Two things crossed my mind this week. Well, two that are worth writing about. Normally I’m not afraid to try new things and make mistakes (in the classroom) because learning opportunities happen when we mess up. But today a trip to the grocery store made me think about how I do things. Of the 20 places I could have stopped for detergent and milk, I choose the one with 4 of my students selling Girl Scout cookies. So I stop, buy a couple boxes and make small talk with their moms. It really never crossed my mind but when I make changes in the classroom or use new types of technology, it reaches far outside the wall of our school. Parents set up rewards and consequences at home based on what we do at school. If I make changes and keep the parents out of the loop, it makes it tough on the students and their parents. So thank you to Kroger and Thin Mints for making me aware of the changes I will make Monday. We started writing reflections this week. I was careful not to g
I really resonated with this post, because I've gone back and forth between ClassDojo and Seesaw quite a bit this school year. I've been trying to learn the ins and outs to see which I like more or if I like them both for different reasons and/or purposes. The main reason I use ClassDojo is because of the parent interaction component. It has created such an amazing community between teacher, parents, and students. I really appreciate that it gives parents the ability to get a glimpse into our classroom and what we are doing day in and day out. For some parents, who may never physically step into my classroom this is huge. It builds great rapport and allows parents to feel apart of the experience. It is fantastic for a "Facebook" type feed of reminders, newsletters, pictures, videos, etc. I've loved the parents involvement. All but one of my students is represented by a parent on Dojo. Most all parents just have it as an app on their phone. In addition, I use Dojo for behavior. I love that it automatically allows parents to see students positive and negative behavior. It has helped me become more consistent because I'm able to type a note quick on why a student lost or gained a point. Students love Dojo because they're able to send their parents pictures and videos on what they're doing or creating throughout their day on a their private profile. They love receiving feedback from mom or dad.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I love Seesaw because I think it is more interactive, engaging, and student driven. I like all the options within a students digital portfolio and the way in which a teacher can assign individual assignments. Parents have the options to view this as well, but I don't have my parents do this currently do to them already being on ClassDojo...I didn't want to overwhelm them. However, I'm loving Seesaw and the ability I have to create assignments for individual students or groups of students. The possibilities has been limitless. I think this is a great tool for reflection and creativity among students. I think both ClassDojo and Seesaw can also be used in more interactive ways through "App Smashing". Overall, I think ClassDojo is great for parent communication and behavior management and Seesaw is great for student driven learning portfolios.
ReplyDeleteToo much writing.
DeleteIf Seesaw could somehow incorporate behavior, it would be perfect.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ashley, for your thorough analysis! It will help me choose which program to use.
ReplyDeleteI love seesaw
ReplyDeleteI like seesaw more.
ReplyDeleteI've taught with both and think as a teacher Seesaw is easier fro digital portfolios. But, from a parent perspective I really dislike Seesaw. The communication piece is messy. Notifications and activities are mixed together, so my daughter panics because it looks like she had many assignments and then finds out that most of them are just notification on posts. We are inundated with messages from other students as comments on posts. I have trouble contacting the teacher with questions and my child can not manipulate the tools. This is the biggest thing. The tools are so finicky and hard to use that my third grader needs help everyday on every assignment. The work sheets are too small and when we enlarge them to see the text boxes don't follow. It is so frustrating. The teachers tend to give so much work also because they can add many pages to an assignment. My daughter gets so overwhelmed. Also, as a parent we don't see the nice and neat folders the teachers set up, so all the work is jumbled together. I agree that Seesaw is easier for teachers, but from a parent and child perspective I really dislike it! Dojo is improving in portfolios and I hope they do so quickly. There are definitely some areas for growth. Many teachers at my school want to use Kami with Google classroom, but I found the same difficulty that I saw with Seesaw and I don't find Google classroom very good for building community, SEL, and communication. Finally, privacy through DOJO is second to none. They have the strictest privacy policies of any of the platforms last I checked.
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