Step 2: Ways you could use SeeSaw
Because I just started using SeeSaw this year, we spent a lot of time at the beginning of the year creating our class expectations when using this program and learning how to navigate the website (which isn't challenging). Below you will find some ways I have used SeeSaw already, and ways I plan to use SeeSaw with my students in the future.
At the bottom, I included some other ideas for using SeeSaw in the classroom that I have found from the SeeSaw website! These are all available as FREE activities already made that teachers can use with their classes. Take some time to explore those after reading about some of my own ideas.
Morning Work
A good way to use SeeSaw is during morning work time. This would be a good time for students to respond to a prompt that's connected to the current unit you are teaching. Unfortunately, this year, third grade switches for math right at 9:00, so we are very limited with what can be accomplished before then. However, if I kept my ELA students in the morning, I would definitely be using SeeSaw sometimes for morning work. Using SeeSaw in the morning allows students to have a silent and collaborative discussion with each other in a meaningful way. Below is a screenshot of a flipchart that I would have up on the board as students arrived.
I had my students save SeeSaw on their "Favorites" tab, and they know how to access their SeeSaw journal from there. Also, after the first time students login, they do not have to login any time after that if using the same device. It will automatically save their login code on their device, so once they click on on the SeeSaw tab, their journal should pop right up.
I will explain our class expectations (referred to on the flipchart page) later during this PD session.
I will explain our class expectations (referred to on the flipchart page) later during this PD session.
"May Do" Activity
I plan to use SeeSaw mostly as "May Do" or extension activities in our upcoming reading units. In third grade, our students are expected to respond to many different prompts. I would like to use this app to ask questions that may extend my students' thinking beyond the normal reading response log. My students completed a May Do activity after writing their reports on an endangered animal. The third grade expectation is to write 6 paragraphs (which is a lot for third graders!) After they completed this writing task, I asked them to find the 3 most interesting facts they learned and respond with a "note" on SeeSaw. Below you will see the directions for the activity, and some screenshots of my students' responses. You can also see how we have been working on adding MEANINGFUL comments (This is still a work in progress, but definitely getting better!) Lilly made a great connection after reading Ian's post. In the comment section, you can also see that Payton actually answered a comment through the voice option, which many of them were able to quickly pick up how to do on their own without my help. Sometimes, they are more tech-savvy than I am! Click on each picture to enlarge it.
Formative Assessment
SeeSaw can also be used as a formative assessment. Like I mentioned above, my students are expected to often respond in their reading response journal. I could easily have them complete that prompt using SeeSaw and use it as a grade. This helps make my job easier because I have all the posts in one place rather than searching through each child's notebook looking for their written answer. One way my kids practiced this is pictured below. At the beginning of learning the Power Writing strategy [to write a solid paragraph], I had my students pick a topic and write a very short paragraph practicing it. They needed to include 1 main idea sentence, at least 2 key details, and 1 concluding sentence. Below you will see the directions and a few student writing samples. Don't worry, our paragraph writing has come A LONG WAY since the beginning of the year! Click on each picture to enlarge it.
Other Ideas
Here you will find some other activities I found on the SeeSaw website. These activities are already made with directions and sometimes templates that the kids can annotate on. This makes your job that much easier! Click on each picture to enlarge it. There are SO MANY other activities, but you need to create your FREE teacher account to access the hundreds of other activities. Click on each picture to enlarge it.
Move on to step 3 after viewing the examples above.