[ARCHIVED] Best reasons for using Canvas K-6

[Bobby2]

I'm excited about starting to use Canvas in our primary schools. I'd like to compile a list of top reasons to use Canvas in a K-6 situation.

I'm sure that  @tmercer ,  @Renee_Carney   Kristin and their teams from K-12 and the wonderful peeps in APAC

and Canvas Engagement Strategies have collected some great selling points.

Shine the light on Canvas here!

[tmercer]

How do I love Canvas in the elementary school?  Let me count the ways....

1. clone yourself  (you can be giving a spelling test on canvas while you are running a reading group)  No more wasting time getting kids caught up on grades while they were out.

2.  Speedgrader- autograding and synching to your SIS.

3.  Feedback students get automatic feedback on their work.  PRETTY AWESOME!!!!!!!!

4. Student at home sick can still be doing what class is doing.

5. Stations-I do some station work but lots of k-1 teachers do.  I'd love to hear what everyone is doing.  I'm sure someone is running their reading groups and stations like a boss.

6.  Commons-Lots of already aswesome material to use from other teachers.  I'm a teachers give teachers type of gal.  Not that I haven't used the other but free resources=good.

I could go on and on.  I'm wondering how I could present this as questions for #canvas4elem chat.  We need to get it back up and going.  Any ideas???

[Bobby2]

Thanks for the list  @tmercer  Great ideas. They will really help as selling points to those reluctant uptakers. Feel free to keep adding.

[KristinL]

This is a great list, Tonya! As a teacher in grades 9-12, I love hearing about the different and similar ways in which K-6 teachers implement Canvas!

ePortfolios encourage students to save their best work and to see growth! This would be a great tool to use during parent-teacher-student conferences.

The Canvas Parent app makes it possible for family members to get a peek into your classroom on a daily basis. They can see assignment information and details, and that can always kick-start those "what did you do at school today?" conversations.

Depending on the grade level, Mastery Paths can simplify the individualized instruction/differentiation process. Pair this with the Mastery Gradebook, and teachers can encourage student growth or standards-based grading in conjunction with traditional grading.

I appreciate how easy it is for teachers to customize their Canvas courses. No two courses are alike! I think that once teachers start playing around with course design, they'll find that they create just about anything. Courses can be based on buttons (visuals) or linearly in modules. Either way, I think it's awesome that teachers can house all relevant information, links, LTIs in one place. It reduces distractions and encourages students to get to the learning faster.

I'll keep thinking too! I hope other K-12'ers find this thread and chime-in!

[Bobby2]

Many thanks Kristin I knew you'd have some pearls.

How can I reach out to more K-12ers other than mentioning them here https://community.canvaslms.com/groups/k12?sr=search&searchId=f3777867-cf95-42bb-bee2-f217e832398c&s...?

[ahoward]

I'm going to add this discussion thread to the suggested agenda items document that the K-12 CSMs in the US use as a template for our calls with Canvas Admins.  This is a great topic for discussion and one that can benefit all in the     K-12 space!  Thank you!  I look forward to seeing what other awesome things are happening in K-5 that we can share with the rest of the K-12 community.

[Bobby2]

Thanks for your support wit this Deactivated user

[ahoward]

Happy to help out a good cause  @Bobby2 !  This is a question that is brought up all the time, and so it will be good to get a lot of people chiming in so that everyone can go to one place for the info they need.