I have been a teacher for 12 years in the Saint Paul School District at Randolph Heights Elementary. I taught 5th grade the first 5 years of my career, and then first grade every year after that. This year I have a class of 24 first graders, which include an ELL cluster. I've used Seesaw and iMovie to personalize student learning and share projects with students' parents and families. They love it!
The first grade writing curriculum involves writing a book recommendation. When I think of a book recommendation, the first thing that comes to my mind is “Reading Rainbow.” My goal for our publishing was to try and turn their book recommendations into something similar to Reading Rainbow. I showed my students some of the basics for the iMovie app after they completed drafts on paper. My first graders started working on the project and helping each other navigate through the steps. My first grader's parents and families were excited to see and comment on their students' finished iMovie projects! Our students are 21st Century learners and digital citizens. Being able to give this opportunity to my students truly personalized their learning as well as my teaching. I look forward to continuing to encourage student voice and choice in my classroom and parent/family engagement.
