First Forays into Building A Platform

Thus far, I have had some interesting experiences building a SeeSaw for English Language Learners in the early Elementary grades. SeeSaw is an app for teachers to implement, and is about as user-friendly as you can get without starting to slash opportunities for teacher creativity.

I have applied my limited experience of web design, graphic design, and newsletter layout (all created with computers) to this SeeSaw app, which is a great way for me to practice using it. When this class started, I anticipated not using too much technology in my classroom as an ELL teacher. Now, I’m starting to realize I need to know how to use this stuff to even get a job teaching, and I’ll probably find the stuff useful after all.

In my future work as an ESL instructor, I will find ways creative ways to incorporate technology to enhance and offer variety within instruction in the classroom. By creative, I mean doing things like designing Kahoot! quizzes that offer a kind of light-hearted opportunity to make a game out of learning. Most Kahoot! quizzes shouldn’t be so challenging as to be intimidating or super difficult–they should be things we’ve already covered at length in class. The challenge in a Kahoot! should be more about answering the questions as quickly as possible, showing a mastery of the subject. This is only one way I am already building my knowledge and skills base of technology in the classroom.

Another way I want to employ technology in fostering an exciting and engaging classroom is by offering students opportunities to create something to tell their stories of who they are in the language they are learning (English). This can be accomplished with Bit Strips and BitMoji, two different user-friendly programs that allow some creativity in representing oneself and one’s family and friends in a cartoon-like guise. I have worked with students in 2nd Grade using Bit Strips, and they were tasked with creating a story of a time they did something that made them proud (very vague, I know). But the exprience was great for students. Most were initially overwhelmed with the amount of options initially available in editing and putting together the stuff. But given time and focus, all of the students succeeded in at least beginning a creative project of telling their story. There was a lot going on in those strips, and a lot of it had to do with identity–the ability to somewhat accurately capture how they looked, down to their skin color and hair style, offered them an opportunity to see themselves represented in the materials. It was a really informative experience for me as an educator, because I had thought the students would use this time to mess around and goof off. Instead, many of them created really interesting statements about themselves and their identities.