Welcome to my blog! I'm Karen Belt, a Deputy Principal, working at Lynmore Primary School in Rotorua, New Zealand. In the past I have taught Years 0 - 4 and used 1:1 iPads to engage and motivate learners and improve student achievement. This blog documents my teaching and leadership journey and my learning processes with iPads in the classroom. I am a Google Certified Educator #SYD17 and I'm proud of having been a member of the inaugural Manaiakalani Digital Teaching Academy(MDTA) program and a Spark Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher (MIT) and an inaugural Manaiakalani Google Class OnAir teacher.

Wednesday 20 December 2017

Seesaw Ambassador

After using Seesaw for a year and loving the features, I'm delighted to now be a Seesaw Ambassador.


Students in my classroom have loved being able to share their learning throughout the year with their parents and whanau, who in turn have provided valuable and authentic feedback to their children.  

Some of the great benefits I've enjoyed using Seesaw this year include:
  • Students being able to share and showcase a variety of learning activities - videos, images, text
  • Students seeing (and hearing) the feedback that parents are providing
  • Creating activities for the class or small groups to complete
  • Students being able to use their voice to record explanations about the artefacts they are uploading
  • Reviewing a students journal and quickly seeing their progress over the year
I'm looking forward to continuing using Seesaw next year, and exploring the activities feature in more detail.






The Process of Mentoring - Feedback

As my Google Certified Innovator continues, so does the unpacking of our text, The Mentee's Guide by Lois J Zachary.  Over the past weeks I've been seeking and receiving feedback on my developing #SYD17 project, so its only fitting that I dig deeper and unpack the chapter around feedback.  I feel I'm always quite reflective in my pedagogy, but its always good to think about how you both seek, respond to and act on feedback.


I found revisiting these five action points quite helpful, along with some of the suggested conversation starters, which include:
  • Here's the kind of feedback I'm looking for ...
  • What would you have said if that had happened to you ...
  • Do you mean ....
  • Can I ask you a question about this feedback?
  • To be honest with you, I need to think about that a little more.
I feel, in order for feedback to be most effective, you need to be honest in what you are asking for, and receptive and really listen to the ideas and suggestions that you receive.  After all ....