Seesaw is another innovation in the digital landscape, changing the way teachers approach student engagement and the way parents can share in their child's journey.
The Seesaw app lets students show the way they understand the world by using videos, images, PDFs, drawings, and links to connect ideas. The platform creates a unique portfolio for each student where parents and teachers can see progress over time and growth throughout the year.
Here is everything you need to know about this innovative app that can help you bring your classroom into a new era.
What is Seesaw for schools?
Seesaw for schools is an app used on smartphones or tablets that allows students to capture images, videos, and more and save them on an online portfolio.
It gives teachers remote access to the folders, allowing them to leave comments on student work from anywhere. Furthermore, parents and guardians can log in on the parenting app to follow along with the progress of their child, see an archive of student work, and explore the stages of student thinking.
How Does Seesaw for Schools Work?
Students use a smart device to make videos or take photos of their work. This can be done in class or at home for online learning. Teachers can also assign work to students via the app and send along tailor-made instructions for each student.
It is a place where teachers can share activities, collect assignment submissions, give feedback on assignments, and keep track of student progress.
How To Set Up Seesaw for Schools
Creating an account is simple and the teacher can create a whole new student roster or integrate the Seesaw platform with Google Classroom to sync student lists. By using the "+ Student" button, you can easily add students to the program and indicate if they will use an email to sign in or share devices.
Families are also added in the same way and the app provides printable invites that students can take home with them. You can also send out invitation notifications via email.
Students simply download Seesaw on their smart devices and use the family portal for family access.
Best Seesaw Features for Schools
Seesaw for schools has excellent features that will improve the classroom environment tenfold. Family communications are made easy with bulk emails to families for invites and notifications. The digital portfolio teachers have of each student can also move from grade to grade to document student growth.
Teachers can also easily schedule activities and use the school or district activity library to get the most exciting and creative activities for students. Teachers also love the "teacher-only" folders where they can keep notes as well as the analytics the platform creates.
Teachers can keep track of student learning with the online portfolios and add specialist teachers or various subject area teachers to a class for additional help.
Seesaw Cost
Seesaw Tips and Tricks for Teachers
Add Visual Direction
Seesaw allows the use of emojis which can be a big help when giving instructions to students. Use eyes for reading instructions, or a magnifying glass for searching instructions. This will help students who struggle to follow instructions have a clear visual aid of what is expected.
Use Audio Directions
Another way to effectively communicate instructions is to use the audio function. This way, you can create something more personal and give students another way to follow instructions clearly.
Organization is Key
Try to organize all activities into easy-to-understand folders from the start. This will help declutter the student's activity feed. Also try to use uniform thumbnails for the assignments with similar fonts, colors, or names to create a streamlined look.
Integrate It In a Routine
Make the app part of a daily or weekly routine to get students to use it in the most effective way. They can create a class blog, make a student journal, or report back on their weekend by using the multimedia functions.
Closing Thoughts
This platform for student engagement has revolutionized the way teachers approach assessing students. Millions of students have already been impacted by his streamlined experience, especially as remote learning becomes more prevalent. Seesaw for schools is well worth trying out, even if it is just used for digital portfolios.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the benefits of Seesaw?
One of the biggest benefits of Seesaw is facilitating stronger connections between teachers and the parent community. The data tracks parent engagement and promotes their involvement. It also offers more meaningful student engagement opportunities through student feedback, drafts, and journals.
What is the difference between seesaw and Google classroom?
Both Seesaw and Google Classroom are excellent organizational tools but Seesaw is outstanding as it is a platform for teachers, students, and parents. It also has superior assessment capabilities, more creative tools, a translation tool, a district activity library, and more.
What are the Basics of a Student Information System?