just write comprehension questions that would have one option.)
• Two truths and a lie is a fun game and can be used after many different text types! For this, have students use the text box feature to add sentences to the chart. Then, the other students can draw an X or check to the chart where they think the lie is. I always encourage students to use similar words from the articles and then make very small changes to make it even trickier (and require students to revisit the text!)
• I learned about the Frayer Model for vocabulary from Amanda Sandoval (LOVE her Twitter account!). This allows students to find key words from any text and then find the definition, synonyms, image and a sentence. I will put students in groups of four for this activity, and then they can each rotate which square they are completing.
• I love doing the drawing/sentence activity in class. This wouldn’t work during social distancing times (we aren’t getting up and passing papers to our friends!), but this is a fun alternative. Each student can draw two pictures that represent a sentence from various articles (chapters etc.). Then, their peers can guess what sentence it is in the yellow boxes on the side.
• Finally, I have this Jamboard which is similar to a one-pager or a Smashdoodle. From each article, students find four important sentences and demonstrate their understanding by including an image for each sentence.

I hope to add to these as I keep playing around with it! Let me know which ones you try and which ones have worked for you!

Newest edition! I have been using more of Project Zero ideas and converted some of them to Jamboards. The newest ones are:

• In any document (reading, authentic source), students find a word, phrase and sentence that represent the main ideas of the source. At the end, have students compare their answers and see if they represent the full ideas or if some of the ideas are missing. Did everyone in the class choose the same ideas? This can be a point to jump off to analyze the source.
• I see, I think and I wonder… is a common idea that I converted into a Jamboard. Students can use this with any picture or screenshots before using a video. It would also be effective to use with headlines or titles from chapters or a source.
• I learned about this strategy at NECTFL from Katrina Griffin. With an authentic resource or reading, students think of a color, symbol and image that represents it. This would be great to do on Jamboard since it is so easy to import images. At the end, students have to explain how each idea represents the source with a sentence starter.
• Finally, this isn’t from Project Zero; however, students need to do this with interpretive reading assessments. Students identify the main idea of the source and then also identify supporting details. This will help them start brainstorming to prepare for an assessment.