Embedded Files
published by Mike Neumire on 3/7/2024
Flexible features that fix frustrations!
Seesaw is a powerful platform (I can't stop with the alliteration) for documenting and reflecting on learning. It is often referred to as a learning journal or a learning loop. This makes sense- students have a "journal" space where they can post pretty much anything that represents their learning. When they complete activities that their teacher assigns, that completed work also goes into their learning journal. This is fantastic as one part of the learning loop because students have access to great tools, like a screen recorder, so that they can capture their thinking out loud. How many other tools can capture not only a student's work but what they were thinking as they did it? It also means that the student can look back on work, whether they did it yesterday or at the beginning of the school year and reflect on it. They can do this on their own, with the teacher, with a peer, or with their families. This is the other part of the learning loop- when a family connects, they can see their child's learning journal feed. They can also "like" and comment on their child's work. This creates a channel of transparency that benefits the family, the teacher, and most importantly, the student.
In addition to all of this great functionality, Seesaw has a robust messaging system. The messaging system can be so great, in fact, that some of Seesaw's other powerful options go unused. In the spirit of exploring everything that Seesaw can do, here are seven features that are new and exciting, and hopefully inspire you to expand the ways you use Seesaw. If you're feeling really inspired, reach out to me (Mike Neumire) to come out and help you develop your new Seesaw ideas, work directly with students using Seesaw, run a short PD during your team meetings, or any other kind of support that will help you along this journey. Here are the features:
Frames
Frames are like formatting shortcuts which, when you're working with littles, can be gold. The idea is simple- instead of students having to select tools from the side of the Seesaw canvas and then arrange and format everything, you can take care of that for them. For example, you could drag a picture frame out onto the canvas and make it the exact size and location you want. Then when students go to complete the activity, they can click right on the picture frame, which will bring up their camera. They take a picture, and that picture goes directly into your frame. Easy peasy. This works with all of the Seesaw canvas tools, so you can fill your activity template up with frames and save students the time and struggle of formatting and arranging. Check it out:
Present to class
"Present to class" is a common sense update. This button, that you'll find on any activity whether Seesaw made it or you made it, allows you to use an activity with the whole class. You can use this option when you want to show a whole-class video as part of an activity, or maybe during morning meetings when you want students to come up to the board and drag elements to the right places.
Formative assessments
Formative assessments are questions that provide immediate feedback. You can add a question to any activity or page of an activity. Questions can be classic multiple choice questions or drag and drop. That means any element on your Seesaw canvas can become an answer option. There are so many creative ways to take advantage of this new feature. You can set up any kind of sorting activity and students can get immediate feedback when they complete it. Check it out:
Office hours
Do you use Seesaw's messaging tools for classroom communication? Do you have a parent who likes to send messages way past working hours? You can set up office hours! Office hours will silence notifications for any time that falls out of the schedule you set. In addition, the sender of the message will be notified that it is outside of your office hours and you may not respond until your office hours resume. Protect that work/life balance where you can!
Groups
Creating student groups makes it much easier to differentiate quickly and easily. Check it out:
Scheduled messages
In the same spirit as office hours, you may have an idea or thought that you want to communicate, but you don't want to send parents or students a late night message. Or maybe you know you need to communicate something to parents in a month and you don't want to forget. You can schedule a message for an exact date and time. Then, when the time comes, that message will be sent out automatically and you don't have to worry about remembering to send it.
Seesaw activity library updates
Seesaw continues to improve their activity library all the time. One nice little feature that they added is the standards and curriculum alignment tool. This tool lets you start with a standard or curriculum that you want to meet or supplement. Once you select a standard or curriculum, you'll be shown all the Seesaw activities that align to it! This makes it very easy to find exactly what your students need. Check it out:
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