During the technology class that I am taking, I need to come up with two artifacts of items that I have created to share and reflect on them. I have chosen to reflect on my use of videos and audios that I use through Seesaw.
During this time, when we are not in schools it is even more important to stay connected with our students and families. I am able to do this through the use of Seesaw. I have also been stepping outside of my comfort zone and sharing pictures, videos, and audios of myself to help my students feel more connected.
The first artifact is simply, my first day of “Home Learning” video for the students and their families. It took several takes to get across what I wanted to say and when I was finished, I didn’t think it was anything special. My hope is that it would provide some comfort for my kinders, being able to see my face and hear my voice. And that’s what ended up making it special in the end. I found out it did have a positive impact and my principal asked me to share the video with her because she had heard about it when the families went to school to pick up their materials. I learned that a simple video had more than an impact that I could have imagined. This has motivated me to continue to send a daily video, even if it is brief. I have also used curriculum videos to create Seesaw activities. This has also helped the students stay connected with the curriculum.
Artifact 1 – Home Learning Video
The second artifact is using audio to do a recording of a story. This provided a wonderful opportunity to have my students practice visualizing. Since our ELA and science curriculum tie so well together, I chose The Great Blizzard from our reading series because we are discussing weather in science. I made a Seesaw activity and asked the students to draw what they visualized after listening to my reading of the story. It was amazing to see all the different work! Some of the pictures were so detailed. During the process, I learned to be clear with giving the directions. I changed the directions several times and I was happy with the simpler directions, because it truly let me see what the students’ visualized. I have been sending my students daily read alouds read by me, but I learned that it is harder to read when you are not showing the pictures. When I did this activity, I was very careful to enunciate and emphasize parts of the story to give a clear picture. Then one of my students took it even further and found another story about the Blizzard of 1888. He read that story and wrote about it, what a great connection! Again, something that seemed to be a simple assignment, turned out to be something really special!
Artifact 2 – Seesaw Activity
By Andrew (Kindergarten Student)
By Andrew (Kindergarten Student)