Today I connected with my colleague, Rhona Pederson. I needed to find out how things were going with the use of FreshGrade in her classroom. Our district tech.team supported Rhona in her efforts to try out the FreshGrade app. Together we hope to implement this assessment tool in September. The following is an excerpt from our conversation:
“Gary helped me set up the class list and so over spring break I put in their pictures and became familiar with the app. Honestly, without his tech support I wouldn’t have gotten started. Yesterday I took pics of the kids doing art. So nice to have a visual beside the outcome in each child’s portfolio (outcomes are already in app). On Tuesday I put in parent emails so I’m ready to email pictures. I emailed a couple out just to see if I’d get feedback. None yet, so will make sure they went through ok. The kids absolutely love it when I take their picture. They are very proud to show their work. I like the way the pics are now organized by student. I’m working between my laptop and the mini iPad. The laptop is where I set up things and the iPad is what I use in class. So it does take some planning ahead of time. For September, I fell it will be a useful tool for assessment and communication with parents. I’m glad to be moving in this direction (less paper, more technology).”
I sense from Rhona, that she is particularly excited about taking pictures of student learning and how that is affecting her students’ attitudes as well as communication with parents. Similarly, I found that it was the picture taking (even before being introduced to FreshGrade) that initially drew me into using technology in my classroom.
In my blog “A picture is worth a thousand words”, I reflect on how sharing pictures, even ones that were taken “for fun”, help reinforce student learning and build a positive class environment by sharing, complimenting and perhaps even laughing together.
Pictures also allow for the work-in-progress to be documented in ways that a unit-end test would never allow. The why’s and how’s of the journey are valued and give students a chance to think about and evaluate their learning process. In this type of format, more feedback options are available to represent a variety of student learning expressions. Reporting through pictures becomes personalized and students see their learning as valued. Picture documentation facilitates communicating, thinking and respecting of self and others; the core competencies that should underpin our expectations of effective learning communities.