The cool tool I chose this week is Seesaw. I started Seesaw with the thought that it was an eBook creator for elementary students. What I learned was that it is much more than that. Seesaw is a great app that allows students to share their ideas but also read and comment on the ideas of others. There are six different choices to express yourself.
Students and the teacher can post photos either from the computer or take one directly with the webcam. At my school we mostly use netbooks and Chromebooks, so having saved pictures on the computer is difficult. Having the option to use the webcam is a definite pro for this app. Along with the option to take a picture with the website, you can also record a video using the website, as well. I think this option would be great to introduce new lessons or to promote a flipped classroom. You can also import previously recorded videos too. If you want to important a video from a website you will have to go to the add link option.
The drawing option is really neat. There are many different colors to choose from and it does a pretty job of understanding where you want things drawn. Some drawing programs like Google Draw, the mouse has a difficult time communicating with program, which makes drawing in the app inaccurate.
I also like that the drawing app has the option to add text too. There are a couple different options for the writing. It can have different fonts and backgrounds to make the drawings even more interesting. this would be a good tool to use to create a cover for a story.
I used this cool tool with my after school tutoring third and fifth graders. We decided to create adventure stories and share them in Seesaw. Below is the cover I posted to my students as an example.
Another option for sharing content on Seesaw is the note option. This is where I had my students write the content of their story. After you publish the note, you cannot edit it. This is frustrating, as a very beneficial part of eBooks is the ability to continuously edit it. This is a con of the tool, unfortunately. I do like it as a brainstorming process, though. My students liked that once they posted a note and the teacher improved it, they could read other students' notes as well. I had students from two different buildings in the same classroom on the tool. Both sets of students were actively engaged in reading and commenting on others' stories. It was really cool to see their peer reviews and support they left for each other. Here are some of my students' stories:
Above is by a 4th grade girl, who's name is left off for her privacy.
Above is by a 4th grade boy, who's name is left off for privacy.
The above picture is by a 5th grade girl.
My students really enjoyed this cool tool. They have been asking me everyday since I introduced it to them, if they could get on it. I have also noticed that some of them got on it at home or in their free time. I think it is important that students are excited about writing, because when you are excited about something you usually do it more often. Writing is something that improves with practice. I also am a huge advocate for creativity, which this tool definitely offers. I can see its value in other subjects as well. I would like to use it in my STEAM classroom, in the future.
Have you ever used Seesaw? What do you think about it? How did you use it? Let me know in the comments below.
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