jessica – EDTE 500 Principles of Teaching and Learning

Hey all,

I’ve really been loving Fresh Grade in my classroom.
Backing up a bit, I decided with my sponsor that it would be awesome for me to start using Fresh Grade in the classroom. The first time I used it, I documented their work on a journal I had them do. It was called “How to be a good friend”. After my students drew a picture, and wrote about what a good friend is to them, I had them keep their books open on their desks before they went out for recess. I stayed in, and with the class iPad, I uploaded their pictures onto the app! The moment I submitted each student, the parents get a notification and, depending if they have the app or not, can check moments later to see what you posted. Parents can also check on a desktop computer at their leisure.

I was talking to a teacher at the school who uses Fresh Grade, and she admitted that it can be pretty funny sometimes. Fresh Grade has a feature where, as the teacher, you can see how many views the parents give a piece of work, or comment that you submit. She noticed that some parents, after getting a notification that something was added to their child’s account, would view a single artwork, or piece of writing hundreds of times!

Although funny, and somewhat questionable, it shows that parents care to see their child’s work in most cases! Can you imagine the accessibility of showing your family, friends, and coworkers what your child did so well at in school? I think thats pretty neat, and gets parents involved with little effort on their part – just what they want!

Fresh Grade is so helpful!

Thanks for reading!