Connections that Speak from the Heart

I continue to be intrigued about this.

Seesaw is offering a platform for our students to really share their own voice. The voice we so often hear as teachers, in a face to face situation, is what the students think we want to hear. Now I am hearing students really talk openly about what they are wondering, what they are learning and what they think about their learning. If the learning is visible and your students use of Seesaw is for sharing learning then you are going to hear student voice that will get you excited. I also know it gets their parents excited and when we see comments from our parents that is huge for motivation.

My students and I reflect on our learning at the end of each day. As we listen to the learning being shared, we critique each post to make sure that it is about learning. That has been a learning curve for all my students. The students don’t hesitate to delete an item that they know isn’t about learning. If I am absent from the class, the students are still posting and sharing their learning via Seesaw with their teacher. It is very rewarding to know that the students curiosity and motivation to continue with their learning is still there when I am not.

Here are year 2 students talking about their maths learning with making patterns:

https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.ef3762c5-f5ff-4f28-bb6c-6546fd904ea4&share_token=o5nG5ovGTWyanWtPRszHyQ&mode=embed

Here are year 2 students telling their audience about their wonderings on the story they were discussing in reading. We have since read the story and discussed the outcomes of our wonderings. There was a lot of anticipation for finding out what happens.

https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.6121dcf1-d8a9-418b-9981-a19f416fdf32&share_token=NP06mbnJRVylMkWHvoL7Dw&mode=embed

This was interesting to me because the students and I had been planning together what we were going to do with all our learning on being in a Positive Learning Community. In this post the student talks about what we were planning to do and also talked about the sentence type she was focusing on.

https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.e8b5bfcc-5cb5-4d8a-bb36-1ecef10037ad&share_token=H-JNzhFqTb-pTxFth-OMPQ&mode=embed

Planning with students is very new to me so I am interested in talking to others who are doing this. Please leave a comment or message me to share you thoughts, ideas and resources that inspires you and how you plan with your students.

 

Find the Spark

After reading this article I was really frustrated and extremely sad for this family who lost their son. These are my thoughts as I tried to process my frustration.

School is something our kids have to go to, why do we try and squeeze everyone’s perfect imperfections into the same mould of ‘this is the way it has always been done’. If it doesn’t work find a way that does work for the individual. I like nothing better than the challenge of finding that one thing that lights up a kids face and you find their voice in this place called school.

 Anything outside of school, he loved to the fullest, his mother said.

Bring joy into school for all our kids kick TTWADI to the kerb and find the spark in each individual.

Please don’t misunderstand my voice here, I am not indicating that school caused this heartbreak. This mothers voice spoke loudly to me as an educationalist, a mum, and a person who learns with a difference.

This Ted Talk is a perfect example of what we need to do in schools. Hack the system and teach kids how to be Happy and Healthy.