Sharing Student Successes in Seesaw

published by Mike Neumire on 1/16/2024

Seesaw is an awesome place to collect student successes. Designed to function like a learning journal, Seesaw helps both teachers AND students facilitate and document learning. Teachers can assign activities, but that does not represent the entire classroom experience, so Seesaw doesn't stop there. Teachers can post anything to a student's learning journal- pictures, videos, notes, etc. But teachers shouldn't be shouldn't be the sole owners of the learning experience, so Seesaw doesn't stop there. Students can also add any learning artifact to their own journal. They can take a picture of manipulatives they're working with, type up a reflective note, or even record a screencast using Seesaw's canvas tools to document "thinking out loud".  

All of this powerful learning is documented in these flexible ways, but then what? We know that an authentic audience creates meaning for student work, and Seesaw accommodates this! Here are a handful of ways to share your student successes with a wider audience.

Blog

Every Seesaw class comes with its own blog. By default, this blog is not enabled, so it's easy to miss, but setting up your class blog gives you an easy way to curate content from your Seesaw class for an audience beyond your classroom walls. You can choose to connect your blog to other classes, letting those students see your curated blog posts, as well as see what they share in their blog. You can also share a link directly to your blog that can be accessed outside of the Seesaw ecosystem. This link can also be password protected to enhance security. Blogs provide a great pathway for authentic audiences to view a curated selection of your students' learning artifacts. 

Direct Link

Every time a post is added to a student's journal, you have the ability to share that post with anyone via a link. This is helpful if you have someone outside your Seesaw ecosystem who would benefit from seeing a student's work. This might include an instructional coach or administrator, or another teacher who is not already a part of your class. This can be a great piece of anecdotal data to bring to and discuss at a team meeting. 

Embed Code

You also have access to an embed code for each post in a student's learning journal. This a great option if you want to include student work in a website or blog. An embedded post looks like the example below. 

QR Code

Among the many options in each post's context menu is a QR code option. A QR code is a great option for teachers who want to physically represent these digital artifacts. This could become part of your classroom decoration, part of a gallery walk activity, or a reflective practice where students explore what their peers' thinking sounds like. 

Seesaw is intentional with every aspect of its design. It is meant to encourage students to reflect and take ownership of the learning process. It is also meant to help connect students to an authentic audience in easy and flexible ways. Try them out!