To see the full details of the NCSS (National Council for Social Studies) Conference Proposal-

go to the following website.

https://proposals.socialstudies.org/author/submit.php

Below is the information for my proposal:

Submission Title (10 Words or less)

Engaging students and reducing off-task behaviors with online portfolios.

Presentation Information
Abstract: *
This abstract will be used in the Conference Program, online, and in the mobile app. The description
should be directed toward prospective attendees and what they will learn by attending this presentation.
Please start with an active verb, e.g., explore, learn, discover, receive. Please avoid beginning with "This
presentation will . . ." Note: Please do not copy/paste from MS Word. (30 words or less)

Attendees will explore ways in which the Seesaw app can be used in the classroom to engage
students and reduce off-task behaviors. iPads are needed for this presentation.

Objectives: *
Clearly state your goals for this presentation. What do you hope to accomplish?

My goals for this presentation are:

Share how I use the Seesaw app in my classroom and the effects it has had.

Attendees will be able to understand what the Seesaw application is and share ways that they
could use it in their own classrooms.

Attendees will be able to set up their own student portfolios on the Seesaw app.

Content/Skills: *
Describe in detail what participants will learn by attending this presentation. What new skills, teaching
methods, content, lesson ideas, or applications of technology will they come away with?

Participants will be learning about a new iPad application called Seesaw and will be actively
setting it up for students during the presentation. They will be given ideas as to how to
implement this app into their teaching and have a chance to share their ideas as to how they think
they could implement this new technology into their own classroom.

Strategies: *
Tell us what you plan to do in your presentation and why. Use as much space as you need to
communicate your intent and the value of what you are proposing to NCSS conference attendees. (no
word limit)
In my presentation I plan to first start by sharing my problem of practice- As a first-grade teacher
I sometimes find it hard to keep my students engaged/on-task when I am not right there to help
them. While I am teaching reading group, I ask a lot of my students to work on their own
independently. This causes some off-task behaviors from students when I can't be there to
monitor them closely. When I started to implement a new technology- the Seesaw learning
journal app- some of these behaviors started to decrease.

I would then share what Seesaw is- an app where students can share their work by recording
video or taking pictures and uploading it to their portfolio. This can be set to only share with the
teacher, or it can be shared with the rest of the class. There is also an option to share student
portfolios with parents.

After explaining the app and showing some examples of student work from the app, it would be
time for attendees to get a chance to practice/explore.

I will walk them through how to set up the app and create individual student portfolios. They
will then get time to practice recording their own work such as images or video recording.

To conclude the presentation there would be time for sharing ideas and asking questions.