Twitter Roundup: Teachers Using Lucidchart in the Classroom

It’s the end of another school year. Just like your students, you’re probably ready for a well-deserved break. (Can you imagine a full three months without grading papers?) But before you pack up your classroom and start your vacation, let’s highlight a few ways that teachers have encouraged their students to think visually this year using Lucidchart.

We noticed several posts on Twitter from teachers who incorporated Lucidchart into their lesson plans, and we reached out to learn about the impact. It won’t be long before school’s back in session—take inspiration from these amazing educators!

Mona Koury-Elias — East Hills Middle School, Bethlehem, PA

It’s a given that reading teachers ask their students to study and discuss books—Mona Koury-Elias asks her students to bring the books to life. While her 7th grade class was reading Fever 1793, a novel about an epidemic of yellow fever in Philadelphia, Mona had an idea. She wanted her students to create floor plans so they would visualize the apothecary and other settings the main character talked about.

“This is exactly the type of project that we are looking to promote toward our goals for personalized learning in our district,” said Laura Martin, Technology Integration Specialist for the Bethlehem Area School District. To make this project happen, Laura recommended Lucidchart.

Mona instructed her students to design the main character’s coffeehouse, a new menu, an apothecary garden, an apothecary inventory, and the city block, along with some other components. The students used Lucidchart to create unique, creative floor plans—our preset wall, furniture, and appliance shapes make it easy. They then printed out their work to present to the rest of the class.

Now Mona looks forward to finding more opportunities to use Lucidchart in the classroom. “It was very exciting to see students who normally don’t feel as if they are creative suddenly realizing how creative they can be… I am always looking for ways to bring out all the talents that students have.”

Julie Queen — Rosman High School, Rosman, NC

Julie Queen enseña español (that is, Julie teaches Spanish), and she turns to flowcharts when she teaches her class about reflexive verbs and pronouns. Spanish speakers use a different verb form to explain an action that one performs on himself or herself. For example, you would say, “Me ducho cada mañana,” which translates to “I shower myself every day,” instead of “I shower every day.”

Julie asks her students to demonstrate their knowledge of this concept by creating flowcharts that show their daily routines. The students ask questions and give two possible responses. Possible questions include “Did you get up early or late?” or “Did you eat breakfast?”

In the past, Julie’s students drew these flowcharts out on paper because Julie didn’t know of an easy way to complete this assignment on the computer. Vera Cubero, Instructional Technology Facilitator for Transylvania County Schools, suggested Lucidchart for the project since it’s compatible with the Chromebooks students use.

Not only did students respond well to Lucidchart, but this tool also changed the way Julie approached the assignment. “I especially liked that they could work collaboratively, so it didn’t need to be an individual assignment. The students liked that aspect, plus they enjoyed the shapes, colors, and other options they had to be creative. They said it was really easy to figure out.”

Once they finished their flowcharts, Julie’s students submitted the links to their documents on Google Classroom, so Julie could grade them and share them on the projector. Lucidchart equals enhanced collaboration and creativity, both traits that result in more engaged students.

Garrett Jackson — Saipan Southern High School, Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands

Lucidchart has made its way into classrooms all around the world. Garrett Jackson teaches on the island of Saipan, where he and his team provide support for over 80 special education high school students. As part of this position, Garrett needs to break down material for students in ways that they can understand, and he explained, “Many times, my students are able to better understand pictures than just text on a page.”

Along with recreating classroom material, Garrett has used Lucidchart to build graphic organizers that explain different graduation requirements to his students.

Garrett shares these organizers with other teachers through Google Drive and Dropbox, but he prints out the visuals for his students. “I find that printing out items allows them greater access to the material and gives them the opportunity to change and modify what I give them to suit them.”

For Garrett, another benefit to Lucidchart has been its portability. He can access all of his documents from work and from home without worrying whether he has the right software.

A big thanks to all of these educators for sharing their stories! What creative ways have you used Lucidchart in your classroom? We’d love to hear your examples in the comments, or you can mention @lucidchart on Twitter to show us your Lucid lessons.