I like technology and am all for integrating it into my classroom. I will be teaching virtually until at least October and I have been looking for ways to spice up my PowerPoints for online teaching. I want my students to feel more engaged. So, I was scrolling through FB one evening and I saw my friend’s Bitmoji classroom. It was really cute and I was like “I am going to make one”. I googled “How To Make A Bitmoji Classroom” of course, I chose the very first tutorial that popped up. I watched it and I was like no big deal, I can do this. 3 hours later, I was defeated and I declared, I’m having a glass of wine. I decided that I would not be creating a Bitmoji classroom. The next evening, my friend again posted something really cool. I PM’d her and asked her to share and she did, but she did me one better! She invited me to Bitmoji Craze For Educators on FB. It was the best thing that could have happened. I will say the majority of the teachers in this group which now has over 450K members are very supportive and they share their stuff. Some post pictures, but won’t share which I think is an asshole move. Back to my Bitmoji classroom, I had an epiphany, I had been watching a really crappy tutorial. In fact a lot of the tutorials that I watched after the first one didn’t help much. But the FB group was amazing. I took a classroom that had a background that I liked and started from scratch (using the background). Several hours later, I proudly share my very first slide with the group! Yes, at the beginning it takes a while to learn, but it is mostly because you are building up your image library. You find all the images you want to use, but they have to be transparent and then you have to remove the background and download and then add to the slide. After you build up your library, you are golden. I seriously think that I have developed a Bitmoji Addiction! Yesterday (Sunday) I created an Ice Breaker set of assignments that I did from top to bottom without using anyone else’s slide as a jumping off point. It was a very detailed set-up which includes over 30 links, but I know that my students will love it (they better). I had shared some of the stuff with my varsity debate class and their responses and feedback have made me optimistic. With all this being said, I really take issue with many parents who are bashing us on social media as being lazy and only wanting to collect a paycheck and sit at home and do nothing. This is where I feel like giving them the finger and saying “F YOU”! When do YOU sit at home on a Sunday and work for hours for free?
