302: Is this your Canva Summer?!

On this week’s mini-episode, let’s talk about my favorite online teacher tool, Canva. If you haven’t signed up for their free educator program yet, this summer is the perfect time! You can explore all the design tools this wonderful website has to offer, and be ready in the fall to start using it in class. Plus, I’ve got a free mini course ready to help you do it. Today, let’s do a quick rundown on why I think you should.    Did you know Canva began as a program to help make yearbook advisers’ lives easier? Yep, I learned all about it listening to the founder on NPR’s podcast, How I Built This.  Canva basically provides easy versions of the complex designer tools available in programs like Photoshop. Instead of spending months learning Photoshop or paying a graphic designer, people in a huge variety of positions can now just click into Canva and design whatever they want quickly and easily. By the way, this episode is not sponsored by Canva, although I’m EXTREMELY open to a partnership, lol.  My husband just used Canva to design a t-shirt for our neighborhood triathlon at the cabin this summer. I just used it to create mood boards for our new house. My son just used it to make a restaurant menu for his English class. Even my eight year old loves to design her own bookmarks on Canva.  As an educator, you can use it to create hyperdocs, flashcards, posters, infographics, newsletters, certificates, club t-shirts, project models, project handouts, vocabulary quizzes, slide decks, and pretty much anything else you create for work.  You can also gift your students comfort with the program when you guide them through using it to create research carousels, podcast covers, slide decks, infographics, press releases, review posters, and pretty much anything else they create that requires visuals.  Canva’s tools are not so different from the ones you see on Slides, except they’re easier to use in designs once you get used to them. Will it take a few hours of practice? Sure. But it’s so worth it! My easy mini-course will set you up for success if you’d like a hand, and I’ll be sure to link it in the show notes. Canva has made a HUGE positive difference in my life as an educator, and this week, I want to highly recommend you let it do the same for you. Links Mentioned: Sign up for Camp Creative Here:   https://sparkcreativity.kartra.com/page/camppodcasting2024 Grab the Canva Confidence Free Mini-Course: https://sparkcreativity.kartra.com/page/getCanvaconfidence    Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Join our community, Creative High School English, on Facebook. Come hang out on Instagram.  Enjoying the podcast? Please consider sharing it with a friend, snagging a screenshot to share on the ‘gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you!