Meaningful Reflection and SeeSaw

First of all, if you're not using SeeSaw, you should be!  I was introduced to it at EARCOS, and its an powerful tool for sharing, reflection and immediate feedback.  I've found it to be much more organic (it is very kid friendly which makes me more likely to whip out the iPads when we have a few minutes for a quick formative assessment) than traditional digital portfolios. The children love getting recognition and feedback for their learning as it happens.  Many parents who downloaded the app to their phones respond immediately when their child posts something (they get a push notification) and the kids just love it.

Students are now commenting on each other's work and I've created a reminder to make "Art Smart" comments.  Taking literally one minute to talk about this and showing the slide below has transformed the comments from, "It's cool" to "What grabbed my attention was the detail of the trees in the foreground."  Nothing like a little meaningful application of art vocabulary to spice up the old art teacher's day. :)



In addition, when they share their own artwork on SeeSaw, they love creating videos and drawing on them while they are explaining.  The following guide keeps their dialogue on track:



If you haven't tried SeeSaw yet, give it a shot, it's free!  (No, I am not being paid to write this, I just am a fan.)