What is Seesaw

Seesaw is a digital portfolio platform that can be scaled for students pre-k-12. It is simple and intuitive for littles but also provides opportunities for critical thinking, communication, and feedback that can reach students through 12th grade. Seesaw allows students to post to their journal and a class feed with photo, video, text, drawing, or google doc integration responses. Students can scroll through the class feed and like or comment on their peer’s responses. Student responses can be organized in folders for easy searchability. Parents can connect to their child’s Seesaw journal and like and comment their work as well as see progress over time.

Why I Seesaw

I seesaw because it provides students with opportunities to express themselves through multiple methods. I love the choices it provides students as they share their learning and reflections. I love that kids can practice citizenship by commenting on each other’s posts. Seesaw is like social media for kids. It is a great way to model appropriate digital behavior and moderate as they practice.

How I Seesaw

For the last 3 years that I have used Seesaw, my students have quickly become Seesaw experts. They are able to post to their journal quickly and independently. I use Seesaw for a variety of things. The list below includes things my students have posted (both kindergarten and first grade):

• Math Story Problems
• • • Students need to be able to create their own story problems in order to fully understand how they work. Writing their own helps them play with the language used in a story problem and therefore provides them access to better understanding story problems that need solving. After posting a story problem, students then scroll through the feed to solve others’ story problems. They have learned to write better problems that require multiple steps and make sure to include a question at the end and not the answer! This has been one of my math stations for the last 2 years and they LOVE it! I change out the manipulatives for them occasionally to keep things fun and interesting! (#math1OA2)

  https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.42ce1265-2173-43c2-9814-bd8f33ddf75f&share_token=gTvKg3TwQAGdICDoLdcVOg&mode=embed

https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.42ce1265-2173-43c2-9814-bd8f33ddf75f&share_token=gTvKg3TwQAGdICDoLdcVOg&mode=share

• #BookSnaps
• • • You can read more about my #booksnaps here. I have really gone deep into #booksnaps this year and have been using them to help my students understand and respond to the written comprehension questions they are required to answer for reading assessments. We share #booksnaps weekly. Seesaw provides great tools for annotating the text through labels, emojis, and drawing. Students are also able to answer questions or talk about their book through the record feature. (RL1.1, RL1.2, RL1.3, RL1.9, RI1.1, RI1.2, )

  https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.a43f96cc-65f3-482c-b175-361d04a19641&share_token=6XyASDNIRAGDSxX36yJHwA&mode=embed

https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.a43f96cc-65f3-482c-b175-361d04a19641&share_token=6XyASDNIRAGDSxX36yJHwA&mode=share

• Exit Tickets
• • • I have posted content in Seesaw and have students use the copy and edit feature (tap the 3 dots on a post) to respond to something I drop for them. The ability to provide content for students to respond on has been updated through the activities library and teachers’ being able to create their own activities. Activites improves this type of post because teachers can include directions in multiple formats!

  https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.ded27a4f-dcb4-4f67-b671-ced42b19c3c0&share_token=FSelo5GOTWSLmfdIY_fF6Q&mode=embed

https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.ded27a4f-dcb4-4f67-b671-ced42b19c3c0&share_token=FSelo5GOTWSLmfdIY_fF6Q&mode=share

• Instructional Videos
• • • I have asked students to use Seesaw to create and share their own videos that teach how to solve a math problem or use a specific strategy, explain something we are working on in science, or how to do an experiment. (Sci1.P.1)

  https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.62d78ca1-2eea-45bb-9717-22da9d82b64d&share_token=ycae-zyARtu7maMObWaQ9w&mode=embed

https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.62d78ca1-2eea-45bb-9717-22da9d82b64d&share_token=ycae-zyARtu7maMObWaQ9w&mode=share

• Publishing writing
• • • Students take a photo of their writing and record their voice reading it. (W1.1, W1.6)

  https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.d9c52808-a4cc-4ed8-b867-ca8aa6736bb2&share_token=cjhglUSHSY-vTjCAaRcWWw&mode=embed

https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.d9c52808-a4cc-4ed8-b867-ca8aa6736bb2&share_token=cjhglUSHSY-vTjCAaRcWWw&mode=share

• Photos of favorite work
• • • I also have students upload work samples to Seesaw to document their learning and growth. They may take a photo of a sort they completed, a map they drew, or any other work sample they see as worthy of sharing. (SS.K.G.1)

  https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.08e03b4e-6b56-4ec7-a594-42be62810f4a&share_token=kNoufDy0Qumkv0s1AzPqOw&mode=embed

https://app.seesaw.me/pages/shared_item?item_id=item.08e03b4e-6b56-4ec7-a594-42be62810f4a&share_token=kNoufDy0Qumkv0s1AzPqOw&mode=share

• Relationship building
• • Students also share photos on Seesaw at home. I love getting notifications on the weekend of baby brothers and sisters, road trips, a book they’re reading, and songs they made up. I even had a student upload a video to Seesaw in the car as they were moving to another state!

I would love for you to share in the comments why you Seesaw or your favorite things for students to upload on their student Journals!

Not included in this post: encouraging positive interactions through likes and comments and family involvement! Those are blog posts for a different time!