Expert Advice for Countering the Accessibility Plague

Transcript

Kris (00:00)

Welcome everyone to the Learning Loop Podcast, your best source for educational insights and trends. I’m Kris, your host. Today’s special guest is Lindsay. She is a Seesaw superstar and has helped create many of the amazing lessons that you see in the Seesaw library. She’s a former first grade and fourth grade teacher now teaching third grade in Pennsylvania. Lindsay, welcome to the show.

Lindsay (00:23)

Hi, Kris. Thank you so much for having me.

Kris (00:26)

We’re so excited to hear all of your amazing answers. We’ll start with a basic question just to set the stage. How did you first become introduced to Seesaw?

Lindsay (00:35)

I first became introduced to Seesaw back in 2016. My school district had added the Seesaw app to our portal for download and I downloaded it and said, what’s this? And started experimenting and it has been amazing ever since that day.

Kris (00:50)

For sure. Such a long journey too with it. You’ve gotten to see it just grow and blossom into what we have here today.

Lindsay (00:57)

Yeah. It’s really amazing to see how it has really evolved since 2016.

Kris (01:02)

Absolutely. Yeah. We’ve definitely grown and tried to get a lot closer to exactly what the classroom experience is, what teachers really need, and really what benefits students and families as well.

Lindsay (01:12)

Yeah, definitely. Thinking back on my experience, the most significant benefits that I’ve experienced from having Seesaw be a part of my classroom throughout all those years… Since I’ve used Seesaw with younger learners and also intermediate learners, the main thing that really comes to my mind is the differentiation, the ability for me to send an activity to students that meets their needs. So maybe, you know, they need my voice added for directions, or they prefer doing a picture sort versus typing their answer. So really the versatility of all of those amazing multimodal tools to really meet the needs of each individual learner in my classroom, no matter what age the student is.

Kris (02:15)

Absolutely, for sure. You’re speaking to also the ability to really personalize that instruction and making sure that, you know, it’s like you were saying all your students have exactly what they need to succeed.

Lindsay (02:25)

Absolutely. The personalization is so amazing. I can even add, you know, things specific to our curriculum into an existing activity that I already had or one that’s in the library that I can edit and make my own.

Kris (02:35)

For sure. For sure. Love it. Could you continue kind of on those same lines there? Can you share a specific example where Seesaw really helped you to support a student who maybe was struggling or who just needed a little bit extra boost in how Seesaw really played a role in helping that student?

Lindsay (02:50)

Absolutely. I think back to when I taught first grade and my learners were learning how to read and how to become fluent readers and feel confident reading. And I would have a station set up during reading in first grade that was called the Seesaw Fluency Station. And every week there was a certain passage that was assigned to students based on their level of reading. And each day they recorded themselves reading the same passage and then they listened back and they kind of rated themselves on how they think their accuracy was and their expression. And they would continue this each day until they got to the end of the week. And just to see how proud they were of themselves, of how much they improved and that ability for them to hear themselves, I just think was so beneficial. And I had one student who wasn’t really feeling confident about reading and by implementing this station, they became a very confident, excited reader in my first-year classroom.

Kris (03:45)

Amazing. I love that story and I love how they’re just being so empowered with just simple ways. Like just read the book and record the book and look at how you grow even in one week. I mean, I know being a former kindergarten teacher, these young learners, they grow and change very quickly. But with Seesaw, you get to actually see that and experience that as well.

Lindsay (04:05)

Yeah, I even made these fun little recording booths that had the Seesaw logos on the side. It said recording now, please do not disturb. And I bought these little phone microphones that plugged into the iPad. It was almost like they were in their own little recording station. So they loved it. And it was just a fun edition.

Kris (04:25)

Love it. I absolutely love it. I could just envision it in my head right now. Even that was in a little corner of your classroom. I want to ask one more follow-up question to that specific example there. I know that, you know, it’s wonderful for the students to get to see their growth and experience that and you as a teacher to be able to use that and help you to guide their instruction. Can you share how this specific activity, how this impacted like your families? You know, we know that Seesaw also includes families as a part of the learning. Can you share anything from how this helped your families to be more part of this journey with you?

Lindsay (04:55)

Absolutely. I have had so much positive family feedback from Seesaw and engagement through first, fourth, and third grade. But in first grade, it was a lot of the students first time really being in a public school full day, you know, from 8:45 to 4:05. And it was a way to get families to chat with their child about school. Oh, I saw you read this passage today. Can you tell me more about that? And it really opened up this dialogue to make the home and school connection really stronger. But specifically the way this helped is it really helped for the parent teacher conference. You know, the parents that were connected listening to this fluency all week, they were able to then, wow, you know, that student’s getting, my students getting better, but we should practice more at home. And just to be able to see the growth from one month to the next or one week to the next. And it opened up the dialogue between the family member and myself as the teacher on how to help their child continue to grow and improve with their reading fluency.

Kris (05:55)

Absolutely. And literally hold hand in hand together so you can support all these students as they move forward as you move through the year.

Lindsay (06:02)

Yeah. And there was also this proud moment for the students because they knew, oh, you know, my mom or my dad. I hope they got to listen to this today when they were on their way to their lunch break or driving home from work and then they would come home and say, you know, mom, did you hear my reading today? I think I did so much better than yesterday. So it just, it really helped with that student empowerment and that family connection and engagement.

Kris (06:25)

I love that. I love how they’re holding their parents accountable for making sure that they, how they’re growing and how they’re proceeding through education as well. I want to ask you a question being that you’ve used Seesaw almost from the beginning. I want to know how Seesaw has really changed the way that you approach education or even just your daily structure. How has Seesaw really changed the way that you are an educator now today?

Lindsay (06:50)

Yeah, it has completely been an addition to my classroom. We use Seesaw every single day. I mean, it is just part of our classroom. You know, it’s almost become, oh, it’s Seesaw time. Like they know exactly what the expectations are. You know, I spend time at the beginning of the year, how to use each tool. And because it’s grown so much since 2016, there’s new things each year that I go over in the beginning of the year. And once that foundation is set, you know, it is just such a seamless part, you know, whether it’s something we’re doing in phonics and they’re doing a follow activity on Seesaw or they’re typing, they’re writing a Microsoft Word, saving it as a PDF and uploading it to Seesaw so we can share our pieces together. You know, math is something I use for exit tickets every single day. And now with some of the additions with the self grading features with formative assessment, that’s become even easier to manage as a teacher. So there are just so many things every day. It’s just, it’s part of our classroom and the students know that we’re going to be using it and the families know as well.

Kris (07:55)

Absolutely love it. Love to hear all the different versions of how you use Seesaw, but also how you found a way for it to fit in every specific aspect of your teaching career, we’ll say. Because I think that, you know, with a tool like Seesaw with having so many options and being so versatile and so student friendly, sometimes there are educators maybe who could get lost in where to start and where to kind of kick things off with. And so it’s amazing to hear how your journey has grown as Seesaw continues to grow as well.

Lindsay (08:25)

Yeah. Well, and to your point, it’s really, there is such a simple way to just start. And, you know, I have had experience with mentoring and working with other teachers on this small, easy ways to start. And then once they realize how simple and versatile and easy the tool is to use with the students, no matter their age, then it’s like they’re coming back. Oh, what more can I do? What more can I do? And so it’s really, there’s a lot you can build on, even if you’re a beginner. And as you get more comfortable, it’s just like, it’s that natural, oh, I’m teaching this social studies lesson tomorrow. Oh, what can I add to Seesaw to add to this lesson? So it just becomes this natural part of lesson planning.

Kris (09:00)

For sure. For sure. And, and one that you’re also sharing with others too, which is an important part of education in general is like, we’re going to collaborate. We’re going to work with each other. We’re going to literally surround ourselves and hold the hands around these students so that we can really just make sure everybody’s moving forward. So it’s awesome to hear that Seesaw is becoming something that is also increasing teacher collaboration for you as well.

Lindsay (09:25)

Absolutely. You know, when I create a Seesaw activity or my teammate creates, you know, we easily are able to share the activity link with each other, post it to our district library. And it’s just, you know, everyone, once they’re on the page of how to use the app and have the students set up, it’s just something that we can all split up and say, all right, can you do the activities for social studies, this unit, I’ll do for math? And then we just share the links. It’s amazing.

Kris (09:50)

For sure. For sure. Love that. Love working smarter than working hard. I want to reflect back on what you were sharing around, you know, math exit tickets. Let’s call that out for a specific example here. Can you just describe for people listening how those exit tickets really helped you to use Seesaw, gather the data that you need to be able to differentiate instruction for your students?

Lindsay (10:10)

Absolutely. So at the end of every math lesson, I want to make sure that my students are grasping the content to see if I can move on or not, or if there’s a group of students that might need some extra support. So I create really simple exit tickets, two to three questions that relate to the lesson of the day. And the students know when they’re finished their workbook pages, they go and complete their Seesaw exit ticket. And now because of some of the new tools, I’m able to get instant data and information on who completed number one and got it correct versus who needed help with number three. And that there’s been some times where directly in my math lesson, I’m asking students, hey, come on over here, let’s work on this together because I know they need more support, where others I’m sending to the next step or the enrichment level, things like that. So it’s been great for helping me to plan for the next lesson, for the next week, for the next unit, but also right in the moment during the lesson, gathering that quick data and making those instructional decisions right on the spot.

Kris (11:10)

Amazing. I love that. I love when I hear stories of how educators are saving instructional minutes. They’re literally, they’re just decisions and they can make fast decisions. They can make accurate decisions. And I love to hear those kind of testimonials where, you know, Seesaw is a part of those things because I think that having the right information in a timely manner can sometimes be a struggle for educators. And so I’m just, it warms my heart to hear that you’re finding that success in your classroom. And I hope that people listening here that they’re finding this and listening to this and also say, man, I want that too. I want to save me a couple minutes to be able to make better, faster decisions in my classroom.

Lindsay (11:50)

Yeah. I will never forget the first day towards the end of September when I tried out the new formative assessment questions for the very first time. And I discovered the AI bot that was helping me to make questions. I cut my prep time that day for an exit ticket by, I’m not even kidding, probably 20 minutes and every minute counts here in education. And then when the students completed that exit ticket, I went over to my computer, hit review posts and had instant data. I was mindful and I remember I looked at my co-teacher and said, this is amazing. I can’t wait to keep using this all year.

Kris (12:25)

So awesome. I love that testimonial and that was the goal behind how we designed it is really just to help teachers make their lives easier, save them time, give you back minutes to be a teacher and not have to analyze information or sift through things to be able to score it. Just have it be right there, right at your fingertips. We have just a couple of questions left here, Lindsay. I want to ask you our loopy question next, which is just a silly question we ask all of our educators who are here on the podcast. This one has to do with having the perfect moment for one week. So for one week, would you rather have perfect hair or have perfect outfits?

Lindsay (13:00)

Whoa. I’m going to have to go with perfect hair because my hair is very long and it’s getting humid. It’s getting hot here in Pennsylvania and a perfect hair day. Nothing beats that.

Kris (13:10)

There you go. Nothing beats it. I love that. I unfortunately don’t have as long of hair, so I’d probably pick perfect outfits. But still, I think it’s anytime that you’re looking your best and feeling your best, that’s a win in anybody’s book.

Lindsay (13:25)

Absolutely.

Kris (13:27)

I want to close up with a final question here. This is usually our send off for anybody who’s listening. We usually give advice at the end of the podcast. If there’s someone who’s listening, maybe they’re new to education, maybe they’re new to Seesaw. What advice would you tell these educators listening to really help them to begin their journey towards being a better educator who has Seesaw at their fingertips? Maybe you can share some Seesaw tips with them just to kind of launch them into this journey so that they can follow in your footsteps.

Lindsay (13:55)

Yeah, absolutely. The first piece of advice I would have is go to those teachers that you know are already using it and ask them for just how to get started. If you don’t have any teachers around you that are using Seesaw, I would really advise you to go to Seesaw’s website, which is where I kind of self-taught myself a lot of how to use it. So that’s the first thing is just using those resources that are available. But the easiest tip I think I would give is think of one thing you’re teaching this week. Let’s say it’s rounding. Go ahead to the Seesaw library, make yourself an account and type in rounding. Click on your grade level and you will be amazed at all the ready to meet activities that are already there for you. And I think once you see what is available, you will be kind of inspired to just try it out. And the worst thing that could happen is it goes wrong and you say, all right, we’re going to try it again tomorrow. But the best thing that could happen is you are going to see such ownership within your students, their engagement and their creativity that comes from using Seesaw. And I would just encourage you just to try something new. And I think you’ll fall in love and just want to learn more.

Kris (15:00)

Amazing. I love not only the advice that you gave, but also just your growth mindset around it. Like it might not be perfect, but that’s okay. We can continue to move forward. Our students do things like this all day, every day. They try new things. They take risks. They dive into something new. And if we as educators can mirror that, we’re going to create just amazing opportunities for our students.

Lindsay (16:35) Yeah. And going along with that, with that point, we treat our Seesaw journals like that. It’s a working journal. It’s our growth throughout the year and it doesn’t have to be perfect. And if you don’t do well on one post, that’s okay. So that’s kind of how I see Seesaw for us. And my students just each year I’ve used it in the multiple grade levels I’ve used it in. The students just love it and it’s just such an amazing addition to our learning and our classroom every single day.

Kris (17:00) For sure. So happy to hear that, Lindsay. We are at time. I do want to say thank you, Lindsay, for sharing such amazing insights into this and such powerful testimonials of how Seesaw is really making an impact, not only for you as an educator, but also for your students, for your families, and for your peers as other teachers in your building. So exciting to hear and so happy that you were here to be able to share these stories with us.

Lindsay (18:05) Thank you so much, Kris, for having me. I just love Seesaw and I’m so honored to be part of the Seesaw journey and to be called a Seesaw educator. So I hope that everyone listening can take one thing with them and maybe we’ll have some more Seesawers on the horizon.

Kris (18:10) There you go. Perfect. Perfect. Thank you so much, Lindsay. Have a great afternoon.

Lindsay (18:17) Thank you. Bye bye.