WAP: Student as Scribe
When thinking about the student as a scribe in an early childhood classroom, we have to think outside of our general perception of “taking notes.” Most students in a kindergarten class are not yet writing or reading. Therefore, our traditional idea of note-taking is thrown out the window (which isn’t a bad thing, is it?). So, let’s get creative with it!
I came across one program that I could absolutely envision using frequently in my class: SeeSaw. Seesaw calls itself a “student-driven digital portfolio.”
In the classroom, there are so many uses for this, especially when thinking of the student as a scribe. On Seesaw, students are able to take pictures or videos of their work. After that, they can record audio, text, or write over it. Let’s see an example. Since I am not yet a teacher, I had my daughters play around with Seesaw with me in a way similar to how I might use it in a class. In this sample, I created an activity called “Women in History.” The “assignment” was to look through a book of famous women in history (Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls), choose a woman and read about her, and then complete the following task on Seesaw: take a photo of the woman, then record (take notes) about three facts you learned.
Here is Lily’s sample (she choose her absolute favorite artist, Frida Kahlo) - this assignment involved sing audio notes:
https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.ba8036af-b091-4e68-b40d-c73e63756ff2&share_token=yJk8VkoJTZChLWXrs5oQyQ&mode=share
We also did a video assignment called “Do Dogs Make Good Pets? My Opinion.” Here are the instructions:
Seesaw makes it so easy to create activities and easily save them in a library. There are excellent instructions on the site, but really, it is intuitive.
We did one final activity with text. I created an assignment asking the "students" to underline sight words the, this, his, her, hers, he. Seesaw makes it simple to upload a piece of text that students can then edit. Here is the final product:
We had so much fun experimenting with Seesaw, and I even felt really sad I don’t yet have a classroom to use it in. Seesaw also provides a whole library of sample activities if a teacher is looking for inspiration, broken down by grade level. Here are 5 activities provided by Seesaw for a kindergarten teacher to get started:
https://app.seesaw.me/#/activities/library?community&grade_level=K
To roll this out to my students, when it came time for each Seesaw activity I had created, I would make a model example of each type of assignment I might ask them to complete - audio, text, video, and written. I would show the example, then model from start to finish how to create one, and then have the kids work in small groups so I could go around and help them.
As far as problems that may arise, I can only think of the common one - lack of access to technology such as iPads. Seesaw is also available for laptops and Androids, so luckily there is a broader chance of having the tools to actually use it. As with any technology, there may be a disparity between kids who have had a chance to use things like iPads before and those who haven’t - a difference in the time it takes to pick it up. However, kids are such fast learners that I don’t think that would be a major issue. My daughters have only used iPads twice before at the library, and they now use them in class with no problem.
I really love Seesaw because it really works with the UDL principles. There can be engagement in so many ways - video, audio, reading, etc. Specifically when it comes to “note taking,” the student not only reads (or listens to the teacher read) the content, but then also is able to verbally, or even via text on Seesaw if desired, restate the facts, thus enhancing the learning and allowing for many different learning styles to be represented.
Additionally, it is an excellent tool for keeping track of all student work - in a kindergarten class it would be incredible for keeping track of student progress reading. For example, when you login, you can go to each individual student and see all of their work. Say you wanted to see how a student’s reading had progressed - you could go back and compare from, say, October to May. This is a wonderful tool, and perfect for sharing with parents or guardians.
As a not-too-”techy” person, I’m totally sold on Seesaw and will absolutely use it in my classroom.
I came across one program that I could absolutely envision using frequently in my class: SeeSaw. Seesaw calls itself a “student-driven digital portfolio.”
In the classroom, there are so many uses for this, especially when thinking of the student as a scribe. On Seesaw, students are able to take pictures or videos of their work. After that, they can record audio, text, or write over it. Let’s see an example. Since I am not yet a teacher, I had my daughters play around with Seesaw with me in a way similar to how I might use it in a class. In this sample, I created an activity called “Women in History.” The “assignment” was to look through a book of famous women in history (Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls), choose a woman and read about her, and then complete the following task on Seesaw: take a photo of the woman, then record (take notes) about three facts you learned.
Here is Lily’s sample (she choose her absolute favorite artist, Frida Kahlo) - this assignment involved sing audio notes:
https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.ba8036af-b091-4e68-b40d-c73e63756ff2&share_token=yJk8VkoJTZChLWXrs5oQyQ&mode=share
We also did a video assignment called “Do Dogs Make Good Pets? My Opinion.” Here are the instructions:
Seesaw makes it so easy to create activities and easily save them in a library. There are excellent instructions on the site, but really, it is intuitive.
We did one final activity with text. I created an assignment asking the "students" to underline sight words the, this, his, her, hers, he. Seesaw makes it simple to upload a piece of text that students can then edit. Here is the final product:
We had so much fun experimenting with Seesaw, and I even felt really sad I don’t yet have a classroom to use it in. Seesaw also provides a whole library of sample activities if a teacher is looking for inspiration, broken down by grade level. Here are 5 activities provided by Seesaw for a kindergarten teacher to get started:
https://app.seesaw.me/#/activities/library?community&grade_level=K
To roll this out to my students, when it came time for each Seesaw activity I had created, I would make a model example of each type of assignment I might ask them to complete - audio, text, video, and written. I would show the example, then model from start to finish how to create one, and then have the kids work in small groups so I could go around and help them.
As far as problems that may arise, I can only think of the common one - lack of access to technology such as iPads. Seesaw is also available for laptops and Androids, so luckily there is a broader chance of having the tools to actually use it. As with any technology, there may be a disparity between kids who have had a chance to use things like iPads before and those who haven’t - a difference in the time it takes to pick it up. However, kids are such fast learners that I don’t think that would be a major issue. My daughters have only used iPads twice before at the library, and they now use them in class with no problem.
I really love Seesaw because it really works with the UDL principles. There can be engagement in so many ways - video, audio, reading, etc. Specifically when it comes to “note taking,” the student not only reads (or listens to the teacher read) the content, but then also is able to verbally, or even via text on Seesaw if desired, restate the facts, thus enhancing the learning and allowing for many different learning styles to be represented.
Additionally, it is an excellent tool for keeping track of all student work - in a kindergarten class it would be incredible for keeping track of student progress reading. For example, when you login, you can go to each individual student and see all of their work. Say you wanted to see how a student’s reading had progressed - you could go back and compare from, say, October to May. This is a wonderful tool, and perfect for sharing with parents or guardians.
As a not-too-”techy” person, I’m totally sold on Seesaw and will absolutely use it in my classroom.
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