Revamping Curriculum with Technology

Remember when I researched and gave a beautiful, eloquent screencast presentation of the SAMR Model? Sure you do, that was a great blog post. Well, after doing that assignment, I had all this technology integration knowledge sitting around in my head just waiting to be used. So guess what I did with it? I took a boring, tired, overdone curriculum and revamped it using technology! Yahoo!

Not excited about rewriting curriculum? Well, at least Ryan is always there to support my valiant teacher efforts...

To start, I first took a fairly boring unit that I teach every year to my students: Poetry. During this unit, each day we read a poem, discuss a given poetry concept, find that concept in the poem, then go to our tables and illustrate the poem. On the last two days, the kids get the chance to write a poem themselves. That's it. Read, discuss, illustrate... read, discuss, illustrate... read, discuss, illustrate... now quick write! Booorrrrring.

While poetry is a freestyle, creative genre, the kids don't get to experience that side of it with the existing unit. All they experience is boring discussions and then they do scribbly drawings in their poetry journals that don't mean much because they are just not into it. By the end of the year--who am I kidding, by Spring Break!--the kids have mentally "checked out" and are ready for summer. This monotonous poetry unit is not engaging enough to reel them in. While I like the monotony of it as a teacher (same thing every day=easy to plan=more time to get end-of-year stuff ready), each year I can tell that my kids don't like it.

With the introduction of 1:1 iPads in my school next year, I knew that this unit needed a technology revitalization. So I did it! And it's great! Take a look!

(For more information about my unit revamp, click HERE to see my presentation notes or click HERE to read the entire assignment.)

After doing this assignment and changing up my poetry unit, I am really excited to try it out next year! It will definitely be more work than the monotonous read-discuss-illustrate model that I usually use, but I have a feeling that my students are going to LOVE it and are going to learn way more. (And that's the point of it all, right?) Before, my poetry unit involved a lot of passive learning where students would sit back and listen to poems and discuss poetry concepts, but they never really practiced applying the concepts until the last day. Now, students are continuously involved in ACTIVE learning with TECHNOLOGY and POETRY! Every day, they are using technology to reflect, create, and express their voices! No more sitting back and daydreaming for my kiddos--they are going to be real poets and engaged learners! Woohoo!

Seriously, if you can't tell, I am super excited.

How about you? Are you excited about technology integrated curriculum yet? Well you will be after you  read these awesome poetry/technology activities that I created for this unit. Perhaps you could use them in your own classroom or modify them to fit your own curriculum/students' needs. Enjoy!

Online Learning Journals

• Tech Used: Seesaw
• Description:
• After reading an example poem as a class and discussing a poetry concept...
• Take a picture of poem and circle rhyming words, underline repetition, illustrate imagery, etc. with Seesaw
• Post illustration to Seesaw learning journal
• SAMR Level: Augmentation - Seesaw replaces the paper-and-pencil illustrations we did before, but provides functional improvement as students take a picture of a common poem (less paper/mess) and post their illustrations into their online journals (organized). Also, teachers can review online posts easily and clearly see progress (saves time). Technology FTW!
• Why I Like It: I like using Seesaw to keep all student journaling localized, organized, and without wasting paper. Also, I like that parents are able to view student work on Seesaw. Home-school communication bonus!

Nature Observation Poems

• Tech Used: Camera on iPad, PicCollage
• Description:
• Take photos of nature in courtyard using Camera on iPad
• Select one “inspiration” photo and write a short poem (by hand) of observations
• Take picture of poem and use PicCollage to juxtapose poem with inspiration photo
• Share creations with partners/small groups
• SAMR Level: Modification - Students are using technology to create visual and written art using multimedia and technology. They are applying poetry concepts in a transformative way.
• Why I Like It: Ahem, getting the kids OUTDOORS in May?! What a great idea! The end of the year is the perfect time to take advantage of the beautiful weather and use it to inspire poetry!

Silly Animal Poems

• Tech Used: ChatterPix
• Description:
• Partners select a random animal picture from hat
•  Partners write poem (by hand) about animal using repetition
• Partners use ChatterPix to take picture of animal and record themselves reading poem together
• Partners share creations in small groups
• SAMR Level: Modification - Students are creating, performing, and displaying poetry using multimedia and technology.
• Why I Like It: I especially like this activity because it helps students practice reading poetry orally in a silly, engaging, nonthreatening way with the help of a partner. Everyone (even the shy students) will have fun participating and practicing French!

Rhyming Word Picture Dictionaries

• Tech Used: PicCollage, Reflector
• Description:
• Walk around class and take pictures of objects that rhyme
• Use PicCollage to juxtapose rhyming word pictures and write words underneath using sound spelling
• Continue making multiple rhyming PicCollages to create a “rhyming word picture dictionary”
• Selected students share picture dictionaries with class using Reflector
• SAMR Level: Modification -  Students are creating connections and practicing poetic tools using multimedia and technology, then sharing with others in class.
• Why I Like It: This activity makes poetry VISUAL and ACTIVE! Plus it is like a word treasure hunt -- I can just see the students being super engaged!

Color Simile Webs

• Tech Used: Popplet, Reflector
• Description:
• Type a color name in the center of a web using Popplet
• Take pictures or write words of objects that could make similes with that color
• Selected students share Popplet using Reflector and class reads web using simile structure (“Color” comme “Object”)
• SAMR Level: Modification -  Students are creating connections and practicing poetic tools using multimedia and technology, then sharing with others in class.
• Why I Like It: Again, so visual! So active! And students LOVE finding colors in the classroom. I think the web structure in Popplet will really help students see the connections between objects and help them understand color similes in an engaging way!

Classroom Poetry iBook

• Tech Used: Book Creator, iBook, Seesaw, School Website
• Description:
• Day 1: 
• After discuss poetry tools we have learned about and practicing how to write a poem as a class...
• Write a poem rough draft
• Take picture of rough draft, record explanation of what poetic tools you used, and post on Seesaw learning journal
• Day 2:
• Type final draft into a blank page on Book Creator
• Express poem by recording audio, illustrating with paint feature, attaching video, and/or taking a picture
• Share book page with teacher
• Teacher compiles Book Creator pages into an iBook and posts as ePub or movie file on school website for parents and other classes to see
• Classroom celebrates publication of poems with iPad Poetry Café
• SAMR Level: Redefinition - Technology has really changed this assignment into something that would be impossible without technology. Students are creating, performing, and displaying poetry using multimedia, then using technology to collaboratively create an iBook as a class and to share their work outside of classroom walls. Wow! Learning has been transformed!
• Why I Like It: Collaboration! Self expression! Voice and choice! Poetic freedom! There is so many good things going on in this final project -- I love it!

So there you go! Some SAMR examples of how to change a unit from ordinary to extraordinary! Feeling more excited about curriculum yet?

I am really glad I revamped this unit. The sample activities I came up with are so different than what we did before. I think it will really help students stay involved and engaged in learning. (Even though it will be taught in May!)

This is my last blog post for my EdTech course. However, I am willing to continue my blog if there are actually people out there who are interested and want to learn more about using tech in early education. I have some fun apps up my sleeve that I could introduce, or I could talk about topics that interest you or answer your questions. So, if anyone is listening out there, please let me know if I should continue this or not!

Merci! :) Happy summer!

iMovie: Creating Personalized Videos (Part 2)

So, how was screencasting? Did you create some awesome videos to support your students' learning at school and at home? Way to go! You are an awesome teacher! Now, as I was saying in my last post, Screencastify is a great tool for quick, simple videos (especially how-tos for computer and iPad activities). However, if you want something with a little more WOW factor, iMovie may be a better tool for you.

With iMovie, you can create videos using text, pictures, videos, and audio. You can add fancy transitions, use artsy filters, change fonts, add background music, and more. Overall, iMovie is the ideal tool for creating high-quality video products. Because there are so many options of what you can do with iMovie, it is a little more complicated to use than Screencastify. But fear not! All you need to know is a few basics and you will be on your way to creating awesome personalized videos for your students! You can do it!


To Mac or Not To Mac?

When you use iMovie, you have two options: you can use iMovie for Mac (available on Mac computers) OR iMovie for iOS (available on iPad and iPhone). I have used both and like both programs but for different situations. Below is a comparison to help you decide which program best fits what you want to do with iMovie.

iMovie for Mac

(This is based on the iMovie available on my district laptop -- iMovie '11 Version 9.0.9 -- which is unfortunately outdated)

Pros:

•  Easy to type text quickly (using keyboard)
•  Can select "blank" background slides (useful when making text-only slides)

Cons:

• Not as many pre-made Project Themes to choose from
• Not as many Theme music soundtracks to choose from

iMovie for iOS

Pros:

• Lots of interesting pre-made Project Themes
• Lots of fun Theme music soundtracks
• Easy to add pictures/video taken directly with iPad

Cons:

• More tedious to add text (touchscreen keyboard)
• Not able to select blank background for text slides (although you can take a picture of a blank piece of paper and use that as a workaround)

So, based on what you are looking to do, you can choose whether you prefer to work with iMovie on your computer or iPad/iPhone. It's up to you!


How Do I Use It? I'm Scared!

Now, let's talk about how to use iMovie. Don't be scared, you can do this. All you need to know are a few basics! Instead of writing an essay on what buttons to press and where to find them, I am going to make another screencast! (See, Screencastify is a great timesaver for how-to videos.)

Here is a rough overview on how to use iMovie on your Mac...

And here is a rough overview on how to use iMovie on your iPad/iPhone...

Go Forth and Make Awesome Videos

Now that you know some of iMovie's basics, you are ready to start tinkering with it and trying it out for yourself. Just like Screencastify, think of all the amazing videos you can create to support your students' language learning at home! I have used iMovie for Mac to make sight word videos and French book read-a-longs. I have uploaded these videos onto my YouTube Channel so that parents can access them at home and kids can continue practicing their French at home even if the only thing their parents can say is "Oui! Oui!" Here is an example of a sight word video:

I have also used iMovie for iOS on my iPad to make slideshows using pictures of my students, audio of my students speaking French, and French music files of songs we sing in class. Here is an example of what I have created using iMovie for iOS:

As for students using iMovie, the iMovie for iOS app is user-friendly enough where older elementary students could probably handle it. They could use it to make movie trailers that summarize a book they have read, record themselves acting out a scene in a play, take pictures of an insect or plant and then creating a video to depict it's life cycle... the options are endless!

However, I am still not convinced that younger students -- like my K students -- could handle it. The user interface may be too difficult to navigate for them (after all, it did take me a while to figure out). Also, there may be too many editing options where they might become confused and overwhelmed. I could definitely see myself using iMovie as a class to create something collectively (with myself ultimately doing most of the editing), but I do not think my students could make iMovies on their own. Let me know your thoughts on this subject: Can K-1 students handle making iMovie creations independently?

So, there you go! Hopefully this overview gave you some insight on what you can do with iMovie. I hope it helps you to make some awesome personalized videos for your kiddos!

Next week, I am going to show you how to take a curriculum and revamp it and integrate technology into it using the SAMR model. Stay tuned!

Screencastify & YouTube Video Editor: Creating Personalized Videos (Part 1.5)

(For those of you wondering how I made my Screencastify video look so clean and professional...)

In my last blog post "Screencastify: Creating Personalized Videos (Part 1)," you may have noticed that the beginning and end of my screencast video had been "trimmed" or cut out. I did this to remove the ugly parts (like clicking the "Start Recording" and "End Recording" buttons). When making screencasts, I like taking the time to remove these bits because the video is cleaner and more professional looking without them. Trimming a screencast is easy to do. I simply use YouTube's built-in Video Editor tool and BAM! It's done and on the internet, ready to view.

To use YouTube's Video Editor...

1. Go to YouTube and sign into your teacher YouTube account.
2. Click "My Channel" to go to your channel's homepage.
3. Click "Video Manger" on the top of your channel's homepage.
4.  Click "Create" on the left side navigation menu.
5.  Under Create, click "Video Editor."
6. Select your uploaded screencast from the right and drag it down below into the editor.
7. Click and drag the beginning and end bars in order to cut off the extra bits you don't want. 
8. Save by clicking the blue "Create Video" button at the top. Voilà!

Was that hard to understand? Well, luckily I have made this second screencast to demonstrate the trimming process visually. Enjoy (again)!

All in all, the YouTube Video Editor tool is a great tool to use to help make your screencasts look more professional. However, iMovie is another tool you can use to create high quality professional videos for your students-- and you don't have to mess around with multiple tools to do it. Stay tuned for next week's blog post and I'll explain more about iMovie.

Screencastify: Creating Personalized Videos (Part 1)

So you made yourself a teacher YouTube Channel! (I mean, after my convincing blog post two weeks ago, why wouldn't you?) Congratulations! Now, start filling it with awesome educational videos! YouTube is a great place to find useful videos that other people have created. But what if you need a specific video to meet your students' language learning needs and you just can't find it on YouTube? You're in luck! Screencastify is a simple tool that you can use to create quick and easy videos for your students without too much work.

I know, I know. It may not be "too much work"... but it's still work. More work for you. Being an immersion teacher is great, but there are times where it requires WAY more work than the average teacher. There are tons of resources available for English (and even Spanish) speaking classrooms, but zip for the Frenchies. Alas, this is just the life we lead. There are not as many resources for (French) immersion teachers, so we just have to make our own. But look on the bright side:

1. Once you make your video, you'll never have to make it again! (Unless you of course change your curriculum, but by that time you'll be a tech pro and making a screencast won't be such a daunting task.)
2. You have 2+ months of summer coming up! Perhaps you'll have some free time during June or July where you can sit down and churn out some videos so you are ready for next year!
3. By making your own personalized videos, you are targeting the exact needs of your students and providing them with useful resources to further their learning at home. Cookie-cutter English YouTube videos will look dull in comparison to your awesome French video differentiation!
4. The tool I am about to show you is EASY and QUICK. You can do it! I promise!
5. Ryan Gosling appreciates your extra work.

So, are you ready to learn about an awesome video creation tool? Here we go!

A "screencast" is a recording of your computer screen (meaning whatever you see on your computer is recorded into a video). You can also talk during a screencast and record your voice. This is a VERY simple way to take a video and record some vocabulary to help students at home. There are many screencasting tools out there, but the two I hear most about is Screencast-o-matic and Screencastify. I prefer Screencastify, so that's what I'll show you how to use today!

First things first, you need to go to the Chrome Web Store and download the Screencastify Extension. Once you have it downloaded, a tiny "film strip" icon will appear in the upper corner of your Google Chrome web browser.

Now, instead of wasting my time writing a lengthy explanation of what buttons to press and what you can do with the tool... why don't I just use Screencastify to show you?! Below is a screencast that demonstrates how to make a screencast using Screencastify. (It's Screencast Inception!) Enjoy!

Now, for my textual learners that need to read written text to internalize knowledge, here are the boiled down steps:

1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Hit the Screencastify icon on the upper right of your Google Chrome web browser.
3. Set your recording settings however you'd like (capture area, webcam or no webcam, etc.).
4. Click "Start Recording."
5. Do your thing. Press "Pause" if you need to.
6. When done, click the Screencastify icon again and click "End Recording."
7. Click "Share" to put it on YouTube or Google Drive, or click "Save to Disk" to download it onto you computer.
8. Pat yourself on the back. You just made a screencast!

As you can see, Screencastify is a super simple tool to make quick videos to assist students and parents with learning at home. And remember, you can record ANYTHING on your desktop: websites, documents, PDFs, PowerPoints, slideshows, and even your iPad via Reflector. Think of all the differentiating possibilities! You can make videos for...

• Sight Words Lists (with pronunciation, sample sentences, corresponding images, etc.)
• Spelling Word Lists (how to say each word so parents can help out with practice tests at home)
• Homework Instructions (What does this say? What does this mean? What do I do?!)
• French Phonetic Help (think "M avec un A, ca fait MA MA MA")
• French Book Read-a-longs (using a slideshow of book page pictures, a PDF of a paper book, or a Powerpoint "book" that you created yourself)
• iPad App Tutorials (showing how to use a certain app so students can watch the video and know what to do at independent centers)
• Professional Development Presentations (like I did in my last blog post "The SAMR Model: What Is It & Why Should I Use It?")
• Professional Development How-To Videos (so you can assist staff in understanding and using more technology without having to show everyone individually how to do simple tasks)
• MORE!!!

Overall, Screencastify is a great QUICK tool to make a video. However, if you would like a little more "wow" factor to your videos so that they look more professional and perhaps more engaging to students, iMovie may be the tool for you. I will talk about how to use iMovie to make personalized videos in my next blog post. Until then, try making a few screencasts and see if you like it.

Happy screencasting!

The SAMR Model: What Is It & Why Should I Use It?

This past school year, the new buzz word in my district was "SAMR." (Okay, maybe it's not a buzz word per se, but it's a buzz acronym at least.) SAMR is a model to help educators integrate technology into the teaching and learning that takes place in their classrooms. It stands for four different levels of technology use: Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition. These levels are then split into two separate groups: Enhancement and Transformation. Here's an image to explain everything.

Are you confused, yet? 

Luckily for you, I used my handy dandy Screencastify and Prezi skills to create a video to explain SAMR to you in a way than doesn't leave you confused and frustrated like this graphic does! Yeah!

I hate being expected to use buzz words like SAMR without knowing how they specifically apply to me and my students. To help give you a more grounded understanding of the model, I give tons of examples in my video on how you can apply SAMR to your own elementary teaching practice. The video is targeted for use at my school (L'Etoile du Nord French Immersion, aka LNFI), but of course, you don't have to be part of my school to benefit from the video. The examples I give work for any students, but especially so for those in Grades K-1 and in language rich settings.

Enjoy!

Now, as a K teacher, I understand that we all learn differently and a screencast may not appeal to your personal learning modes and styles. Below you can find a the link to my Prezi presentation (for those of you who would like to peruse the information and click between slides at your own pace) and a link to my presentation notes (for those of you who learn best by reading and marking up text documents).

The SAMR Model Prezi Presentation

SAMR Presentation Notes

At the end of my presentation and in my presentation notes, I provided a link to a SAMR Wheel image that I find really useful. It combines the SAMR model with the Bloom's Taxonomy model that we all know and love. To top it off, it also includes images of various apps that can apply to each level of technology and learning. It is great! The image is pretty dense with information, so take a look at it when you have the chance. I stuck the image below, but here is the link to an interactive SAMR Wheel image with clickable links for all the apps: Interactive SAMR Wheel.

Well, I hope you learned something about SAMR today! Stayed tuned for next week, when I will show you how to make a nifty screencast video like the one you saw today!

YouTube: A Language Teacher's Best Friend

I love teaching at an immersion school. Teaching a young child a second language is a very gratifying experience with quick and audible results. What I don't like about teaching at an immersion school is the lack of resources. French books are extremely expensive and hard to find. Same goes for French children's music, films, and other media. But fear not, future language teachers, for there is still hope: YouTube!

YouTube is an extremely helpful resource for language teachers and learners! On YouTube, I have found tons of resources to use in my classroom: French songs, French TV shows, French movies, French vocabulary practice videos, French book read-alongs... French everything! And all for free! Obviously, there are more educational YouTube videos out there in English, so you have to do a little digging to find the good French ones--but they are certainly out there if you go searching!

My Kindergarteners LOVE watching my collection of YouTube videos. I use them to provide movement in between lessons. I use them to enrich Literacy time with stories and poems that we would otherwise not hear. I use them to expose students to different Francophone cultures, vocabularies and accents. And of course, in true Kindergarten Teacher fashion, I use them to motivate students to behave. (For example, I tell the kids that if we clean up quickly and quietly, perhaps we will have enough time to watch a video at the end of the day!) Little do my students know that their "reward" videos are in fact teaching them something and exposing them to more French. I am a genius!

Now, for those of you who would like to start incorporating YouTube resources into your own elementary classrooms (foreign language learning or not), here are some tips and tricks that I have discovered that may be of use to you:

• Make yourself a teacher YouTube account. It's easy! All you have to do is go onto YouTube and sign in using a Google account. (It is a smart idea to use a teacher Google account rather than your personal Google account.) Once you are signed into YouTube, you will automatically have a YouTube Channel tied to your account. On your YouTube channel, you can create playlists to keep your collection of videos organized. You can create playlists for weekly themes, units of study, subject areas, learning targets, etc. Here is a glimpse of what my YouTube Channel looks like!

• Once you have created some playlists, make sure to update them periodically throughout the year. New and useful YouTube videos are being posted all the time! On the other hand, YouTube video are also being deleted all the time and you can lose some good content from your playlists without knowing/replacing it. Plus, I found that once one of my YouTube videos is deleted, then I get an ugly "Deleted Video" image in my playlist queue until I remove it. Yuck.

• You can even create and upload your own YouTube resource videos and put them onto your YouTube channel for easy student and parent access. For language teachers, personalized videos can be very useful to help students and parents with homework instructions, vocabulary pronunciation, etc. Here is a sight word video that I made for my students to help introduce the "word of the week" in school and to then reinforce it at home. (More on how to make videos like this in next week's blog post two weeks!)

• When logged onto your teacher YouTube account, make sure to avoid searching for personal videos that you may want to watch at home on your own. Your searches will affect what videos YouTube advertises to you on your homepage, sidebars, etc. After playing the alphabet song in class, you do not want a Jimmy Fallon video popping up in front of your students. Learn from my mistakes!

• YouTube will often play an un-skippable advertisement before allowing you to watch a selected video. This is very problematic in the classroom. It wastes instructional time, it excites and distracts students, and it can possibly expose students to inappropriate ads. To avoid this problem, use Google Chrome to watch YouTube and make sure to download the "Ad Blocker Plus" extension from the Chrome Web Store. This will block commercial ads from playing before you watch a YouTube video. It works like a charm!

• In my district, using YouTube while on the Wifi network is restricted (something to do with bandwidth issues). I have learned that if I plug my computer directly into the internet port in the wall using an ethernet cable, then YouTube is allowed. If you are having trouble displaying YouTube video at your school, perhaps this solution could work for you too.

For my fellow Frenchies out there, here are some great elementary-appropriate French YouTube channels that I have found over the past year. These resources are full of great videos that you can use with young French Immersion students:

1. Monde des petits.Fr : TONS of animated stories and songs in French. Unfortunately, the high-pitched singing voices can sometimes be annoying.
2. Les P'tits z'Amis : More animated videos and songs. A good resource for animated fairy tales and also some good songs about health and safety.
3. Mini ABC : Short interactive videos, lessons, and games about literacy, math, science, and more. Videos are from a Canadian children's TV show called Mini TFO.
4. Mini Doremi : Traditional and original songs and nursery rhymes aimed at the very young. Another Mini TFO resource.
5. Mini Mation : Animated TV shows such as Caillou and Barbapapa. Fun and educational because they are all in French! Youpi!
6. Monde Des Petits (a different one) : More animated TV shows in nice and simple French, including T'choupi, L'Ane Trotro, Petit Ours, and my personal favorite Peppa Pig.
7. French From Beginners to Advanced : Grammatical and vocabulary videos mostly for older students. Some of the phonetic videos could be useful for students learning to read and sound out syllables.
8. Mme Faltesek's YouTube Channel : Feel free to peek at my collection and see what I have came up with or copied from others!

I hope this blog post was useful to you! YouTube may not be the newest flashy app available, but it is a tried and true resource that is chock-full of information for the classroom. With a little effort, you can find tons of language learning videos that could benefit your students' learning. Give it a try and see what you find!

Seesaw: An Awesome Learning Journal App!

I wanted to do my first post about something that I am really excited to try out next year when my Kindergarten students get 1:1 iPads. It is an app called "Seesaw" and it is a super easy way for students to share their work and "show what they know" in an online learning journal using different tools and learning modes. I learned about it from another teacher in my school district who uses it in her 1:1 first-grade classroom. Fellow teachers are always the best source of information!

Seesaw is extremely easy for students to use, even Kindergarteners. First, to enter their class account on Seesaw, students use their iPad to simply scan a QR code. (No passwords required. Nice and easy for the little ones!) Then, students have six options to document their learning: take a photo, capture a video, do a drawing, choose a photo from the camera roll, write a note, or add a link. Students can further document their learning by adding a caption, recording their voice, and/or drawing on top of their creation. Lastly, students simply click their name in the class roster and click submit!

Teachers can view students' submissions on a running class feed, that lists the students' names and dates next to each item. Teachers can also choose to view students' work in a calendar view or in individual folders where each student's work is assembled. Teachers can even create project folders to organize work. A bonus feature for teachers: student submissions must be approved by the teacher before they are publicly added to the class feed for other students to see. No scandalous or inappropriate posts allowed!

This app may seem simple, but that is the beauty of it! In my Kindergarten classroom, students need simplicity. Too many choices for students leads to indecision and wasted time. Seesaw will provide my students with a quick and straightforward way to capture their learning. The big buttons and clear icons will make it easy for Kindergarteners to navigate the app even if they cannot read. I have so many ideas of how I want to use this app in my class -- I cannot wait until next year! Students can take pictures of the results of a Math game, practice their French using the voice recording tool, label pictures during Science, or record a video of their friend presenting a Writing piece. Seesaw will transcend subject areas, learning styles, and ability levels! Here is a science video that my class created together using only 1 iPad... imagine what they can do next year when we have 1:1 technology!

Oh! And I forgot to tell you the best part! Seesaw has created a "Seesaw Parent" app where parents can sign up to view their own child's work. Seesaw sends parents real-time notifications as students post work, increasing communication and giving parents a glimpse of what their child is learning at school right that moment. The Seesaw Parent app bridges the school-home divide by inviting parents to engage in their child's learning and encouraging them to further learning and discussions at home. And unlike a classroom Facebook page where the teacher is snapping all the pictures and doing all the work, the kids do all their own posts and communication! Yahoo!

If you want to see the app in action, here is a video featured on the Seesaw website that gives a great brief overview of the app's capabilities in the elementary classroom.

All the information from this blog post was derived either from me playing around with my Seesaw app or from the Seesaw website. Visit their website at http://web.seesaw.me/ to learn more!