As Albert Einstein said “Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.

” Please take a look at

the long list of Avatars that we have been working on this year with my students.

Digital life has come to stay and we, as educators need to be updated and try to
use the newest trends to engage our students in our class. I believe that using
avatars will be useful to make each student feel included and comfortable in
class.

If I were to use avatars in my lessons I would use them in:

● Literature or Narrative stories. Students can create their own stories and
give “life” to the characters.
● To identify who is in a particular group.
● On behaviour charts with the youngest ones.
● To welcome students.
● To use it as a job chart to show who is responsible of different activities we
do every day. (Classroom helpers)
● For role play
● Put each avatar on a desk to show where students have to sit.
● As a name tag for 1st form students during their firsts days at school so
that the teachers can memorize their names.
● To help students assume different personalities in role plays, especially for
those shy students. Alice

As we know, technology has become a very important part of our students’ life
and as teachers, we can use it in order to motivate them to participate more
actively in class. Most of my students play video games and love having a “virtual
self” and using avatars allow them to have a virtual identity especially when we
work in platforms. For instance, I like to work with my students through blogs
where they can create their own tales and by implementing avatars, this activity
can be more dynamic because they can be part of their stories.
We can also use avatars to make short presentations or give tips about different
topics; the students could listen to the avatar instead of listening to the teacher
directly. This would be a good way to catch their attention. Tatiana.

I use avatars (voki) with my students in order to introduce the author of the book
we’re about to read (I´m a Literature teacher). I always tell them there’s a special
guest in our class and we listen to the avatar talking. They really enjoy it and it’s
useful to catch their attention.
As Tatiana was saying, I believe there are many activities in which we can use
this great tool. We could use avatars when we ask students to write dialogues, in
order to identify the speakers, to play games, as icebreakers or to describe the
children’s clothes or physical appearance. Silvina.

I have never created an avatar, so I’m learning about them, but apart from the
suggestions mentioned above I’m thinking that an avatar of myself could be sent
to the my future students a week before classes begin (may be to their parent’s
email) to let them know a little bit about me and most important, I believe it could
encourage them start school. It’s a fun way to start! Vicky.

I have never formally used avatars with my students, but as a lover of

video-games, I am pretty fond of them. My first graders love to listen to Talking
Tom when we are warming up lessons. Generally 3 or 4 students get to answer
Tom’s questions (what’s the weather like today? What day is it today? How are
you today?). Now I’m thinking that it could also be a nice tool for telling stories
(instead of the teacher, have an avatar do it) - engagement would soar! Dora

I have never worked using Avatars in my classrooms, so I tried to find information

about the ways I can work with them.

Some possibilities are:

1. Use them to identify who is in particular​ groups for small group work​.

2. Use the avatars on ​behavior management charts and rewards systems​.

3. Use them on a ​job chart​ to show who is responsible for what each week.

4. A cute ice breaker activity – shuffle and distribute the pictures of avatars.
Students then need to find the person their avatar corresponds with.

María Luisa Borosqui

Avatars appear to be really interesting and encouraging since they open a thousand
possibilities in the classroom. One of the main benefits that I have found could be
that avatars allow students, and teachers, to be creative, innovative and as they do
not have a fixed structure, students with different intelligences could able to explore
and develop their talents. By using them and by sharing them in the classroom the
learning process would be absolutely enriched. Descriptions, role-play, storytelling,
etc. could be some examples of activities to include. Celina Quiroga

I have never used Avatars in my lessons before but I think I would use them like this:

- For students to introduce themselves and their hobbies during the first week
of school.
- To decorate the classroom with student´s names under their avatars and add
their birthdays.
- For student´s to explain a topic.

Florencia Roverano

I teach Literature and I would use avatars to ask students to design the
characters the way they imagine them and then to say their favourite quotes!!

Another activity could be to impersonate a book reviewer and criticize a

book/poem/play

Patricia Chujman

I have heard about avatars, but I have never worked with them before. As a
kindergarten teacher I think it is a great resource for kids. In my opinion I would
use avatars...
- as the main characters in a virtual story or comic. Later Sts can do the
printed version of the book and it can turn into a “Travelling book” so Sts
can share it with their families.
- as a Lego version of themselves (Sts will love this!) or a Lego version of
the characters in a Traditional Tale like Little Red Riding Hood, the Wolf,
The Three Little Pigs,etc. After this, Sts can use real Legos and play with
them.
- To practise oral descriptions with the teacher´s help (parts of the face
vocabulary using Planet Creation, or physical appearance, clothes,
feelings, etc.) and after that they can make a poster for the classroom with
the vocabulary.
 Valeria Pascua.

I heard about Voki some years ago in one of Jennifer’s courses. Students love
using that tool, especially when an opinion has to be given, as in a way they feel
more comfortable and not so exposed. In a way, it gives them an excuse for them
to use English when they are pretending to be someone else.
Maru Díaz

I’ve never heard about this and I think it’s an amazing opportunity to introduce
technology to my students. I think they’d love it, because by creating an avatar
they can show something about their personality besides being something new
and creative. I’d use it to teach body parts and face features.
Micaela Bloise

In my opinion, there are thouthands of ways to use avatars in Education. They

can be a very useful tool to teach languages (by making them speak, follow
instructions, even when creating them), math (we can use them to count, to
make/solve different problems, etc), social studies (suppose that you’re working
with different cultures around the world), etc. It depends on the teacher goals and
how they are introduced to children.
Romina Silva Maglia