Brag Tags for the iPad

Have you heard of brag tags? Who hasn't?! I love having any sort of individual behavior incentive that highlights positive choices. However, cutting all those tags and handing them out just doesn't appeal to me #aintnobodygottimeforthat. I have thought and thought about how I could put a technology spin on them when it finally hit me... Read on to learn how I did it!

**This post may contain Amazon Affiliate links.

My students each have an iPad assigned to them for the school year. When I first began thinking about how I could use our iPads for brag tags, I figured that I needed to find an app that could host pictures. That is when it hit me though...we could just use our photos! 

The beginnings of a Pad Pic album!

I am a big advocate for utilizing native apps on the iPad (I use this native app boot camp packet to teach my students.) There is so much that you can do within the photos app. One part is making photo albums. I realized that I could just airdrop (or message or email) brag tag photos and then my students could either have them in their photos, or make a photo album with them.

Did I make that sound simple? Sound complicated? 

Don't worry, it's not hard and I'll walk you through it! 

While creating my brag tags (which was SO much fun) I made two different types. One for my friends who would rather print their tags and hand them out like that. The second type was an 8x8 picture of each tag. This option is for the iPad (sorry, it is not compatible with a Chromebook or Kindle Fire.)

I basically couldn't stop creating tags and ended up creating 117 tags...with plans to make more! I decided to bundle them into one set so you wouldn't have to purchase multiple sets. The brag tags range from holidays and special days to school subjects and praise. I am also completely open to any tags you would like to have. Just email me! 

Pad Pics! 

Brag Tags!

If you like the traditional brag tags, all you do is print, laminate, and cut! You can print them in grayscale (directions in resource) or in color. You can hang them on necklaces (Black Stainless Steel Ball Chain Spool, KinHom 30 Inches 2.4mm Bead Size 3 Rust Proof Jewelry Necklace Link Dog Tags Sets for Men and Women (50 PACK)), put them in zip lock bags, the possibilities are endless! 

Back to how I got them on our iPads...

First, I sent the pictures from my computer to my iPad. You can do that in a variety of ways. I have included EXPLICIT directions in my product download, but below are the basics.

-If you have a Mac transferring your pad pics to your iPad or iPhone is as simple as AirDropping them. Never AirDropped before? Don't worry, I explain how in the download!

-If you have a PC, you will download the pad pics directly through either a Google Drive link or a Dropbox link that I have included in the download. Once again, I have explicit directions for you!

Once I had the pictures on my iPad, I needed a way to get them out to my students.

 -I AirDrop my pad pics to my students. It is easy peasy. I will tell you how!

-If you do not want to AirDrop, you can always email or iMessage them if you have access to those!

What it looks like when a pad pic is AirDropped to a student.

Now that we have the technical stuff figured out, I made a routine for handing them out that was easy to remember. 

I have built in ten minutes to my schedule on Fridays to send pad pics to students. It is the perfect time to reflect on the week, and spotlight students for their efforts. I find ten minutes is plenty of time to send SEVERAL pad pics to students.

I do hand out pad pics during the week also. If I notice a student who needs to be recognized immediately for their efforts, I will stop what I am doing and send one to her/him. I will also randomly give out pad pics when I feel my class is having trouble behaving, but I have a few kids that are following directions. This is a great way to redirect my students.

I hand out pad pics on special days (like holidays) to recognize them instead of waiting until the end of the week. Once you start using pad pics in your classroom,  you will naturally find what works best for you. There is no right or wrong answer!

I have created a tracker to keep track of who you have handed pad pics out to. My students are pretty good at reminding me though! 

Tracking sheets to remember who you have given pad pics to!

Interested in giving them a try? I have both a freebie and a full product in my Teachers pay Teachers store. Interested in the traditional brag tags? I have those too! Just click HERE (or the pictures below) to check them out.

 

 

Do you use brag tags in the classroom? I would love to hear how you implement them!

PSST!! Want to learn EVEN MORE ways to easily implement iPads in your classroom?! Just click here (or the picture below) to sign up for my FREE five day email course! I will walk you through everything I've done to easily implement iPads in my own classroom!