Trying Something New: Seesaw

No comment on the fact that I have not posted for two years.  (Seriously, what can I say?  I was busy?  I had nothing to say?  I kept forgetting?  Nothing sounds too good, so let's let it go and move on!)

I like to begin each school year by writing goals for myself.  Some goals I meet and others I don't. (Sounds just like New Year's goals, right?)

Well one of my goals is always to try something new.  Not the something new that is a new district requirement.  (Actually, there seem to be more and more of those, right?)  No, this something new is something that I pick out myself.  Something that makes me curious and excited.

For this year, my something new is Seesaw.  No, not the Scholastic Book order form.  (That was very confusing for me at first, too.)  Nope, this Seesaw is a "Student-Driven Digital Portfolio".  It is a website and an app. But what does it do?  OMG!  It allows students to create online portfolios.  For FREE!!!  Students can easily add to their portfolios and parents are given a notification for each addition.  Of course, all of the additions must be teacher approved (which seems easy to do).  But there's more!  Students can add comments to each item either in written form or (BE STILL MY HEART!) via a recording.  That's right folks .. my kindergarteners will be able to add items to their portfolios and then record their voices talking about the item.  OMG!  So, so, so excited!  I have been watching videos on the Seesaw site and got so excited that I couldn't wait to try it out.  So I created a fake class with fake students who completed fake assignments that fake parents looked at.  So far, so good! But I, of course, have to hold judgement until I have real students completing real assignments that their real parents look at.  Once that happens, I will let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, if you want to learn more about Seesaw, here is a video to watch.
Seesaw: The Learning Journal

So what new things are you trying this year?

Love to all,
Camille