Russell School Street and Seesaw

It is great to observe young students develop an interest for blogging as this can serve as a valuable tool to aggregate their work over a period of time and show an accurate picture of academic and personal growth. I found it interesting that each class had a unique name that showcased the ongoing work throughout the school year. Like others have indicated, privacy is definitely a concern, especially since they are minors. I am not privileged to the minor privacy laws in New Zealand, but in my experience, to publish student information, parents need to waive privacy rights of their child. Typically, in my 1200 student school, approximately 75 students do not waive their privacy rights and therefore cannot have their picture or work or name published. They can choose to have one or two or three of the before mentioned criteria, so it does become complicated. 

Regarding the Seesaw app, this is a great tool for documenting classroom announcements and student work and is currently being used by several of my colleagues. I use Class Dojo because it has a behavior component as well as student blogging capabilities. One thing I noticed on the Seesaw blogs at the Russell Street School is a potential accessibility issue. The blogs are using an inline frame which I haven’t seen in the last 7 years in my web design experience, and text doesn’t appear in full screen, at least on my Mac. This can become a frustrating visual experience because the box moves leaving a small window. The Seesaw app does not have these same visual obstructions, and the design is flawless. Concluding, using Seesaw is a great tool for students and classrooms to showcase their work and class assignments. I would though exercise caution in the area of privacy. This begins by having an acceptable use and privacy policy in place at the school which has been agreed upon by all the stakeholders involved (parents, administration, students). 

Thoughts on Russel Street - Learning on display

To me, the idea is about learning on display, feedback and communication. There are some really great examples of engaged classrooms that have lots of content and are regularly updated. There are also rooms where it seems that the conversation is a bit one sided and still others that have not been updated for quite some time. 

But the overarching goal of what they are doing, is really putting their students learning on display for the world and opening up a communication loop and feedback tool with their parents and others. Yes, I do think that seesaw is a good tool and can do some amazing things. Next year we may (actually we will) have other tools that do similar things or automate some process. But in the end it is really not about the technology but the content that matters. 

It is tough to blog, it is tough to keep up once started and yes, privacy issues do get in the way, but isn't it cool to see a school just put it out there. I give them a lot of credit for getting as far as they have have and embracing the technology in a positive way. There will be learning curves, stumbling blocks and even some failures, but aren't those the types of things that we want our students to experience as well?

I look at it as a jump into the internet pool. They are making a bit of splash and the ripples will also settle out in the end, but engaging their students with a broader world and showcasing there accomplishments, and some struggles along the way I think in the end will make their students much better learners and much better prepared for the larger world that they are a part of. 

Russell Street School: Impressions

As I look over the blog posts of the Russell Street School and look at the activities of the different classrooms, it seems that the purpose of their blogging seems to be substantively different than the way that we are using our blogging. To a certain degree, this seems incredibly obvious since we are in a graduate program and they are elementary students. However, I mean there seems to be a more fundamental difference.

In our class, the blog is a primary driver of learning. We learn by creating a post and discussing that post with peers. The learning takes place via the blogging.

In their classes, it seems that the blog serves the purpose of advertising learning that has taken place in another context and allowing people to give encouragement. I looked through several classes of varying ages, and didn't see anything that seemed to approach a critical discussion, even one fitting for the age group. Instead I saw things like, "Very interesting facts girls!," and "Good reading people I know you are one of those."

This difference between being the primary driver of learning and being a report of learning made for encouragement was interesting to me. As I teach adults, I am more used to thinking about blogging as a primary source of discussion, but the way Russell Street School uses it makes a lot of sense for the age group and I can see a lot of utility in it. I would be interested to know if schools for older children in this area continue the students active involvement using web tools in learning and, if so, how they apply it.

Russell Street School = Blogging Geniuses!

The Russell Street School blog provides a wealth of information for the world about their latest and greatest happenings. Teachers, students, and administrators post pertinent information to the school's blog, which is relevant and up-to-date. Static, obsolete info doesn't seem a reality here (although I did notice a few of the pages that are connected to this blog aren't all updated - the library's last post was in 2015, but I bet that'll change in no time), which gives the sense that the entire staff is on board, working together for the common good. What a statement to the world!

The RSS feeds (which include links to various classes in the school, among other things) are valuable resources for teachers, students, and families, so they have insight into what's going on in each classroom and can view what their students are up to. I noticed quite a few of the classroom pages were set up by students themselves, which provides a "portfolio" feel to the class, giving the reader a sense that the students are actively involved in their educations.

The updates from various clubs, departments, and the school itself are also helpful in keeping in-tune with important notifications, important meetings, and key dates. In an age where parents are busier than ever and tend to use tech devices to manage their daily lives, I can see how subscribing to this feed (via email updates or the RSS phone app, for instance) would be of great benefit.

As a teacher who leads an exchange trip and advises a club or two, I appreciate how everything can be found on one single page. And thinking about just how many more departments, clubs, exchanges, sports, etc. are offered at my school, I think establishing a similar blog would be awesome to keep parents up-to-date with all that is going on. I do believe our "constituents" would appreciate it as well. However, I think we'd almost need a curator of the blog - someone to prompt teachers to keep their pages up to date, as even with something like SeeSaw, ensuring teachers keep up would be a hard sell. I also am not sure our district tech department would be sold on it, unless it'd be under their supervision, which would add to their workload, as then every school in the district would need to have a blog to ensure equity (which equals a lot of schools).

Another note, as has been mentioned many times: Privacy might be a concern, as faces and names of students are published. I'm betting there's a disclaimer sent out to all the families for legal purposes, though. I know my high school sends something like that out, and if the parents/guardians choose not to sign, their student's picture cannot be published online.

Russell Street School...A Leader In Educational Blogging!

I am in awe with Russell Street School (RSS) and how they use blogs (Here is their Google Sites Page).

The first page is dedicated to all of the stakeholders for the school...parents/guardians and the community as a whole. I love how they included a Community Newsletter. It's not a jumble load of information and it is easy to follow. I know this is an important aspect especially for those that are less computer literate.

The specialty of this blog is how it showcases the different classes and students individually. As a teacher, I love how each class can showcase what is being done in the class and what the students are able to create. I have never used (or heard of till now) SeeSaw. I would like to learn more about and maybe find a way to utilize it myself! But I find it inspiring how all of the students have "a voice" in the digital realm and are learning how to use it at an early age.

My only concern, as others have mentioned, is the privacy issues. I guess because it has been ingrained in me since undergrad, "do not share private information with others, including student's names without permission,, And even then do it sparingly." I was little uncomfortable about the actual names with pictures in several of the posts. If I were to do something like this I would like for use a system that was less identifiable of my students to the outside community.

Overall, I am highly impressed and have actually bookmarked the site so I can look at it more in depth and see what I could do for my future classrooms!

Russell Street School Impressions

The Russell Street School administrative team has an innovative vision for their school and are supporting that vision with written and visual evidence from each of the classrooms. The summary of their recent professional development seminar on play-based learning which is posted on their blog reflects a desire to stay current with trends and issues in education to ensure their students are receiving a holistic education. The faculty profiles reflect teachers who not only love their students but also their school which makes for a positive perception of a kind, caring, and professional environment. Each of the class SeeSaw live feeds provide examples of students making their thinking visible through words and images. I appreciated that parents had the option to respond to their child’s posts to comment on progress throughout the day which in turn would carry the learning home in the evening. The theme I gathered from their blog was that at Russell Street School, learning is joyful and holistic.

The major issues that I had while viewing the various class blogs concerned privacy for these elementary students. While the SeeSaw Live Feed is a great window into each classroom, I think those live feeds should be only for RSS parents with a password. Several classroom blogs contained photographs with students holding up their work with either their first names showing or first and last. Even if parents signed a consent form to have their child’s image published on the school blog, the choice to publish student names along with their photographs was troubling due to any number of potential safety issues. Additionally, I think parent comments to their children should only be seen by the parents of that class or at most, the school community, versus the public at large. While student work and images are strong marketing tools for the school, more care should be taken to ensure the protection of their young learners while also highlighting the great work which is happening in each classroom.

Russell Street School: Epitome of Digital Presence

After looking through the Russell Street School's website, I was impressed with the strong digital presence of the school. The school itself has its own page with general information, but each individual classroom has their own page as well. These individual pages have posts created by the teacher and each page has its own 'feel'.

• Some are updated frequently with videos and images while others are updated infrequently. 
• Some tag specific students while others just tag everyone. 
• Some show students while other show student work. 

Overall, I love the openness of the school and the individuality of the classrooms. It's a fantastic way to communicate with students' families as well as the rest of the world. It's a nice alternative to ClassDojo messaging or Remind, but those also have the added benefit of addressing parent one-on-one.

As I looked through these classrooms, I couldn't help but think about how this could be applied to a high school. From my perspective, I feel that older students should have more control over what is being shared since many of them are already sharing content online. In my classroom, students have blogs that they update a few times a week and I encourage them to update their Professional Sites, Google Sites designed by students to display their work. Yet, this does not seem as effective or as public compared to what Russell Street School is doing. I definitely need to start considering ways to make my students' learning more public for the world.

Thank you for the inspiration, Russell Street School!