SEE what I SAW happen in my classroom when I used the app Seesaw!

Seesaw is a fantastic and free app that has changed my classroom!  Seesaw is an app that showcases digital work as well as paper based work.  It is very user friendly for students, teachers, and parents.   There are several benefits to using Seesaw in the classroom.

Our classroom has been able to establish better communication with parents.  A struggle I have had with being a 1:1 iPad classroom is that parents weren't able to view all of their children's work that they are completing each day.  Seesaw has completely changed this in my 1:1 iPad classroom!  I sent home information for parents to join and view their child's work.  Parents are able to view and comment on all of their child's work.  Parents are now in the loop with what their children are learning about at school.  They are able to view their children's work on a daily basis, add comments, and ask questions!   The kids love it when their parents comment and ask questions.  I have had parents thank me and say that they love being able to see what their child is creating on the iPads.  Some have even said that it brightens their day at work when they get a notification saying their child posted some new work into Seesaw.  Parent access to Seesaw is a huge part of what makes Seesaw great.

There is a greater sense of community in the classroom being developed amongst students as well. We also have the ability to make connections with other classrooms from all over the world and students are able to self assess and reflect upon their work.  Seesaw has enabled me to assess students' work by not only giving written feedback, but verbal feedback about student work.  Students are also able to provide feedback to their peers about the projects they are creating.  My fourth grade teaching partner, Sharae Geldes has a 1:1 iPad classroom as well.  Seesaw allows teachers to be a part of Seesaw together, but the classes post their work separately.  Sharae and I both have the ability to approve posts, comments, and provide feedback.  We rotate for certain subject areas, so we are able to provide feedback to both classes.   

Another benefit to Seesaw is that it is completely safe for students.  You can change the settings so that you, the teacher, has to approve all work and comments posted.  This way you are in control and know what type of work is being posted and that only appropriate comments are being posted.  This has been a wonderful part of the Seesaw app, because we also blog in our classroom within Seesaw.  When we blog, I tweet out the link in hopes that other students, teachers, parents, etc... will comment or ask a question.  All comments are then approved or disapproved by me.  This ensures complete safety for my students.  My fourth graders not only write blog posts, but they can take any work that is posted into their Seesaw feed (portfolio) and then easily post it to their blog with a simple tap!  I love how easy it is for students to share their work!

When students post projects created on their iPads to Seesaw it is very simple and easy to do.  Students not only post their digital work, but their written work as well.  In my classroom students have posted pieces of writing, posters, and other paper based work.  Then they use the drawing tool or voice recording tool in Seesaw to explain their work.  Being 1:1 with iPads has made it simple for my students to post their digital work, but you don't have to be 1:1 with an iPad to use Seesaw!  That is another perk of this AMAZING app!  Seesaw has truly changed my classroom and I highly recommend using it in your classroom!

Check it out!

Website: http://web.seesaw.me/

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