Words to AI Art: Canva's Magic Media Revolutionizes Descriptive Writing

I introduced Canva’s Magic Media to help students practice expressing their ideas, receive AI-generated feedback on detail, and reignite their interest in the descriptive writing process.

Communication is the foundation of our human existence - it helps us express ourselves, as well as communicate new revolutionary ideas that we have dreamed up. But with the invention of smartphones, texting and text-based abbreviations, our ability to communicate appears to be suffering. We are out of practice. We communicate in soundbites and acronyms. As a result, our ability to adequately explain what we are thinking has been truncated.

So how can we re-invigorate our students' desire to learn these critical communication skills? It’s pretty simple: wrap it up in a hot new technology tool that they are interested in learning - AI.

Regardless of the final intent, as humans we need to be able to communicate our ideas to someone who has no idea what we are talking about. We need to be able to explain in enough detail that the recipient can create a mental picture of what we are describing. Let’s think about it in terms of an invention that we all use: bandaids.

Say what? Yes, it’s true. This common household item was nearly eliminated because the inventor was struggling to communicate WHAT a bandaid was and WHY other people should care about his creation. Can you imagine a classroom, a hospital, or a home without bandaids? It seems inconceivable but it was almost a reality. (If you are interested, you can read more about the history of the bandaid in the picture book titled The Boo-Boos That Changed the World: A True Story about an Accidental Invention (Really!) by Barry Wittenstein.

But our students don’t have to wait until they have a revolutionary idea for a new product to practice these critical communication skills. Our practice can be as simple as reading them an anchor text, and having them add pages to the story by using descriptive language and an AI media generator. That’s what I did with my 5th Graders.

I started by having the kids play a simple game named ARTributes in pairs. They were given 3 attributes that described an object and they had to draw something that fit that description. Their partner - who also knew the attributes - had to guess what they were drawing. The goal - of course - was to highlight the power of adjectives when communicating an idea.

It was really fascinating to see how these adjectives produced different drawings. Some teams drew a sloth (that was the first thing I thought of too), others drew a turtle and others still drew a worm.

Then I read the story ‘Snowmen at Night’ by Caralyn Buehner. In summary, a child builds a snowman and to explain why the snowman looks different the next day, the child fantasizes about all of the wild adventures that his snowman took while he was in bed sleeping. It’s a simple concept with endless imaginative possibilities.

After finishing the story, I asked them what adventure they would take the snowman on to enhance the narrative. I had them brainstorm adjectives that would help the reader really see the image they had created in their mind.

From there, I shared our learning goals. I wanted the kids to be able to utilize Canva’s Magic Media to create an AI generated picture of a snowman on an adventure of their choice. I also wanted them to practice using descriptive language to ‘paint the scene’ for the snowman’s adventure. Magic Media is an AI image- generating tool, meaning the kids type in a description of a picture they want generated, and the AI tool digitally produces a series of images based on that description.

We launched Canva’s Magic Media. The students then needed to transfer their ideas from their imagination into the AI picture generator and click the generate button to ask the tool to generate an illustration for their idea. It quickly became apparent to the kids that they needed more descriptive language if the picture in their minds didn’t match what the AI generator created. Instant AI-generated feedback gave them an opportunity to adjust their writing and re-generate.

Now I know what you are thinking: how can I keep my students safe using this tool? This was my biggest reservation as well. After consulting with a canva consultant. I learned that the built-in filters in Magic Media will block students from generating inappropriate photos. What a relief!

At the end of our class session, I asked the kids to reflect on how the adjectives and descriptive words they used in the AI generator (input) impacted the image that was created (output). It was fascinating to see how their use of descriptive language changed even in our short lesson.

I knew my 5th graders would enjoy this tool but I had no idea how ravenously they would devour it. It was a full 30 minutes of highly engaged, writing-based learning, where even my toughest kids were participating. The level of excitement was palpable. This is going to be one of those teaching moments that I never forget.

Here are a few examples:

For those new to Magic Media, launch Canva, open a blank presentation, navigate to the far left menu and click Apps. Scroll down until you see Magic Media, enable the extension and voilà, you are ready to start typing in your ideas. Need to see it in action, click here.

In conclusion, the integration of Canva’s Magic Media tool into my classroom proved to be a dynamic and transformative experience for my 5th-grade students. The lesson not only addressed the pressing need for enhanced communication skills in the era of digital abbreviations but also showcased the power of technology, specifically AI, as a captivating educational tool. Witnessing the students enthusiastically engage in descriptive writing, paired with the visual reinforcement provided by AI-generated images, affirmed the efficacy of this approach. The instant feedback loop facilitated by Canva's Magic Media allowed students to refine their descriptive language skills and actively participate in their own learning process. This teaching moment has left an indelible mark, highlighting the potential of innovative tools to rekindle a passion for communication and creativity in the classroom. As we navigate the evolving landscape of education, experiences like these underscore the importance of leveraging technology to inspire and empower the communicators of tomorrow.