09.20.19

Seesaw & Creative Ways to Demonstrate Learning

"What is Seesaw? Should I use Seesaw with my 1st graders and my 4th grade students? Should I use Seesaw with my Music and PE students? Just what does this tool do and why should I use it?"

Create and reflect with Seesaw

Seesaw Learning Journal

Seesaw is a platform for student engagement. Teachers can empower students to create, reflect, share, and collaborate. Students “show what they know” using photos, videos, drawings, text, PDFs, and links. It’s simple to get student work in one place and share with families, and nothing is shared without teacher approval. - Seesaw

Seesaw works on any platform - iPads, Chromebooks, and Laptops. Click the video to see how teachers are using some of the new features. With its diverse array of tools, Seesaw is a great product for K - 5 students and beyond.

All Seesaw Training Stations.pdf

Seesaw Training Stations

Just need a refresher? Check out these Seesaw Training Stations.

How can I get started using Seesaw?

To Sign up

Click Here or type seesaw.me in the address bar to sign-up.
Click “I’m a teacher.”
Click “Sign up with Google.”

Create a class

Name the class, click your grade, and click the check mark.
Choose for your students to sign in with e-mail (WCPSS Google Login).

Account Settings

Click your name (top, left corner). Then click on the gear icon.

This is where you can manage account info, class notifications, and archived classes.

Class Settings

Click on the wrench (top, right corner)

+ Students

Students logging in with their Google Accounts will only need the student code the first time they log in. The code expires in 7 days.

+ Families

Turn-on family access to enable inviting parents/guardians.
Print and send a paper invite or an email invite.
You must approve parents before they can join your class and follow a student’s approved posts.

Class settings

Manage class teachers. Choose a class theme and icon.

Students

Student sign in mode

■ Email/Google - preferred

Students sign in with their @students.wcpss.net account. This must only be done one time!
- FYI: This also easily allows for student to join Specialist/ Elective classes without having to sign out of homeroom classes.

Be sure to go into manage students and erase the students’ last names. This option will display students’ first and last names; we want to continue to protect their privacy. (Parents will be able to see a list of all students the first time they are invited to the class.)
Manage students and permissions including likes and comments.

Click on the wrench (top, right corner)

Families

Enable/Disable family access, invite new guardians, manage guardians, view pending parent approvals, manage permissions for family sharing, likes, and comments.

Class Blog

Enable/Disable class blog, posting permissions, settings, appearance, and manage connected blogs.

Folders

Folders allow you to separate content on the journal.
You can add/delete folders, and add a mandatory step for adding content to the journal

Skills

This is a Seesaw Plus feature. Read more about it here: https://web.seesaw.me/seesaw-plus

Archive Class

You can archive classes from previous school year.
Students and parents will no longer have access, so I would wait until the beginning of the next school year.
Parents can download a .zip file of their child’s journal if they want to keep it.

Post to Student Journal

Students and Teachers can post photos, videos, drawings, file attachments, notes, and links.
Teachers can post to the whole class. Students' posts are only viewable by themselves (until approved by teacher). Once approved, other students and parents (if the setting is enabled) can see the post.
In addition, teachers can create templates by posting images, pdfs or notes. Students can then make a copy and post labels, drawings, text, etc.

Inbox

Student Announcements

Students can view in their inbox.

Family Announcements

Announcements can be sent to individual or all families.
Families receive an email with the announcement (unless they disabled email notifications).
Families can view the announcement in their inbox in the Seesaw app.

Blog

Students and teachers can publish a selection of student work from Seesaw Journals to a blog on the internet.
The blog will be public on the Internet, or private with password protection.
All posts published to the blog are approved by the teacher first.
Teachers can connect the blog with other classroom blogs to collaborate.
Teachers can enable comments on the class blog. Comments will require approval by the teacher prior to posting on the blog.

Activities

Seesaw has a bank of ready-made activities. "Search by grade level, subject, and keyword to find activities made by real teachers like you. Customize any activity or create your own to differentiate learning."

Seesaw Activities Library

Seesaw Creative Canvas tools

Need more assistance? Check out these resources.

Seesaw Ideas

Join Seesaw Teachers - Facebook Group

https://www.facebook.com/groups/474063256126732/
It is a closed group, but approval does not take long.

Follow the Seesaw Twitter Page

https://twitter.com/Seesaw

Seesaw Help Pages

Seesaw Help page

https://help.seesaw.me/hc/en-us
Choose from list of topics or search

Seesaw YouTube Channel

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYUfnb7MIsGald-Xtig9Umw/videos
Great videos for all new features, basic help, and reflection ideas.

Professional Development

Seesaw’s PD in Your PJs

https://web.seesaw.me/professional-development/
30 minute sessions
Can register for upcoming sessions, or watch recorded videos of past sessions.

What are some more creative ways students can demonstrate what they know?

Books

Use Book Creator to create awesome digital books. The Book Creator app is already available on student iPads. For Chromebooks, click here for Book Creator for Chrome.

Check out the Book Creator Twitter feed for examples of use.

Book Covers

Use templates from Canva to create stunning book covers. This is a great way to share the setting, events, and characters of books.

You could also create a Paper copy

#BookSnaps

Use Seesaw or Google Slides to create #BookSnaps. Annotate pages from a book. More details about #BookSnaps can be found here and this Twitter feed.

Breaking News Generator

Use Classtools.net Breaking News Generator to create a news flash for a historical, scientific, or fictional event.

Each one of these tools (and many more) are available on the Bugg website, in the Student section, under Creativity Links.

How can I learn more about digital tools and topics?

Kyte Learning has "a large library of video-based professional development courses and tutorials that provide teachers with on-demand technology training and support around various technology topics and tools." Staff are able to earn CEU credits as you enhance your knowledge.
All credits earned by completing Kyte courses are loaded into WakeLearns nightly.
You MUST log into Kyte from the Kyte button on the WakeID Portal or the credits can not be loaded into WakeLearns.
Ready to begin? Try the Book Creator and Canva courses on Kyte Learning.

Page updated

Report abuse