Showing posts with label elementary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elementary. Show all posts

Monday, February 1, 2021

Setting Seesaw Expectations: Raising the Bar for In-Person and e-Learning

We are now in our second year using Seesaw as our as our Learning Management System (LMS) for grade PreK-3 students. We use Schoology as our Learning LMS for grade 4-12 students, and until moving to Seesaw, had used Schoology for grades PreK-3, too. In September 2019 when we introduced Seesaw, adoption took off quickly. I am so thankful we made the change when we did, as just seven months later in March 2020 we were in a great place to more fully utilize Seesaw when all students shifted to e-Learning. The pandemic was a catalyst for technology integration in education, and our use of Seesaw exponentially increased as seen in the stats comparison below from this past fall and a year previous for one of our elementary schools. 

Fall 2020 Seesaw Stats for Items Posted Clear Springs Elementary

Fall 2019 Seesaw Stats for Items Posted Clear Springs Elementary


This past fall as school resumed, K-3 students were either in hybrid learning pods at 50% capacity five days a week or at home in 100% e-Learning. In both cases, Seesaw was heavily used. Prior to students returning in the fall in August 2020, we created and introduced Seesaw Expectations for teachers to help bring consistency between classes. We want students (and parents) to easily find content and communication regardless of the teacher. So to do this, we identified the subject color for tags/folders and naming conventions to provide further clarity in structure. We set the expectation for the frequency of announcements. We also encouraged 
active student engagement and minimum student use of Seesaw as well as set a teacher expectation for providing student feedback.

Setting the bar, so to speak, on Seesaw by identifying these expectations of use helps drive both consistency as well and increase the level of use across the board. It provides administrators and our technology coaches with a guide to follow and goal to encourage teachers. We have found this true as well with our Schoology Expectations introduced five years ago. The expectations are altered as more features in each tool are introduced and teachers, students (and parents) gain more experience using the platform. Other districts have created Seesaw Expectations as well, and we built off of their ideas when creating ours for Minnetonka.

(Open Seesaw Expectations in separate window)


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Monday, February 10, 2020

My 20 Minute Ed Talk: Screen Time & Student Well-being


The recording of the 20 minute EDTalk I gave last month in Minneapolis is now available. The talk was titled How to Raise Tech Healthy Kids. I spoke about creating habits that lead to digitally healthy individuals and shared simple tips to help both kids and adults balance the use of technology in our lives. In addition to the video above, there also is an audio recording of it if you'd prefer. After the EDTalk there was an audience Q & A session which you can view below.



Prior to my talk, Erin Walsh from the Spark & Stitch Institute gave a great presentation about Students, Social Media and Mental Health. That recording can be watched below.



Learn more about Achieve Minneapolis EDTalks.

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Monday, January 20, 2020

12 Examples of Seesaw Use Taking Off in Minnetonka E-3 Classrooms


Since starting in September, Seesaw use in Minnetonka E-3 classrooms continues to increase each week. Students are creating content documenting learning, teachers are posting activities for students and pushing announcements to parents, and parents are viewing and commenting with their child. An average of about 500 parents per week per school view Seesaw content and leave comments or "Likes" for their student. We have seen very few, if any, other educational technology programs take off so quickly and become so popular.

To support the startup and continued growth of Seesaw, our elementary tech coaches offer monthly Seesaw training and sharing sessions. After an initial teacher training at each school in September they have followed up each month by facilitating a teacher sharing session of ideas and best practices. They communicate these ideas between all sites to spread the knowledge and speed up implementation of the best use of the platform, too. We also have set goals of topics and skills to introduce each month for the remainder of the school year. Technology coaches have attended trainings and presentations both online and in person at last month's state technology conference to learn more. Later this month Minnetonka is hosting a Twin Cities Metro Seesaw User Group meeting to network with other districts and build a community to share ideas. 


We have seen some great, creative and innovative uses of Seesaw by our teachers so far. Some of these include:


  • Students labeling photos they take in science of their sunflower seeds or videos of their crayfish as pictured.
     
  • Multiple photos of individual and classroom shots shared with families to help them understand more of what is happening at school.
     
  • Students documenting learning, such as a photo of their writing journal pictured above, or recording reading aloud--audio or video--for parents and classmates. This is a great formative assessment for the teacher and gives students an authentic audience. Some teachers are using soft-sided cubes like the one pictured to block out extraneous noise. One teacher had all her students practice being "videographers" for their partner, learning recording tips.
     
  • Posting a video explaining how to solve the math skill(s) currently being taught for students to review and to help parents understand how to reinforce and help with homework. Or posting instructions for parents on how to repeat any classroom activity, such as the retelling of the Three Little Pigs pictured.
     
  • Teachers posting the "Star Student" of the week in Seesaw for everyone in the class to see and encourage further home discussion.
     
  • Sending links and announcements home to parents such as the conference sign up form, book fair links, and other items normally sent home in a class newsletter.
     
  • Teachers are working on building class community and helping students learn from mistakes; valuing the process, building understanding, learning how to support each other and handle mistakes.
     
  • Posting videos for parent volunteers to watch prior to the day of helping out the class. The parent comes ready to start at a station and does not need to ask the teacher what to do and take time away from the students.
     
  • Teachers recording a weekly video for parents rather than sending home a newsletter. Teachers love the fact that they can know through Seesaw when each family viewed something.
     
  • Students using the screen recording feature to write Chinese characters so the teacher can see whether or not they are using the correct ink strokes.
     
  • Teachers are using Seesaw to post things parents wouldn't typically see such as work in progress, a picture of a math notebook page, and recordings of reading own writing in immersion language.
     
  • Reading poems Chatterpix and sharing their work with classmates and parents via Seesaw.
As our teachers continue to become more familiar with Seesaw, they are utilizing the Activity Library and sharing resources with one another across the district and beyond. Seesaw has proven to be an easy to use platform that students, teachers and parents love. It will be fun to see what the second half of the year brings!

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Monday, December 30, 2019

EDTalks: Screen Time & Student Well-being, January 13 @ 6pm


I'm excited to join Erin Walsh from the Spark & Stitch Institute as we give two inspiring EDTalks on technology and student health on Monday, January 13,  2020, 6:00-7:30pm at the Icehouse in Minneapolis. Register here. Here are the details:

It's Complicated: Students, Social Media and Mental Health 
Students spend an average of 53 hours each week on social media and other technology – more than any other activity but sleeping. While many assume technology is inherently bad for student mental health, evidence suggests that it can either boost or undermine what young people need to thrive. As more and more schoolwork goes online, both the opportunities and challenges are magnified, and educators need to learn how to respond. Erin Walsh will describe the key ingredients for digital wellness and share strategies to help students thrive in a world of screens.

Presenter: Erin Walsh, M.A, is co-founder of Spark & Stitch Institute, which translates brain science into practical strategies for parents and educators who want to raise courageous and connected kids. A national consultant on digital media and youth, she is co-author of the 10th anniversary edition of the bestseller, Why Do They Act That Way? A Survival Guide to the Adolescent Brain for You and Your Teen, and lead program facilitator for Youth Frontiers, where she directs retreats for educators on the science of stress and why connection unleashes learning.

Raising Tech-Healthy Kids   
Tablets, smartphones, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube and more... technology is a central part of young people’s lives today. Keeping up can be challenging, but a positive and well-informed approach can have a big impact on a child’s future and in creating new habits that lead to digitally healthy individuals. Learn simple tips to help both kids and adults balance the use of technology in our lives.

Presenter: Dave Eisenmann, M.A. Ed., is director of instructional technology and media services for Minnetonka Public Schools and a former classroom teacher. Dave has spoken to over 65,000 students, educators and parents about digital wellness and technology use. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Saint Mary's University Minneapolis, where he teaches classes on technology integration. 

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Monday, December 9, 2019

Minnetonka Third Graders Go to Space (Virtually) in a Weather Balloon!

Last week third graders in Bettina Grund’s third grade Spanish immersion class at Clear Springs Elementary visited outer space! Not literally, of course. They used our new ClassVR headsets to leave earth in a weather balloon, rise up into the upper levels of the atmosphere, and eventually end up in outer space. Once they made it to space, they visited the sun and some of the planets in our solar system.

I was with them on this virtual field trip and students were so excited and engaged. They worked with a partner and took turns wearing a headset. I noticed two students girls, Ellie and Evie, who were holding hands as they took turns using headset for a few minutes at a time. I sat down with them and asked them about their trip. I learned that they had been studying the solar system already in class prior to this journey. Evie showed me her science packet about the solar system and explained that they learned about satellites, planets, orbits, seasons, and phases of the moon among other things. Ellie explained that they had made moon viewers using a paper plate with a hole cut in the center and illustrated the various phases of the moon on the plate around the hole. They liked learning about the planets and especially enjoyed this virtual field trip. 

While riding the weather balloon ClassVR uses virtual reality providing a 360 degree environment to look around. When viewing the sun and the planets, the ClassVR experience uses augmented reality. So this means that a mini version of each planet appears to be floating in front of the students while they simultaneously saw their classmates and the rest of the room. For students who were not viewing something while their partner was wearing the headset, they could watch along on the screen up front. On the screen, the teacher was displaying her ClassVR dashboard, in which she can see what everyone is looking at or display one person’s view. She could also guide the tour by having everyone see the same thing.

Bettina explained that using these headsets was an activity that she opted to give a try. She found it fairly easy easy to use and this was the second day the students had spent about a half an hour of class visiting the solar system. This activity was combined out only with science but also language arts after the students learned solar system Spanish vocabulary using iStation. The ClassVR experience fit in nicely as an extension to deepen their learning.

Thanks to the Minnetonka Foundation, 24 Class VR headsets were purchased this year. Eight headsets are stored in one portable case, so the three cases are available for our teachers to check out and use all together or in smaller sets. 
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            Monday, November 11, 2019

            Relay, a Great Screen-less Starter Phone for Kids

            Relay (image source)
            A few years ago I wrote that it was best to wait until at least middle school to get a smartphone for a kid. I still believe that and don't think smartphones are needed in elementary school, but understand that some parents may like the ability to contact their kids and/or see where their kids are at any moment--did they remember to ride the bus home, are they at the park, how can I find them to let them know that our plans changed, etc.? There are certainly times where knowing this for our own current and former elementary aged kids would have been really helpful and/or provided peace of mind for my wife and me!

            Over the past couple of years a few friends with elementary aged children have opted to purchase a Relay. It basically is a push-button cellular walkie talkie with GPS and an accompanying parent app. The Relay costs about $45 plus a $10/month subscription fee. Parents and kids can contact one another to talk. The device blinks if the child has a voicemail. Pre-programmed approved numbers can be added. Parents can view the location of the RelayGo on a map in the app, set up alerts marking off a geofence, listen to missed messages and get alerts when the device's rechargeable battery power is low. Kids can name their device, add music and a few other things like a "daily joke" channel, translation channel and voice changer. An armband and a case with lanyard and carabiner can also be purchased. It's water resistant.

            A Minnetonka employee and parent using Relay explained to me that she and her husband wanted to start their fifth grade daughter on a screen-less communication device and not a smartphone. Their daughter wanted to bike on her own this summer. They wanted her to be able to be independent yet also keep in touch with her. The Relay was a way to build trust. They found it to be a great tool. She did mention that calls on WiFi were clear but initially they had to teach their daughter to not hold the Relay right next to her mouth when speaking on the cellular connection so they could understand her. 

            There are other options beside the Relay. Companies like Verizon offer the Gizmo kid's watch for about $130 with a two year contract. I have seen a few elementary students wearing these. If you have experience with them, let me know what you think. 

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