Seesaw Refresher (2023)

I would like to start by thanking Seesaw for their continued work to develop this amazing learning platform where students can create, reflect, share, and collaborate.

Here is my thoughts after completing this year's refresher course. 

The 5 classroom needs that Seesaw provide to support my teaching and students' learning already are:

1. Instruction
2. Family Engagement
3. Digital Portfolio
4. Assessment
5. Accessible and Differentiated Learning

Seesaw is now taking it even further with a Formative Assessment Expansion where you can choose between two flexible assessment modes: practice mode and assessment mode. Real time feedback can be given in the practice mode! Teachers will be equipped with live student response data that enables responsive instruction and differentiation. 

I love that a teacher will be able to: 

• View students grouped by correct, incorrect and no response
• Check the number of attempts a student made to get the correct answer
• Uncover misconceptions by clicking into student responses

Another exciting addition is Infinite Cloning, which will allow the making of multiple copies of the object just by dragging one from the stack.

With the New Assign Flow, managing assigned activities in Seesaw will get easier! I like that due dates can now be added when scheduling activities. Another plus is that you can enable an Automatically archive activity option after due date.

Using the Present to Class button, whole class instruction will come to life on Seesaw. Present multimodal inputs on activities and lessons (like video, interactive texts, curated online artifacts, teacher modeling, and more). Presenting Seesaw activities to the whole class will be my new go-to tool for high-quality instruction!

I love and have already been using the new Scheduled Messages option. It is a real life and time saver!

Thank you Seesaw, I  am really excited about the new features!

The last 'task' to be completed in the course was to Connect with other Seesawers from around the world. This Seesaw status is to be shared on my favorite social media platforms to spark conversation.

As I would like to chat about Structured Literacy, Maths and Learner Agency, you are more than welcome to have a look at my Seesaw Activities that I created (especially for SL and Maths) and shared in the Community Library... 

https://app.seesaw.me/activities/profile/lhrlzz/marnel-van-der-spuy

~ Tama tu tama ora, tama noho tama mate - An active person will remain healthy while a lazy one will become sick. - Māori whakatauki (proverb) ~

 

Connect 2023!

I am so excited to be attending a virtual conference called Connect 2023 again this year that I completed my registration already on 7 June! It’s brought on by educators around the world to ignite inspiration, foster growth, and energize educators for the school year. There are going to be amazing keynote speakers, including Dave Burgess! The most exciting part is that it’s FREE and starts on 8 August. I would highly recommend you join this if you can! love for you to join me. It's going to be amazing to get ideas.

~ Nā to rourou, nā taku rourou, ka ora ai te iwi - With your food basket and my food basket, the people will thrive. - Māori whakatauki (proverb) ~

Seesaw Paid Partnership Opportunity

 What an honour and HUGE surprise! 

~ Ehara taku toa, he takitahi, he toa takitini - My success should not be bestowed onto me alone, as it was not individual success but success of a collective. - Māori whakatauki (proverb) ~

We are so grateful for you!

Nice to receive little messages from Seesaw!

"Seesaw acknowledges all your hard work and admires your dedication! We know educators juggle many roles, but there is no one more perfect for the job than you. You’re making a difference every single day by positively impacting the lives of your students.

Thank you for all that you do and inspiring the young minds of the future!"

Seesaw Refresher (2022)

Just completed the Seesaw Refresh Course for 2022. So excited about all the features, especially student groups and messages!

I am [also] really excited about how my school uses Seesaw for Real Time Reporting to parents and the role that I am playing to make it happen!

~ "By doing what you LOVE, you INSPIRE and awaken the hearts of others". - Unknown ~ 

Seesaw Certified Educator

Great feeling to be [now] recognised as a Seesaw Certified Educator! 

Seesaw is an amazing platform to help with inspiring students to be their best and to deepen learning. I love that I can be part of the Seesaw joy and goodness.

Seesaw Featured Contributing Author

Thank you for the the lovely email @Seesaw! Feeling privileged to be part of the Seesaw community and for being able to share activities! #seesawchatnz #seesawchat

Seesaw Activity recognition

Been notified by someone that they saw this posted on Seesaw's FB. Thank you for the mention @Seesaw! #seesawchat #seesawchatnz

 

Seesaw Contributing Author

I am sharing activities I create on Seesaw (for my students) with other teachers (over the world) to use too.

Received this email in recognition from the Seesaw team in the USA. How uplifting! 

Thanks Seesaw!

Seesaw... no turning back!

Although I've always aimed for my students to have a digital portfolio (trialling and using many different platforms in the past), I had not been convinced that Seesaw was the way to go.... BUT oh boy, was I wrong! Seesaw is an excellent platform for housing student work and sharing it with parents. The feedback and communication is instant.

The Ministry of Education have seven key principles (Ako, Focus and coverage, Foundations for learning, Student responsibility, Motivation, Technologies, Checking in with parents) that guide effective reporting and information sharing. After using Seesaw for almost 3 months now, I already recognise the benefits of this student-driven digital portfolio and I believe that if Seesaw is being used effectively it has all the tools to fulfill this MOE 'requirement'. Hence (after having a chat with my favourite online mentor Sonya, @vanschaijik) my decision to apply to become a Seesaw Ambassador to support teachers [further] with integrating technology effectively into their teaching and to serve as an expert resource to other teachers, by sharing how I use Seesaw in my class.

I love that I can create and assign activities for my students when planning 'lessons', but that is not all... students can post to their journal and reflect on their learning instantly! It also gives me insight into their understanding and enable me to track progress over time. Parents can also look back at all the learning that their child added to their journal and see how much has been learned. This 'tracking' can easily be done when using folders when posting.

Some examples of how I have been using Seesaw with 5 year olds:
1. Goal Setting and Reflection...

2. Reading / Phonics / Sightwords...

3. Writing...

4.  Maths...

5. Discovery / STEAM / Key Competencies

6. Some others...

The Values that Seesaw stands for speak for itself... 

Therefore, I consider myself lucky and feel proud to be part of the Seesaw family...

Tweet... 'I've done it'

Reference:

Ministry of Education Online, Principles of effective reporting and information sharing

~ "It's more important than ever that educators collaborate to continually improve and support the success of each learner." - Dr. Gene Carter, CEO and Executive Director of ASCD ~