Seesaw is a powerful student engagement tool that allows students to show their understanding in a variety of modalities. Teachers are able to create activities for students to complete using photos, videos, drawings, text, PDFs and/or links. One of the most powerful features of Seesaw is the ability to share student work with families and classmates.

Seesaw works on any type of device. On computers or Chromebooks, it can be accessed through the Seesaw website. There are also two apps that are available for iOS, Android and Kindle Fire Devices- one for students and one for families.

To learn more about how Seesaw works on these platforms, visit their Help Center using the button below.

Not a Pre-K or Kindergarten teacher but you need to use Seesaw? PreK and K teachers are now automatically rostered to use Seesaw and have accounts created for them through the district as of November 2020; other campuses or programs using Seesaw will need to set up their own accounts with Seesaw. Click here for instructions on setting up your account, class, and settings. When you're finished, return to this page and skip to Step 3 to continue the course.

Accessing your Seesaw account is quick and easy!

First, navigate to https://www.fwisd.org/myfwisd to log into your myFWISD Classlink Portal.

Then, locate and click on the Seesaw icon that looks like the image below:

You should automatically be logged into your account if you are a PreK or Kindergarten teacher of record (have students assigned to you in Focus).

If you previously created a Seesaw account with a different email address, change your email address within your original account and the account should merge overnight and then include the Premium features provided to FWISD PreK and K teachers. If you have difficulties changing your email address, please contact your campus Digital Learning Specialist for assistance. A locator form can be found here.

Once logged in, you may see a pop-up notifying you of some features for your account. You can close the notification by clicking the X in the upper left-corner of the pop-up.

You may automatically be loaded inside the rostered FWISD course that populates from your Focus course roster. Those courses are named "Homeroom" followed by your grade-level. The students in the course will be listed under the course title. These students should reflect the information in your Focus course rosters with at least 48 hours processing time for any changes that are made (new students, transferring classes, etc.).

If you are not automatically loaded within the rostered FWISD course, you can click on your name in the upper-left corner of the screen and a complete course list will appear, including any manually created courses you made while using your @fwisd.org email address before the rostering sync. You can switch between classrooms by clicking on the name of the classroom within this displayed list. The "Homeroom" course, however, will be the only course that automatically updates with your Focus roster (with a 48 hour processing time); new students to your class, if you're using a class that you created within Seesaw, will need to be manually added to that class.

Settings

Once you've entered your class in Seesaw, you will want to check the settings. You can find the settings by clicking on the wrench icon in the top right corner of the screen.

Class Settings

In your Class Settings section, you can change your class details and add a co-teacher. To add a co-teacher, click on Manage teachers, type in the teacher's email address and click Invite. Be sure to use the teacher's @fwisd.org address, not his/her @teachers.fwisd.org.

Once the co-teacher accepts the invitation, note that he or she will have the same permissions that you have with the exception of the Premium features only provided to PreK and K teachers; if your co-teacher is not a "Pre-K or K teacher" in Munis as their official job title, they will not have the Premium features.

Student Settings

In the student section of your settings menu, you can turn on/off some different options. One of the settings listed here allows you to turn on/off whether students can see each other's work. When you have this turned on, when you approve a new post, it will be posted to the class journal for everyone to see. You might consider turning this off, particularly for younger students, unless you plan to have students provide one another with feedback.

Seesaw has some great resources for students and parents that you might consider sharing. To access them, use the button below. Take a few minutes to explore.

Students (PreK and K) will be able to access their Seesaw account by logging into their MyFWISD portal and clicking on the Seesaw icon.

There are two ways that students can submit proof of their understanding: through the journal and through activities. In this section, we will take a closer look at the student journal option. Students do not need to receive an assignment to make a submission. This is a great way for students to create their own portfolio.

Tip: Set up some daily (or weekly) structures and expectations in your class. For example, consider asking your students to take a picture of an object that starts with the target letter of the week. This could be something that they add to their journal.

As a teacher, you can experience the student view when adding to the journal. Click the green plus button and select Post Student Work.

Explore the different options. Practice posting using at least three different formats (photo, drawing, video, upload, note and link). If you are using your real class, consider posting it to the Sample Student journal.

The other option is to assign specific activities. While the journal is open ended, activities allow you to provide resources, templates for students to complete and specific instructions. To learn more about where to find pre-made activities and assign them to your students, watch the video below.

Take some time to explore the activity library. Try to find at least two assignments that you would like to use with your class and save them to your library to assign at a later date. To access the Activity Library, use the button below.

When a student posts a journal entry or completes an activity, you will be prompted to approve it before families can see it. You have three options when a student submits an activity: Approve, Send Back and Delete. Note that send back is a premium feature, however, you can also provide feedback using the free comment feature indicated in the image below.

To learn more about approving student posts, watch the video segment below.

In addition to finding activities in the activity library, you can create your own. Watch the video below to learn more. Then, read the following information for tips and tricks.