I present a wee test for you, kind, gentle savvy reader. Have a run through these 10 random images, and see if you can guess the topic of this post (no scrolling, eh?)
How did you do?
When I tested it out myself, I was not sure I could pass my own guess test.
Yes, this is a variant of maybe one of the favorite things I have built on the web, pechaflickr in a mode that was inspired by some feedback I got from a teacher named Heather (hence she gets credit in the tool). That alone might merit an Amazing Story.
The site just runs on its own steam (it’s hand rolled PHP + some duct taped jQuery libraries), I actually have not even peeked at it in a while.
But every then and then, I get a notification that someone responded to the form where I ask people how the use pechaflickr (even that form was so old I had to update the intro and add a prettier background image).
It makes my heart warm reading the responses. One example from an EdTech session leader
I have used it at a variety of EdTechTeam Google for Education Summits around Alberta to wrap up and get the audience involved in the lunch and learn session I do with a variety of Ignite Talks.
I use the different Ignite presenters to show how it can be used in school for topics/discussions and then wrap up with PechaFlickr to show how it can be used for ice breaker/improv/or just practicing thinking on your feet.
@mrmacteach
And from a 9th grade teacher
I’m sharing this with my colleagues because some do full pecha kucha assignments and it’s a great ‘quick fire’ kind of speaking activity.
Some suggestions for improvement: for some reason it gets stopped by my building’s filter, which I can open, but it makes it hard for students to use independently; maybe it’s something in the site description or optimization? The only other thing would be to change the DIY look of the loading page into something cleaner or more professional but that’s a salt-to-taste kind of thing.
I’m not sure I can do much about filters. I expect some schools may block anything that mentions flickr (?). I think this person has a point about the first screens that loads as a bit of a taunt. They are randomly picked from a set of five (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5), all images drawn from flickr cc licensed pool. I’ll look at them again.
Another commenter saw it at “Conference in Guam” and simply said, “I want to use it.”
A language teacher at a high school said:
Hi, Thank you for creating this useful tool. I have used it in a few different ways. I teach Spanish and I am also the advisor for our Model UN club. In our MUN meetings, we use Pechaflckr to get kids comfortable speaking in front of a group. When they attend MUN conferences, kids need to be able to think on their feet, Pechaflickr is a fun way to get everyone talking.
Today I used Pechaflickr in my AP Spanish classes. On the AP test, students have two speaking tasks, one is a simulated conversation where students need to participate in a conversation. They have 20 seconds to respond to each prompt. Pechaflickr helps them to learn to keep talking for the full 20 seconds.The other speaking task is a 2 minute cultural presentation. If we set Pechaflickr to 6 pictures, that gives each student 2 minutes. They had great fun choosing topics for each other in class today and trying to connect all of the random images that appear all while speaking Spanish! ¡¡Muchísimas gracias!!
Another high school teacher shared
Partners talked about each photo they saw for 6 minutes
I never tire of reading the way language teachers develop ideas for using the pecha flickr improv in language activities, it has to be better then the scenario I remember of French highschool were we had to recite the conversation of ordering soup (Hey Monsieur Rivken, for some reason I still remember, “Quelle est la soupe du jour?”).
And just as warming to hear from someone at an Elementary school
you guys are perfect!
And among the tweets mentioning pechaflickr, look at a nice plug from New Jersey (love the GIF).
And Brad Dale liked it as well.
And of course, as previously mentioned, on her own, Nele Hirsch put on the web a German version.
This is why, despite all kinds of wailing about the demise of the internet, the foulness of social media and what is or is not openness, I still love this place.
Featured Image: Screenshot from my closing round of the topic of this post as a pechaflickr tag with the actual tag blurred out (have you figured it out yet?)
