One of My Favorite Apps

 PhotoGrid 

    One of my favorite apps on my phone is PhotoGrid.  It is a photo collage building app for pictures and videos.  With this app, I frequently make photo collages to share with my students and parents.  The parents love seeing what is happening in our classroom and the kids love showing off their projects.  I often share pictures on our Class Dojo but to try to make it fair for all of the students and not bombard the feed with numerous photos, the collages have come in handy.  I can manipulate the photos with filters, change the layouts, borders, and backgrounds.  I can also add stickers, text, and watermarks to the images.  If I use videos, I can edit the clips, change the sound, and so much more.

    Because I use the app frequently, I have upgraded to a premium account. When I did this, I was able to access more backgrounds, fonts, and stickers.  I was also given access to tools that allow me to create memes and gifs which the students love.  I do not have the app on the devices that my students use but I do allow them to meet with me and make decisions on what I should do with the image.  I usually do this by mirroring my phone to the laptop.

    This may not be a traditional app that you would think about when it comes to classroom technology, but because I believe building a community in the classroom is dire, sharing pictures is important to me.  Plus, the kids are living in a time when sharing pictures is a daily occurrence, this helps me engage my students. I have been using this app for years and recommend it to anyone, teacher or parent. Many of the photos I have shared on my blog have been edited using PhotoGrid, but I have also added some to this post for reference.