GB Connect

1. Co-planning is powerful. The model classroom experience is the most beneficial training I undergo each year. The co-planning, collaboration, and immersion into another classroom at this intensity level is definitely worthy of being out of my classroom. I learn so much from discussing student work and student thinking with other teachers, and then interpreting what instruction needs to occur next as a team.  Co-planning the next lesson and watching it unfold together is powerful and reshapes my teaching again and again. -Deborah 2. Meet your students where they're at right now. The learning that comes from participating in a model classroom lab is beyond compare.  Being in a classroom full of students, carefully observing some aspect of learning, and then talking with colleagues about next steps is powerful.  I learn more from these collegial conversations than I ever learned at a conference or in a graduate class. I have a tendency to get on “the curriculum train.”  In

Students who are gifted struggle with emotional difficulties such as perfectionism, anxiety, depression, and attention. Throughout the years, I have often wondered if I am truly capturing their abilities through summative (and formative) assessments for the above-mentioned reasons. Last year I experimented with students videotaping their explanations to solving word problems and there was a very high success rate. Not only were students more comfortable being assessed in this way, but I was able to gain a much better sense of their understanding of a concept. However, I did not have a good platform with which to share this information with parents. This year I felt that Seesaw could be a great tool to accomplish both of my goals. Ronit and I collaborated to make this happen. The concept that I was teaching at the time involved solving word problems using Greatest Common Factor and Least Common Multiple. This has always been a tricky concept for the students, so my goal was trying to

Because getting started is easy. I started using Seesaw because I wanted to increase school/home communication, and share more projects, photographs, and daily learning with families. We began using Seesaw in our classroom in November 2016.   Our 2016-2017 class of second graders used Seesaw to record thinking and learning across all subject areas.   Students recorded thinking about independent reading and book group books, shared published writing, shared research projects, and shared weekly updates with families. I took photos and videos of the kids playing math games, presenting group projects, creating during Art Adventure, playing with friends outside, and more.    Because parents love it. Since my goal was to increase school/home communication, I invited families to see their child’s personal and private journal.    Every time an item was added to a child’s journal, that child’s family received a notification, and they were able to view what was happening in t