How I Use It
As a teacher, I use this app a lot to check for understanding in math class. Typically, I will post a warm-up problem for the students to do, and then instruct the students to log-in to Seesaw. The kids will see my post, work out their problems, post it to the class feed, and then will read each other’s posts. It is very rare that I have to work the problems out for the students, because they are very good about helping the students who made a mistake on Seesaw using the comments section. Since the comments section is regulated by me, the teacher, I can ensure that nothing negative/rude is posted to another students. In English, I use this app as a collection of student writing pieces. At the end of every week, each student has to post two warm-ups that they are especially proud of, and they also must post a comment on at least four of their classmates’ posts. This app has a lot of different uses, and I can absolutely see it being used in all sorts of different subject areas.
My Take
This can be a great tool for learning if you use it correctly. Students have a great opportunity to demonstrate knowledge mastery by drawing a scene from a play, typing a written response to a question, take a picture of a project, or even shoot a short video explanation. It can also be used as a way for students to collaborate on projects with each other. A student can post a link to his story from Google Docs that he is writing and get feedback on his story from everyone in the class without having to share his document with thirty people. It is also a great tool to keep parents in the know about how their student is doing in class and what their student is currently learning in a particular unit. With most apps, it is all about how a teacher has the students use it that makes it either effective or ineffective. I love using this tool as a way to check for understanding in math class and promote collaboration in English. It is a great tool to showcase student learning and success, while teaching students how to build one another up and encourage each other to do their very best in everything that they post.
