Now that I've seen this, I literally want to create a Seesaw for all of my classes. And then tell all of my friends they need to, too. These blogs seem to me like a news outlet, community bulletin board, and artist portfolio all rolled into one.
The main page posts content that's useful to everyone connected to the school, be that school news, photos, calendars, etc. I can imagine teachers, parents, and students visiting this page (also mirrored in a Google site) regularly to see what's new or what happened at the weekend spelling bee. This is an extremely efficient way to disseminate information and one that has a much more personal feel to it than a typical school's website. With RSS readers, keeping track is incredibly convenient.
Next is the individual class "room" blogs. This blog showcases all of the students' work and what an incredible variety of work there is. In just one class alone, I saw posters, notebook pages, voice-recorded responses to art and other projects, photos of outside work, and so much more, all as evidence of or in response to working with an assigned topic. Students and their teacher leave comments of reassurance and congratulations.
As if that weren't enough, posts can be filtered down to the author (with selected avatars of a cute nature) by choosing the child's name from a list in the right sidebar. This is extremely well done by the developer and it makes it feel as though the child has their own personal bulletin board. Again, with plenty of comments from the other class members.
All classes aren't posting all the time but, collectively, the frequency is remarkable considering the age of these primary school students. They seem to take pride in their posts and you can hear the enthusiasm in their voices when they record a description of their animal drawings.
Ladies and gentleman, this is a model of what putting tech into a classroom could be like. Blogging, multimedia, perhaps some augmented reality... I'm so impressed. Learner-centered classrooms are the means to deeper, more immersive learning and the creativity these students show here while demonstrating their knowledge is theory put into action.
Maybe these guys are famous for what they do, and rightly so. We should all be aiming this high!
~Todd Koenig
Hello Todd,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. This school has gone the extra mile to assure that students, parents, guardians and anyone involved with the school have ONE place to go and check what they need and stay in the know of what the kids are doing and upcoming events. I love that the whole school is on board with it making it easier for parents to keep track and stay organized while allowing them to feel involved in their children's learning.
Todd, if you are just now finding out about Seesaw I highly suggest it. I started using it last year and my student quickly bought into it and kept wanting to show the world what they were capable of. After offering several professional workshop classes, I would say most of my school is on board with Seesaw for the next school year and if it goes well, my principal said that she would invest in the paid version which works as a portfolio and remembers all that students have done since Kindergarten until they leave the school. I highly recommend it!
Great information, Itxaso! I will definitely be looking into Seesaw more seriously. ~TK
ReplyDeleteI also loved the idea of using a classroom page for general information and announcements. I wish we had something like this when I was in school. Kids talked all through the morning announcements making it hard to hear. I was pretty good at telling my parents what they needed to know, but I'm sure that many students in my class did not give their parents the information that they needed to support their learning. My own kids tend to give me permission slips at the last minute and fail to let me know what's going on and what they need at the right times. A blog would be a great way to share this information with parents! That way everyone is on the same page and they can communicate and comment to the teacher if needed.
ReplyDeleteI know, right? I honestly wonder how much time it takes to keep their whole system up to date. If I were even considering something like this as an administration, I might end up giving it the axe for fear it is too time-consuming. There's no doubt that everyone seems to be on board with it in this case. I'm not sure how old your kids are or how active you are at their school, but is this something you could suggest at a PTA meeting? Does the PTA still exist?! ~ Todd
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