Credit: web.seesaw.me
When it comes to a tech tool with assisting an elementary teacher in preparation for an upcoming concert, Seesaw is one that I use often. Seesaw is a digital learning journal that showcases students’ works through video, audio, drawings, links, and so much more. Their work can be shared with their parents on the parents’ mobile devices all in a way that puts teachers and parents in control of how student information is shared. Seesaw has many different versions ranging from free (which can do a lot) to a paid individual teacher version called Seesaw Plus, and to a paid school version titled Seesaw for Schools. It is cross platform so that it can be used on iOS Devices, Android Devices, Kindle Fire, Chromebooks, and Computers with Chrome or Firefox.
Communicating with Parents
This was posted on my first grader’s journal by me.
Seesaw assists me with easily communicating with my parents. Since our school has us using Seesaw daily, it has proven to be quite successful in communicating about concert dress code, concert dates and times, and where their children will be standing on the risers. Most of our parents have signed up and have the Seesaw app to easily access their child’s work. Therefore, when I send out a notification about where their child is standing on the risers, they can bring it up on their mobile devices. This helps them to find the perfect spot to sit in the auditorium to see their child. It is no surprise that Seesaw reports on their website that, “92% of teachers report an increase in parent involvement and engagement since using Seesaw.”
Learning their Parts
Credit: web.seesaw.me
Many of my students like to search Youtube for videos of the songs that they are learning for the concert. This always concerns me as I am not sure what advertisements or comments might pop up. Even though they are searching for this in their own homes, I would rather promote the videos in a safer environment. Therefore, I use Safeshare.tv and insert the youtube video url there (create a free account first so that you can save the safe link in your playlists in Safeshare). Safeshare.tv will take the youtube url and create a new url that has no advertisements nor comments. I will then use Seesaw to share the newly created url on the students’ journals. Therefore, whenever they access their Seesaw journals, they will find a link to a video url of the concert song that is free from advertisements and comments.
Tip: There are many other sites or ways that do this as well like Viewpure, GoNoodle, the Chrome Extension that can hide comments, or the paid Youtube Red Subscription.
Seesaw Activities
Seesaw will reappear later in this countdown with a description of Seesaw Activities and how it improves the students’ learning of the concert music. This has been a game changer in my elementary music classroom and I feel that it needs a separate number.
Other Options
Since my school uses Seesaw, this is the best tech tool for me to assist with communicating with parents. It successfully gives the parents information about the concert and it also assists the students in learning the music. However, there are other apps that elementary music educators have had great success with like the Remind app and Class Dojo. When it comes to choosing a good tech tool to enhance the concert preparation, it comes down to the following: what your school supports, what platform is being used, and how comfortable you feel with the tech tool.
Stay Tuned!
Credit: https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1021221
As I continue the countdown each day, the end result will be a webinar showcasing all ten tech tools. Please remember that this list is a buffet. If you decide to dive in, please take only one or two items from the buffet. As my six-year-old daughter would tell you, “If I eat too many sweets all at once, I get really sick!” Choose one or two tech tools from this countdown to further research in the future.
