On any given day, Ms. Sharmeen’s first grade class radiates joy and energy as she brings to life a myriad of interesting projects, from shadow puppetry to designing the human digestive system. Thus, it is no wonder that Ms. Sharmeen?s virtual classroom is equally dynamic and inspiring. 

‘My goal is to make things fun by creating authenticity that will captivate my young learners,’ says Ms. Sharmeen as she discusses the inspiration she is finding as she plans for continued learning online. 

Her daily morning messages from a host of characters including Mr. Pickle, to Mr. Potato Head begin the day with a fun connection, and Ms. Sharmeen has taken full advantage of media-making to create virtual Writers Workshop lessons that engage and motivate students. Each week, she also partners with Mr. Meinen to post a maker video in which she models how to create something using LEVEL 5 design techniques. She challenges her students to do it ‘better than her’ and everyone shares their work to a collaborative FlipGrid. Students check in daily on Padlet by answering a Question of the Day, and in this way, Ms. Sharmeen is able to gain valuable feedback in addition to further increasing class connection and students? technology skills. 

Over Spring Break, Ms. Sharmeen re-designed virtual first grade by creating a Hyperdoc that allows for increased learner agency. Her motivation was to ensure students were able to complete their learning independently, and the result is an amazing personalized journey for students with interactive activities along the way. Ms. Sharmeen is an inspiration to us all as she shares her creative process and delight in learning and designing new things for her students. She is sharing all of her resources globally, including to SeeSaw Ambassadors, and she has even created a SeeSaw RVIS Bank of Materials that teachers from around the world can access. Her professional generosity, her passion for learning and the joy she gains from teaching are a model for us all. Thank you Ms. Sharmeen for all that you do for #RVISionaries!