When we were sent home from school on March 13, 2020, our school essentially took an extra early week of spring break. There was the belief that in another two weeks, all would be back to normal. When the world took a quick detour, that extra week gave our teachers time to scramble to figure out how to deliver lessons and teach 20+ kids.
Two weeks later, teachers, parents, and kids set to work trying to master Seesaw. This robust app had all the functionality needed to virtually mimic the classroom. His teacher could download worksheets, submit work, chat with classmates and record instructions directly to students.
Mastering Communications
In our family however, that enhanced functionality eventually led to tears of frustration as my second grader tried to navigate the app on his own. While there was a lot to love about Seesaw, it was a lot of information for a second grader to process quickly (on top of the dramatic change to school itself), and I often intervened to help. Ultimately, our Covid spring had me questioning what any of us were learning and the point of education. (I’ll admit, perhaps a bit melodramatic but still, what did it really matter if he wrote the answers inside the lines?)
Traditional Classrooms
Seesaw was great for allowing teachers to assign the same kinds of work they might in their traditional classrooms. It allowed for them to comment on submitted work, embed video links, and for students to practice writing. My son learned how to upload pictures of his handwritten work and how to adeptly manipulate typed text in different colors, fonts and sizes. His teacher, who worked so hard during those strange months, must have spent hours responding to each child’s submissions, listing detailed instructions, creating videos and trying to recreate the same in-class experiences.
Seesaw was great for a second grade classroom in a traditional public school. But what about other kinds of schools, teachers, or even coaches? We were still trying to work virtually with our baseball coach and piano teacher. Seesaw was not appropriate for either of them yet they still needed to motivate and incentivize players and students to practice and learn.
A child-centered approach
What if there were an educational app that took a much broader view of education? EZ Stickerbook fulfills that need.
EZ Stickerbook is an education app that is perfect for teachers in any kind of setting (homeschool, classroom, hybrid, dance school) and even coaches. It has all the functionality teachers need without any extra distractions. Teachers can create assignments and reward students for completing them with fun, virtual stickers. If it sounds surprisingly simple, it is but highly effective.
All kids love stickers and with this reward system it eliminates complex grading and adds more fun to learning! Stickers have been delighting students for decades and send a positive message that keeps kids interested in earning more. Stickers are a currency teachers, parents and kids understand so having this type of incentives system can help with academics, behavior and even encouraging soft-skills like work ethic, communication, and problem solving. It works as well for a second grade teacher as it does for a baseball coach.
Simplifying communications
With EZ Stickerbook teachers can easily and quickly communicate with students, assign activities or practice and check their progress. It’s great for giving teachers, parents, and students a good pulse on where they stand. EZ Stickerbook allows teachers to reward progress and to move away from punitive feedback. Once kids get one sticker, they are motivated to try and get more. The animated and adorable stickers in EZ Stickerbook will keep kids interested and bring more joy back into learning.
Kathleen Siddell
Kathleen Siddell is a freelance writer and education activist. She previously taught secondary social studies for nearly a decade in the Connecticut public school system. She is passionate about exploring opportunities for meaningful education reform. You can find her drowning in the Twitterverse @kathleensiddell.
