Website Review # 5: Canva
For the past year, I have been coming across a few PowerPoint and Google Slide presentations that were stunning. When I searched all the different themes and layouts in both programs, I couldn’t find these presentation formats. During the past summer, my coworker introduced me to Canva.com, and low and behold, I found the presentations I had been looking for! Canva is a free website that has endless possibilities and useful tools. There are pre-formatted projects, or you can start from scratch. This review will of course be focusing on the usefulness of Canva in terms of Literacy development and enrichment. I will focus on the features of Canva that can enhance reading and writing instruction and explain in detail how each component does so.
Canva offers free membership and is easy to sign up for. While all the features can be utilized for literacy instruction in some way, I will elaborate upon the tools that would be the most useful for reading and writing development. The first tool would have to be the Storyboards. This is the easiest Storyboard program I’ve used, and I have had a decent amount of experience exploring other formats and websites that provide Storyboard options. Canva offers premade Storyboards, which can be altered in countless ways in terms of texts, graphics, images, and more. My favorite thing about Canva is how easy it is to search for and insert a picture. In addition, there are a slew of graphics, lines, shapes, and other visual accents available at the click of your mouse. Some of the graphics are animated and moving. These, of course, can only be used for platforms like presentations or videos. Storyboards can be used for a number of literacy projects, like retelling a story or creating an autobiography. They can also be used as a brainstorming tool before reading something new or writing an essay. That’s just the beginning of the different possibilities for Storyboards.
Newsletters can easily be created on Canva, whether for the classroom or a school. There are so many pre-made formats to choose from, which I love, because it’s so much faster to create, and it looks extremely professional. The graphics available really set Canva apart from the other programs for newsletters that I have used, such as Microsoft Word or Pages. Comic Strips are another great tool for literacy that can be created on the website. These are great for creating a biography or covering the elements of plot. Once again, Canva makes everything simple yet dynamic, and all for free.
I have been using Canva since the beginning of the school year, and I just feel so blessed for having found it. I am constantly finding new ways to use the website for my classroom instruction, as well as my own personal uses. It makes lists, presentations, videos, brochures, posters, and so much more readily available and easy to create. I created my syllabus with it, and merely had to pick an existing syllabus project and personalize it to my instructional needs. I recommend that every teacher sign up for this website, pronto, if you have not done so, already.
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