Holly Mecher

What are sketchnotes? Sketchnoting is the strategy of mashing together the use of visuals along with words to help aid in student comprehension. They serve not only as an alternative to writing traditional notes, but also as a creative learning assignments with outcomes that are more personal and can act as a really great tool to reflect on the learning that is taking place.  What’s nice about sketchnoting is that it is not a strict format. Instead, it presents students with a variety of tools for them to choose from and create their own customized note-taking process, one that works...

We know that our students all have different needs, and we are daily making modifications to ensure that we are meeting the needs of all of our learners. But at times, we all fall short. I have found this is especially true when students are utilizing the internet for text. Not only can you not easily adapt the lexile, but you cannot be everywhere for everyone, defining words and reading words out loud. By maybe the 3rd grade, students know this and many just stop asking for help. They skip over the “big words”, pass by words they cannot pronounce. ...

Black History Month “We may be uncomfortable talking about race, but we can no longer afford to be silent. We have chosen a profession that—like parenting—requires us to put our comforts second to those of children.” Jamilah Pitts As February approaches, so does Black History Month. As we spend this month learning more about Black history, keep in mind that Black history did not begin with American slavery and end with the Civil Rights Movement. Black history has deep ancestral roots leading back far beyond the beginning of our country. Do your students know that thousands of years before American...

What is Institute Day? All elementary and middle school teachers get a full day of tailored PD. This is a fully-virtual conference with sessions to choose from throughout the day. Topics will range from productivity tips in Seesaw and Canvas to engaging all students with accessible and meaningful activities in school and at home.  What can you expect to learn? There will be learning opportunities in the tracks of: Instructional Technology: Tips, tricks, and suggestions on using technology to engage students in learning. Exceptional Learners: In bowling, it’s the 7-10 split. Meeting the needs of both ends of the curve...

Struggling with how to teach the inauguration in your classroom? Below you will find lessons, read alouds, primary sources, and seesaw activities to help students better understand this day in history. Read Alouds Utilizing picture books can be a great way to introduce challenging topics for students. Below you will find two different book lists, and also two different picture books that are read aloud on YouTube with corresponding lesson plans you could use and adapt to fit your needs.  This list of books for election day includes stories that are applicable for Inauguration Day. Senate.gov has curated a list of...

Looking to celebrate MLK Jr day in your classroom, but not sure where to start? Find resources here.

Seesaw blogs are a great way to showcase the work your students are doing in the classroom. By engaging with an authentic audience of their classmates and parents, students are encouraged to complete better work and to get real feedback from their peers. Blogs can also create a space for students to share their thoughts and ideas, their special interests, and to celebrate one another. Seesaw Blogs can be used for: Showcasing student work (VIDEO: Seesaw Wow Work! Intro for Students) Responding to readings or writing prompts Publishing writing pieces Showcasing final projects Sharing fun creations Social media space How to...

Where am I? Where to next? How do I get there? Time and time again, quality feedback has proven to be a powerful tool to use in the classroom. With a 0.73 effect size on John Hattie’s list of influences related to student achievement, almost double the hinge point of 0.4, the impact of providing quality feedback to students cannot be ignored.  Quality Feedback The type of feedback that is given to students is important. Students need to be able to reflect on where they are, where they need to go, and how they get there. Grant Wiggins, researcher and author...

If there is one thing we know for sure, it’s that there isn’t enough time in the day to get all the things accomplished that you want to get done. Below you can find a presentation of Seesaw templates we’ve created or collected to help you save you some time, and hopefully find new ways to better utilize Seesaw.  Access the templates here.  Interested in using and modifying our templates? To utilize Seesaw templates, simply select the link you’d like to use from the template presentation above. When the template opens in your internet browser, select ‘Save Activity’. This will...

Do you want to be able to present to your students through Google Meet but also see their faces or the chat? Below are two methods to make this happen!

Does it feel like you are pulling teeth trying to get students to complete work? Do you feel like you spend all day working on planning the next assignment instead of spending your precious time giving students feedback and building relationships? I did, too. I started investing a little bit of time into building distance learning choice boards that have really helped me to increase my productivity through the week while also giving my students more ownership over their learning. What are choice boards, anyways? A choice board is a broad term for a method of allowing students to choose...