Authentic Lessons for 21st Century Learning

Emoji Reflection

Sarah Brewer | Published: February 12th, 2021 by K20 Center

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Emoji Reflection

Students use emojis to summarize, demonstrate, and reflect on their learning.

Emoji Reflection

Summary

Emojis can be used in a variety of ways to enhance student learning. Students can use emojis to summarize and demonstrate understanding of a topic or text. Additionally, emojis can be used as an annotation strategy or to help students reflect on their own learning. Inserting an emoji into a text can add non-verbal cues that have the capacity to add tone and nuance to the words themselves.

Procedure

  1. Curate a gallery of emojis. Follow these steps to create your own gallery of emojis:

    1. Open a new Google document.

    2. Click on “Insert.”

    3. Select “Icons.”

    4. From the available categories, choose the emojis to make up your gallery. See the sample below for an example of what this might look like.

  2. After studying a topic or text, provide students with a copy of the emoji gallery and an overarching question or prompt to which you would like students to respond. Invite students to respond to that prompt by choosing a certain number of emojis that express their thoughts. For example, after studying the Declaration of Independence, you could ask students to select three emojis that represent how the British government would react to the Declaration and then three more emojis that represent how the Patriots would respond to the Declaration. You could also ask students to use emojis to summarize the main ideas in the Declaration of Independence or to annotate the text.

  3. Ask students to explain why they selected the emojis they used. This may be done in a written format or in a verbal discussion or report.

Wiebe, G. (2019, Sept. 13). Emojis. Cause they're good for kids and fun to use. What's not to like? History Tech. https://historytech.wordpress.com/2019/09/13/emojis-cause-theyre-good-for-kids-and-fun-to-use-whats-not-to-like/