Laurences' Education Blog

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Reviewing Reviews!

March 10, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Hello Bloggers!

Today we will be having a look at some reviews the public has made on FreshGrade. We will be looking at 3 different sources: App store and  common sense education. These softwares are softwares that have reviews of many different apps, websites, programmes, etc. 

1: The App Store: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/freshgrade-for-teachers/id945490163

Rating: 3.1 stars/5 

Overall, the reviews are VERY good. Everybody is saying they love the software and that it is an awesome form of communication between parents, students, and teachers. The main negative feedback we are seeing is that recently, there has been an update and since that update, the software is slow and tends to crash. As well, back in 2015, there was no marking available on the software. This has changed since then!

2: Common Sense Education:

https://www.commonsense.org/education/website/freshgrade

Rating: 3 stars/5

There were a total of 8 reviews on this site. 7 of the reviews gave 5/5, whereas 1 review gave 1 out of 5. We decided to have a look at this, as we were very curious as to why this person would give such a low rating. This person believes that FreshGrade is a tool to force parents at home to do the teaching; which is simply not the case. If teachers use FreshGrade properly, then the parents are on this software simply to communicate with the teacher and monitor their students progress, NOT to teach their child. 

Overall, the reviews to FreshGrade are VERY good. The negetive reviews are aspects of the software that have been fixed, or are simply unavoidable at times such as random lags and crashes. 

 

Thanks for tuning in and see you next week,

Nat and LOBO 

 

Screencastify and the silent P

March 3, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Hello fellow bloggers!

In class today, we dove into the world of Screencastify; a software where you can screen record your screen to show what you are researching or in this case, provoking an idea to your students. It is super simple, convenient and fun! Claire and I decided to provoke our audience with an interesting question: Why is the p in pterodactyl is silent.  This question was inspired by our previous visit to Rebecca Bathursts’ class, as her students are currently doing an inquiry on dinosaurs (I wrote about this in a previous blog post, which is why this blog is short!). Here is the link to the video https://youtu.be/bao93pdNLDw

I really hope you enjoyed our video!

See you next week!

LOBO

 

Blog 5- Diving into FreshGrade

March 3, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Hey Bloggers!

Today we dove deeper into what FreshGrade provides for teachers, we found 5 major headings on their website and explained how they work.

What does fresh grade offer to teachers?
Fresh grade offers lesson, activity and blog customization; organize student work; assess student progress; connect and communicate with families, students and fellow staff and professional development.

How does FreshGrade allow for customization?
They allow teachers to make an unlimited number of classes and groups within those classes. Additionally they offer tools that allow you to tailor to your students. Tools to assist in lesson planning and assignment making and scheduling.

How does FreshGrade organize student work?
FreshGrade offers digital portfolios for every student and learning journals. This makes capturing student learning simple and easily accessible. They also allow teachers to label, sort, and filter students portfolios. Having this tool will ensure that each student has proper organizational skills and has easy access to each of their assignments.

How does FreshGrade allow teachers to assess growth?
FreshGrade has a gradebooking system that has the option between standards-based, score-based or anecdotal. They provide opportunities for formative, summative and interim assessments while supporting custom assessment scales. This is great as each classroom in a school can make the gradebook system work for them.

How does FreshGrade connect parents, students and staff?
Fresh grade supports communication between parents, students and staff by offering conversation toolsets while also offering outlets to send messages or share announcements to individuals or groups.

See you next week!

Nat and LOBO

All information retrieved from FreshGrade
Photo retrieved from Unsplash.com: Chris Liverani

Where can I travel to that speaks Spanish?

March 3, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Hola fellow bloggers!

This week, I decided to dive into the numerous different countries around the world that speak the Spanish language. I would love to travel around the world to countries that speak Spanish; there is no better way than learning a new language then to be 100% exposed to the language. Although it is kind of unrealistic to travel right now, I would love to travel after my degree; might as well start researching now!

Here are a list of countries where Spanish is the official language (retrieved from Wikipedia): Mexico, Columbia, Spain, Argentina, Peru, Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Cuba, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Paraguay, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama. Uruguay, and Equatorial Guinea.

 

Picture of beautiful Machu Picchu, Peru

That’s a lot of countries! I do have to keep in mind that there are some countries where Spanish is a minority language. For example, I remember travelling to San Diego and there were many Spanish speaking individuals; this is because san Diego is very close to the Mexican border.

I would love to travel to Spain, Peru, or Cuba. I  have already been to Mexico; I remember learning “un petito leche’ which is a saying I will always remember. This is way I deem travelling and submerging myself in a Spanish speaking culture is so important; I will learn things that Duolingo will simply never be able to teach me.  As I try to teach my Spanish to the next level, I need to consider planning my next trip to countries that mainly speak Spanish and to be honest, I am not complaining! These countries are rich in culture and have historical value I would love to learn about.

See you next week bloggers,

LOBO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_Spanish_is_an_official_language

The beginning of a new song!

March 2, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Hello!

After 2 months of focusing everyday on practicing “Riptide” by Vance Joy on the Ukulele, it is time to move onto a bigger challenge; I will be learning “I’m Yours” by Jason Mraz.

This song is very similar to “Riptide”. It has the same DDU UDU strumming pattern, and also consists of chords C, G, and Am; however, “Im Yours” also consists of an F chord, and also has a D chord used only a couple times. This means that “Im Yours” has a total of 5 chords; which is both exciting and frightening at the same time. For a first time Ukulele player, this is going to be challenging. I want to practice every night before bed -just like I did for Riptide- for 30-45 min segments each time. This means that I will be practicing 3.5 hours to 5 hours a week.

My goal for this song is to improve my posture. During “Riptide”, I had my thumb above the fret board. This time, I want to hold my Ukulele higher up in order to prevent my thumb from rising, and have my thumb behind the fret board. If I achieve this, this will help me switch from chord to chord more efficiently. This will defiantly be challenging, but I am up for the challenge!

I will link the  video I have been watching to get started on my learning journey

See you next time w

George Jay Visit: Why Rebecca is the Best Teacher Ever

February 27, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Hello fellow bloggers!

Last Wednesday, my class visited a Kindergarten class at George Jay Elementary.  To say the least, I learned so much about what being a teacher really is about.

Rebecca Bathurst-Hunt welcomed my classroom into hers from 3:30-4:30. She talked about her “teacher heart”, her inquiry based approach, and potential resources us future teachers may want to use. She allowed us to walk around her classroom and observe the many details her classroom has. I was quite overwhelmed, as there was SO many resources in her classrooms for her students to use and I was wondering how she got all of these resources. During the Q&A part of the meeting, I asked her how her classroom has changed and evolved compared to her first year teaching. She stated that not only has her classroom changed from her first year teaching, but her classroom has changed from the beginning of this current school year. This allowed me to put things into perspective; it is ok for me to not have all of these resources into my classroom when I begin teaching.

I really enjoyed hearing about her inquiry based approach. I had NO idea how a Kindergarten class would be based off of an inquiry based approach. After this visit, my thoughts are cleared up a little. She allows her students to pick what they want to research. Her classroom is really into dinosaurs right now, and so they are researching on all aspects of dinosaurs. Not all inquiries are free. For the first part of the year, she guided the inquiry based off of animal needs. I find this so interesting. The students are involved, engaged, and determined to learn; what more can a teacher ask for?

Rebecca is an organized, smart, and creative teacher. I would love to be like her when I become a teacher!

 

Midterm: Youtube link and summary of learning journey

February 26, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Hello!

After almost two months of practicing the Ukulele almost everyday and learning my favourite song “Riptide” by Vance Joy, I have finally filmed and uploaded my video to YouTube for Midterm. Here is the link.

Although this is far from perfect, I am so proud of myself. I had never played the Ukulele before this class and I have come a long way since the beginning of January. I sat down for nearly 2 hours and filmed many videos and this was the best one out of all of them. I almost perfectly strummed the DDU UDU pattern through the entire song. I was able to sing the whole song while playing which surprisingly was the most difficult part!Although I am proud go my accomplishments, there is room for improvement. I must be quicker from the switch to Am to G. I have gotten better over the past couple of weeks, however I still have some room for improvement. As well, I should have may thumb lower behind strings. I should barely be able to see my thumb but this takes a lot of skill. For my next song, my goal will be to improve my thumb positioning, and be quicker on those chord switches.

I am so proud of myself and am eager to learn my next song!

LBoucher

 

Is Learning Spanish Difficult?

February 25, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Hola mi Compañeros et Compañeras bloggers!

Yeah, let’s pretend I didn’t use google translate for that…

Update on my Duolingo streak: I am now at 30 days! That’s a whole month! I am really proud of myself and my dedication to this inquiry. 

For this week’s blog, I want to research what the internet says about learning the Spanish language. Is it a hard language to master? If you know both french and english, does it make it easier to learn? What are the best ways to learn the language? 

I searched on google “Is Spanish a hard language to learn?” and boy do I wish I did not look that up. The first thing to pop up was Spanish is the hardest language to learn. Great! After feeling a little scared, I looked up to see if Spanish was easier to learn if you are fluent in both French and English. The internet says that indeed, if you speak both it makes it easier, especially French. I find this very true. Sometimes when I practice on Duolingo, some words are very similar, if not the same, to the French ones. It makes it just a bit easier!

Thanks for tuning in this week!

LOBO

 

FreshGrade Privacy

February 25, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Hey bloggers!

Today we are diving into the overwhelming world of privacy policies. We always find that these policies can be draining to look at and we often scroll to the bottom and accept them. But what are we allowing when we check that box off? That’s what we want to share with you today about FreshGrade. We have found the answers to four main concerns when it comes to privacy and they are listed below.

Children’s privacy

FreshGrade does not knowingly collect the personal information of children under 13. This doesn’t mean it can’t happen, if a school has been given authorization for a student under 13 to use FreshGrade the student may use the services and FreshGrade may collect their information. We didn’t see it written explicitly, but based on FreshGrades guidelines for students under 13 we assumed that those students would need a consent form completed by a parent or guardian, and students over the ages of 13 would not. 

Where is information stored:

The information collected by FreshGrade is stored in British Columbia. The Information is stored and processed with full compliance to the “British COlumbia Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), Canada Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), and provincial Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Acts (FOIPPA)” 

What they do with the your information: 

As many companies do FreshGrade states that they may share information with third-party companies as well as other companies in the FreshGrade umbrella in order to allow them to complete tasks for FreshGrade. This is related to “ business development, software design, hosting, customer support, accounting, and other similar services”. Additionally, the personal information stored by FreshGradecan be transferred to another company through a company transaction such as “merger, sale of company assets or shares, reorganization, financing, change of control, bankruptcy or other corporate event”. 

How confidential is FreshGrade? 

FreshGrade states in their policies that they do not sell or share students personal information for marketing or advertising unless given consent from parents. However, they  do collect, store, process and share student information to provide their service or “as authorized by a school or parent” . As we mentioned earlier, this information can be shared with third-parties. FreshGrade does offer statistical information to parents, teachers, students and the school based on the information entered. This information will always be presented in an aggregate or anonymous way. In conclusion, I would say FreshGrade isn’t 100% confidential as they do share personal information to third-parties and did not disclose what aspect of your personal information is shared or if it is done anonymously.  

 

All information retrieved from FreshGrade.com

Photo retrieved from Unsplash.com: Helloquence

 

Blog #3 – Pro’s and Con’s of FreshGrade

February 12, 2020 / / 0 Comments

Hello fellow bloggers!

After discussing a little bit in our previous blog what FreshGrade is, we decided to dive even deeper into the software and discuss the Pro’s and Con’s of it.

Pro #1 – One outlet yet so many possibilites

When it comes to lesson plans, grading, portfolios, and parent communication, FreshGrade has it all. It is clear, organized, and easy. FreshGrade also offers seminars for professional development day to allow teachers to learn how to use the software effectively in order for you to know exactly how to use the software. 

Pro #2 – It is free!

What more could you ask for! 

Pro #3 – Students can use it as well

Not only is there parent/teacher communication, teachers can communicate with their own students on this software. If students are missing an assignment, going to be late for class, etc, teachers can communicate with their students directly on the website. Although this may be trickier for younger grades, older grades can benefit from this. 

Pro #4 –  FreshGrade is easily accessible

FreshGrade can be used on several platforms and devices. For example, FreshGrade is supported on Chrome, Safari, Moxilla Firefox, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Edge. It is also available on mobile devices through the Apple App store or Google Play store for android devices. 

 

Con #1 –  Lacks some creative tools

This may not be the best software for creative junkies. It is missing tools such as drawing and voice recording systems. These tools could be beneficial for a range of students. 

Con #2 – Not all parents/students have a laptop or computer at home

This is probably the biggest setback to this software. It is important to check in with the parents at the beginning of the year to see if all parents have a laptop or device to use FreshGrade. Otherwise, you may have to consider another option. 

Con #3 – It is time consuming

 

FreshGrade is something a teacher has to use daily. It is not like a report card system that happens 3 times a year. Parents want to be updated weekly, if not daily, as this is what FreshGrade is all about. 

These are the most important Pro’s and Con’s we found. After reading these, what do you think of FreshGrade?

See you in two weeks!

LOBO and Natalie 

All information retrieved from:  https://freshgrade.com/ 

 

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