Reflecting on our CLC

When we started our Seesaw blogging page we were already pretty far along in our novel (Bud, Not Buddy). My goal was to give my students an open forum of dialogue that they could have with their peers to further enhance their comprehension of the novel. I thought it would be a nice break in routine from the previous comprehension checks I have given them throughout the school year. I had the students complete a pre-assessment blog post and then introduced the rubric they would be using to improve upon their blog posts. As I stated before not only were my students new to Seesaw, but I was as well. Our first few posts were written out but as we went on with using the program we expanded our content to commenting on each others comments and posting video responses. One thing I found with the video responses is that when I first started this blog the main thing I was checking was their writing responses. As more kids started to prefer the video method of delivering their content, I was then no longer assessing their writing. I find myself wondering how to use both writing and video effectively, without the writing completely falling off by the wayside.

I found that the students comments and video responses were great opportunities to get kids talking to each other more so than a group discussion. I had to tweak my rubric a little to allot for the comments and video responses. Overall the quality of the students responses were much more in-depth and had had higher quality as they read on through the novel. I definitely see myself using this program next year with my students. We have one more blog post to go and here is the link we have thus far to our class blog:     https://blog.seesaw.me/room303/#!/

This has a very worthwhile experience taking this course. I am glad I decided to take this course because it enabled me to take a chance with something I may not of used with my students. The one important thing I've realized from this course is that when introducing new things to my students that I don't have to be an "expert" in what I am trying to implement. Too often I feel as if I have to have a full grasp of a new program that I am trying to establish in the classroom. Taking this course and talking to some of my peers helped me realize that I just had to take the plunge and dive into my Seesaw blogging project. Thank you to my classmates and mentors for helping out!

Seesaw Blogging in Room 303

It has been a challenge in my class to get my kids more responsible with their independent reading. Trying to manage them staying on task and making them more accountable for their work can be a struggle. I have decided to have the kids in my room use SeeSaw to blog about a current novel we are reading in class.

Setting this up seemed like a daunting task. They had to realize that what they will be posting is out on the internet for all to see. I provided all of the students rubrics to follow proper blog post guidelines. We will also be collaborating  with Mr. Hall's class which hopefully, if it goes well, we can expand it to a distance learning type activity.

I have found that some students are very self aware of their writing abilities and can sometimes be embarrassed to post among their peers for fear of being made fun of for their writing ability. I am working with these specific students to build their confidence in their writing to be able to post confidently.

I'm hoping that expanding beyond paper and pencil will make my students more motivated to interact with text they are reading. I can see this being a valuable tool that would promote discussion and enhance their comprehension. Students will also, depending on the task given, some choice in their responses while also following the rubric.

It's been a slow process implementing this in the class and I hope in the coming weeks to have a much better grasp of the process.