Fresh Grade was an application that I had heard mentioned by some teachers, parents and students but until today, I had not fully understood its power and capabilities. One of the first things Cliff said was that it works like and e-portfolio, which is exactly what my impression was. However, Cliff went on to say that Fresh Grade is not intended to be that. I believe that its biggest advantages are its communication possibilities as well as the transparency it provides when it comes to assessment. Fresh Grade allows for communication between teachers and parents as well as between students and teachers. Cliff mentioned that frequent teacher and parent involvement in student learning will result in a higher student engagement. Fresh Grade provides the platform for parents and teachers to engage and communicate with students when it comes to student progress and learning outcomes.
The one thing that is a little daunting about the application is how much planning and organizing goes into initially setting up assessment and assignments. I think that if I could get organized and put the time in initially, that Fresh Grade could be a very powerful tool in my classroom. I really appreciated how the learning standards for the BC curriculum were already loaded into the program and I liked how easy it was to set up a grade book. I want to try this in my own practice, when the time comes.
Jordan Hall
Melanie I had the privilege of being able to work with Freshgrade in my last practicum and I completely agree, it was fantastic! It was such a great resource for parent and to check in on their students progress and such a seamless way of communication between teacher and parent. I loved how it also engaged the students to chose what they would upload to show their parents and they felt so proud of their work on the app. Ill have to talk to you about the assessment piece we worked on using Freshgrade.
I also really appreciated Cliff’s candidness as you did, about the time and effort it takes at the beginning of the year to set up Freshgrade. I think the first couple of times could be tricky trying to navigate the application and assignments that are to be inputed. My thoughts behind this are that I believe as time goes on and we become more familiar with this particular piece of technology that things will speed up and we will be experts in no time! 😉
ashlie.cook
Fresh grade is also an application that I have hear about from several teachers, but I have not had the opportunity to use it yet. Cliff’s presentation was the first time I had been able to really dig in and explore all the cool features that it includes. I completely agree with your thoughts on how daunting it seems at first. But, I truly believe that if we put in the work at the start, we will become more comfortable and be able to build a strong platform in our own fresh grade one day.