how to do homework on seesaw

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Teachers' Essential Guide to Seesaw

Topics:   Classroom Management Classroom Media & Tools

What is Seesaw? And how are teachers using it? Learn more about this popular platform and how to use it with students.

While Google Classroom and its accompanying suite of tools is immensely popular in education -- especially at the secondary level -- Seesaw is a fast-growing and user-friendly digital platform for teachers to assign work, engage with students, and provide feedback, among other classroom activities. It's also a standout choice for incorporating teacher, parent, and student feedback -- something not as easily achieved on Google Classroom.

Read on to find answers to teachers' most commonly asked questions about the platform, in addition to information on how you can use Seesaw with your students. Also, be sure to check out our tips video for parents , as well as our detailed review of Seesaw's potential for learning .

• What is Seesaw?  

Who can use Seesaw?

How do teachers use seesaw, how do i set up my class in seesaw, what can students do in seesaw, how can families use seesaw, does seesaw have a built-in gradebook, how can teachers use google docs with seesaw, do teachers use seesaw to teach live, like with zoom or google meet, what about privacy and safety is seesaw vulnerable to hackers, where can i find more ideas for using seesaw, what is seesaw.

Seesaw is a digital platform where teachers of all grade levels and content areas can create learning tasks and assignments for students. The assignments can incorporate videos, photos, text, images, files, or drawings. In addition, teachers can also use Seesaw to create a class blog, communicate with students and families, create and curate activities from a robust and ever-growing library, and assess student work via digital portfolios. The tool offers a free version for teachers with access to its basic features. A paid upgrade to Seesaw Plus gives teachers access to more privacy options and other features. Seesaw for Schools is for school- or district-wide adoption and is priced per student. 

Setting up a class on Seesaw is straightforward, and Seesaw's online interface leads users through its various processes. While Seesaw doesn't include a live video-streaming feature, many teachers have used it for remote learning (alongside a tool like Zoom) due to its versatility for asynchronous learning. The Seesaw Parent & Family app , available online and via Android or iOS, allows for parents and caregivers to stay abreast of their kids' learning and to keep lines of contact open between school and home. A translation tool is also available for families (not for students) for notes, captions, and comments on student work as well as messages to or from the teacher.

Seesaw is designed for teachers, students, and families. The tool is popular with primary grade-level teachers, middle school subject area teachers, elective teachers, and after-school programs, but it's most often used in elementary schools. Just like in Google Classroom, students can be members in more than one class. School and district administrators have a number of options to manage school-wide announcements, monitor teacher and class rosters, and set up summer school classes, among other possibilities.

Teachers can use Seesaw in a variety of ways, which is part of its rapidly growing appeal.

Assigning work : Teachers can assign all sorts of tasks on Seesaw, which can be as simple as a scanned worksheet or as involved as a multistep assignment with video tutorials and integration of Google Docs. Check out this tutorial on how to post a basic assignment on Seesaw , which includes the option to add voice instructions for students (great at any age but particularly important for younger students). As an added bonus, teachers can view all assignment submissions at once to gauge  students' understanding of a concept or skill.

Class blog : This option allows teachers to create a shared learning space, which gives students the chance to collaborate, as well as view and comment on each others' thoughts. The blog, which is housed at a separate web address/URL, can be password protected, and teachers can opt to moderate posts. This overview video about Seesaw blogs gets into the various hows and whys of using the feature.

Communication and feedback : Teachers can comment on student submissions with an audio recording or a written comment to provide feedback, redirection, and encouragement. Teachers can send group announcements to classes or families, and they can send individual private messages through the built-in messaging system . Families can also opt to get updates and notifications when students complete work.

Activities library : Just as Kahoot! , Quizlet , and Edpuzzle allow teachers to create, share, and curate activities, Seesaw lets users do the same. After all, teachers tend to be a generous bunch and are often happy to share the activities they create! At the time of this article's publication, there were thousands of lessons and activities to choose from . You don't have to sign up to get access to see what's on the site, but registration is necessary for full access and exploration.

Digital portfolio : Students can compile their work in a digital portfolio, either by saving work that they've already completed online, or by using the app to take pictures of hard copies or artifacts demonstrating their learning. This allows teachers to assess students' progress over time. In this video about using Seesaw as a portfolio , a student explains how she can take pictures and add an entry to her Seesaw portfolio.

After you log in to a teacher account, setting up a class in Seesaw is fairly simple. Teachers can add students to a Seesaw classroom in a number of ways: by email address, Google account, Home Learning Code , QR code, or Clever badge . Note that you can only use the Clever login if your school or district has upgraded to Seesaw for Schools. For younger students (pre-K–2), the easiest option is the QR code that students can scan.

Teachers can invite families to join Seesaw by adding parent or caregiver email addresses or phone numbers to the student roster (families can receive an email or SMS invite), or by distributing a printable, scannable QR code. Families will need to create an account to access the family portal via the web or an app.

This step-by-step video guide includes how to set up a Seesaw classroom and establish settings for what students can do or see on the platform. For example, teachers may or may not want to allow students to comment on other posts. Teachers can use the Sample Student feature to preview their class and assignments from a student perspective.

Students can complete a number of tasks on the Seesaw platform, and all fall under three main categories: Journal, Activities, and Inbox.

Journaling : Students can choose to add a journal entry for their own feed, with a choice of how to respond. They can draw, add text, or add a video or an image, among other options.

Completing assignments : Students respond to specific assignments under the Activities tab. Depending on the assignment, students may respond with a variety of methods. Check out the following students narrating and sharing their work:

• Finding the area of a polygon
• Practicing spelling rules
• Making predictions in science

Blogging : If you've decided to start a class blog, students can post for an authentic audience of their classmates -- and possibly beyond -- depending on your class settings.

Communicating : The inbox allows students to send to and receive messages from the teacher, and teachers can also enable peer-to-peer feedback on assignments. Students can also add comments to their journal entries or assignment responses or respond to comments their teacher, family member, or peer has added.

When families use Seesaw, they are able to view student work (along with teacher feedback), receive class announcements, and send and receive individual messages. All of this is accessible via the family login, whether they are using the Seesaw Family web portal or the app, which is available on Android and iOS . Parents and caregivers can also leave feedback on their students' work if they so desire!

Although there is no built-in gradebook, teachers with the upgraded version, Seesaw for Schools, can keep track of student learning through its built-in progress-monitoring tool. Seesaw Skills view allows users to keep track of student proficiency on any given skill or academic standard. Teachers can also tag student work with Common Core or TEKS standards, for example, and create a color-coded three- to six-star assessment system .

Google Drive and Docs are such widespread and invaluable tools for learning and beyond, and they're fairly straightforward to incorporate into Seesaw. There are two main ways for students to access Google files: via a link, or by uploading the files . If teachers provide a link to a Google file on a post, on a message, or within a template, it's important to remember that students must be logged in to their own Google accounts to view the files, or the permissions must be set to "anyone with the link can view." On the other hand, uploading files allows students to annotate Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, or Drawings, as Seesaw automatically converts them into annotatable pages.

Seesaw is not used to stream live lessons like traditional platforms, but for many it has been an invaluable tool for asynchronous remote learning. Teachers have frequently recorded videos to supplement learning activities for students to access and complete independently. Some teachers have also supplemented the asynchronous work on Seesaw with live video chats -- it's easy to share Google Meet or Zoom join links and codes through the announcement feature. Here is Seesaw's own list of resources for remote learning.

Because Seesaw does not have a live video platform, vulnerability to hackers interfering with live learning is not generally a problem. There is, however, a massive amount of student data that moves through the platform. Seesaw's help center provides an overview of its privacy and security measures . Also, Common Sense's full privacy evaluation of Seesaw gives it a "Pass" rating , meaning the platform's privacy policy meets our minimum requirements for data collection and sharing, data security, advertising, and more.

Seesaw's platform allows for integration of all sorts of materials, so creative teachers will enjoy designing student learning experiences. For more inspiration, check out the following articles:

• 10 Ways to Make Seesaw Part of Your Daily Routine
• 20 Seesaw Ideas with Chromebooks for K-12 Classes
• 100 Ways Students Use Seesaw

A New Hampshire-based handyman, writer, and hobby farmer, Paul Barnwell is a freelance contributor to Common Sense Education. Paul lived and taught high school English in Louisville, Kentucky, for 13 years, where he embraced bluegrass music, barbecue, and horse racing. He's been published in the Atlantic online, Education Week, and Harvard's Ed. magazine, among other outlets. Paul and his wife, Rebecca, now reside in central New Hampshire.

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Research and Play

Using Seesaw in the Classroom: A How-To Guide

When I first started learning about “blended learning,” it sounded like something only teachers of older students could use. So much of the premise is letting students work independently and at their own pace, and I knew this sounded like the dream way to run a classroom because of the possibilities with differentiation.

However, I was struggling with figuring out how I could get kindergartners rotating independently and collaborating on differentiated tasks. I do have an aide, but there still wasn’t going to be enough adults to go around! I was thinking there was no way I’d be able to truly use blended learning in my kindergarten class.

Then, I was shown the Seesaw app. “It’s a digital portfolio where students take charge and are able to explain their learning,” I was told. Intrigued, I downloaded it and began to play around. After watching tutorial videos, learning how to upload work, and seeing how simple it would be for my kids to use, I was sold. This was how I was going to be able to make blended learning work! Now, I’m a full-on Seesaw enthusiast and want to share my love for this tool with you. What is Seesaw? A Digital Portfolio that Students Run

Seesaw is a digital tool that is easy for kids to use and can be found as an app or a website. It’s a way for families to get a glimpse into their child’s day. It’s a way for teachers to track progress and give feedback without having to collect papers or do daily individual conferring (powerful, but not practical).

You can customize your Seesaw homepage with colors and icons. Mine is turquoise with an apple icon, my teammate’s is blue with an owl. This makes it very easy for our kids to see which class is logged on if you share devices (if you’re 1:1, you don’t have to worry about this). If it’s the wrong class, they have been shown how to log out, then scan our class QR code to log themselves back in. Seesaw provides this QR code which I have in a page protector hanging up in our room for easy access.

Students can upload their work in multiple ways: taking a picture, taking a video, uploading from the camera roll, typing, or creating a drawing. There are options for students to record themselves talking about their work, which gives teachers more insight into their understanding and process. I especially love the annotating feature which allows students to both record their voice and make annotations directly on the picture or video that they uploaded.

All of the work that students add to their journal (what Seesaw calls each student’s portfolio) is saved chronologically, but teachers can also create folders within Seesaw to keep everything organized . It’s so simple to go back and check for progress in a content area because you just need to click on the corresponding folder and scroll!

The comment feature is a favorite of mine. I am able to leave feedback on each of my student’s work samples. Teachers can leave written comments or voice comments that their students will be able to check the next time they log on to Seesaw. Parents can also “like” and leave comments on their child’s work, and students can do the same. Teachers have the option to turn those commenting features on or off.

How I Use Seesaw in Kindergarten I love the flexibility that Seesaw gives me for collecting work samples, so I try to use in in every content area. This helps with not only giving me a lot of data for each student, but it also keeps my students accountable when they are working independently because they know I expect to see a post on Seesaw about the work they’ve done.

Math I use Seesaw for counting collections and small group instruction. During counting collections (their hands-on rotation), students count their collection, check their count by using a strategy, then write the total. Then, they use an iPad to take a picture of their count and record themselves explaining the process. I have coached them through this process for about a month, and now they are independently recording themselves without my prompting. This is the script we’ve practiced:

“Today I counted ______ (the type of object in their collection). I counted one-by-one. I checked my count by ______ (the strategy they used: drawing circles, grouping by tens and ones, etc.). I had ______ in all.”

Most of my students can do this without adult support, but some still need prompting. There are a few students who we sit with when they count their collections because we want to record with them. In those instances, I add anecdotes during the recording to remind myself of any mistakes they made and so that parents can hear how I supported them. This helps so much when I am going back to listen and to check for common errors.

I sometimes use Seesaw to post my small group lesson. I use the drawing feature because it allows me to record my voice while also recording the drawing I do to model skills for my students. I like to use this during my lessons on decomposing numbers, addition, and subtraction. When I record my lesson (sometimes the recordings are up to 10 min. long), I post them out to the journals of the students in that small group so that their parents can watch and see how to support their learning at home.

Word Study Like in math, I sometimes post my small group lessons to Seesaw. I primarily do this during my lessons on substituting sounds or word families. I also post pictures of students working on sight words with Wikki Stix or Playdoh. I find that parents really enjoy these posts because they can see and hear how we are supporting their children and can use some of the same strategies and tools at home.

Most of the time, Seesaw is used during word study to record what students do during their centers (their hands-on, collaboration rotation). I give students multiple activities in their center basket, and the expectation is that before their rotation is over they will complete an activity, take a picture, and record themselves explaining how they completed it. This gives me insight into what they are working on during an independent (meaning no teacher support, but they are working with their peers) activity. This also holds students accountable because they know I will be checking to see if they completed at least one activity during their center time.

Reader’s Workshop I use two apps in conjunction with one another, Seesaw and ChatterPix. ChatterPix is an app that allows students to take a picture of something and then make it talk! I use it primarily for my students to record themselves telling the main idea of a story. They take a picture of the main character, draw a “mouth” from which their voice will come out, and then record themselves telling the main idea of the story. When they play back the video, it looks like the character is talking but they hear their own voice! It really makes engaging with books more exciting and fun.

My students save their ChatterPix recording to the camera roll (this option is built in to the app), then open Seesaw. They upload their video to Seesaw using the camera roll feature, and then it is in their journal for us to watch. This takes some coaching at first to get all of the steps down, but it is fairly intuitive and students pick it up quickly. I allow one small group of students per day to record the main idea of one of the books in their book box during independent reading time. This keeps the noise level still fairly quiet while the other children are reading.

Writer’s Workshop I’ve found that listening to a kindergartner tell their stories is much more effective and impactful than having them turn it on and trying to figure it out on your own. That’s why I use Seesaw to allow students to record themselves reading their stories. This allows us adults to hear the story as the student intended, not our own interpretation. As I’m scoring the story on a rubric afterward, I am able to go back and listen to the student tell it which helps me score tremendously. Parents love it, too, because sometimes their child brings home a story that he or she can’t quite understand. Being able to go on Seesaw and listen helps them hear how their child is becoming a writer.

In the beginning, students need support from an adult to record themselves reading their stories. It can be done during independent writing time by pulling one student at a time. The teacher can hold the iPad and record the video while the student is talking and turning pages. Eventually, writing partners can take on this role and record each other. I only do one small group of students per day when recording stories, and I typically do it during the final revision process.

So, is Seesaw worth trying? The answer is a resounding YES. It takes time to get your students comfortable using Seesaw. You do have to model and coach them for the first couple of months. Trust me, though, all of the effort is worth it. You will have copious amounts of data on each of your students by the end of the year. Report cards become so easy to complete because of all of the Seesaw posts you have at your disposal. No more taking stacks of papers home to grade, all you need is your phone! I open up Seesaw either on my iPad or iPhone and check it at school in the afternoons or on my couch at home. Grading made SO EASY.

You’ll get to know your students better than you ever have before. Parents are more “in the know” with their child’s progress than they’ve ever been. And your students get to literally watch themselves grow and change as their year goes on. Try Seesaw , you won’t be disappointed!

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Tips for using Seesaw in the Classroom | Seesaw Tutorial for Teachers

Susan Jones September 11, 2020 Leave a Comment

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Are you using Seesaw this year in your classroom? In this post, I wanted to share some of my favorite tips for using Seesaw. What’s great about Seesaw is that while most teachers are using it now for distance learning, there are others who have been using it as a digital portfolio for years! If you have ipads in your classroom, Seesaw is fun app to use to document student learning!

Over the last few months, I have become much more familiar with Seesaw and it’s uses (on both the parent and teacher side) and I wanted to share some tips and tricks with you!

I have made two different Seesaw tutorials for teachers and I thought I would share them here for you.

Making lessons in Seesaw:

In this first tutorial, I show exactly how I go ahead and upload PDFs (or images) and use them to digitize any paper and pencil products. I also show how to make lessons with moveable images, how to add links, and how to share your Seesaw lessons with others!

You can watch that here:

There is A LOT jam-packed into the video so many teachers have given 2 tips while watching. I talk fast (northeasterner here) so if you want to slow it down you can actually press the gear button and slow down my speed. This will help you both watch what I am doing and listen to what I am saying at the same time. Other teachers have simply said they watched it a few times! The first time they watch, they focus on one part of the tutorial, then go into their Seesaw account and try it out. Then, they come back and watch again before trying a different part of the tutorial. Whatever works for you!

Once you have the basics down, I wanted to dive a little deeper, so I just recently made a Seesaw part 2 video showcasing some of the other features you can use inside the platform.

Organizing lessons in Seesaw:

In this next tutorial, I go over 3 different tools Seesaw has which help you organize your assignments, lessons, and also keep track of students’ work! Specifically, I show how to use the skills feature to easily assign rubrics to your students’ work with a visually-appealing color-coded chart.

I also show how to use folders to assign lessons. This is great for not only teachers to organize their own assignments by subject, but also if you are working with specialists and they are a co-teacher on your account, they can assign their own lessons right into the folder. This helps you (and them) more easily find the assignments they are giving to students!

Lastly, I show how you can quickly organize your evergrowing library of Seesaw resources, by using collections! This is just an easy way to organize and sort all your new material.

You can watch this tutorial here:

I hope you enjoy both of these videos! If you are looking for more tips, ideas, and strategies (specifically for K-2 teachers) please subscribe to my YouTube channel ! I upload new videos every Sunday.

If you’re looking for more distance learning tips, check out my distance learning blog posts:

>>> DISTANCE LEARNING IDEAS

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Hello friends.

Welcome to Susan Jones Teaching. When it comes to the primary grades, learning *All Things* in the K-2 world has been my passion for many years! I just finished my M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction and love sharing all the latest and greatest strategies I learn with you through this blog and my YouTube channel! I hope you'll enjoy learning along with me :)

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8 Reasons to Use SeeSaw in the Classroom

As digital learning is becoming more integrated into schools, it’s important to have a good platform to use and appropriate, of course, for the age and grade level. For me, that’s SeeSaw! I’m still by no means a pro, but I do know a few things. Here are 8 reasons why I use SeeSaw.

1. User-Friendly Interface

Out of the online platforms I’ve used over the past 7 years, SeeSaw’s is THE BEST. Why, you ask? Each assignment is its own box, making it very clear which assignment is which. The assignment title, instructions, and add response button are there in plain sight.

There are buttons for the students to click to see their journal (all their past approved assignments) and current activities (the assignments). And let’s not forget about the teachers here—- making assignments is soooo eeeasy! There are different options to include as your lesson- photo, drawing, video, upload, note, or link.

Not only that, the same options are available as a template for student responses. For reasons we won’t discuss… there *may* be a time in which a teacher needs a quick time filler OR just realized he/she didn’t make those copies…

SeeSaw’s interface allows you to quickly take a picture of the worksheet and be ready to go (like in 30 seconds, or more if you need to keep trying to get that *perfect* worksheet picture).

2. Icons & Voice Recording for Student Instruction

It’s no secret that reading directions is hard. If not nonexistence. It could be laziness. Or stubbornness. Or part of the “do it for me” syndrome. Or really, it could be that directions can be boring.

One of my favorite features SeeSaw offers is adding icons (or pictures) to the instructions to give students a visual within the directions. All readers benefit from pictures. SeeSaw provides a chart of the codes to use while you’re typing the instructions.

Then when you’re done typing the instructions, you can record yourself reading the directions, again as another support for your struggling or ELL learners.

3. Recording Teaching Videos

As I mentioned earlier, SeeSaw offers a direct video recording as a multimedia option for including instructions or an example. During the extended remote learning of 2020, this feature saved my teaching. Before, I would scour YouTube trying to find a video that could kinda work for the lesson I’d be teaching that day. I started off doing the same thing for the extended remote learning.

Then my teaching BFF told me off-handedly that I could just record videos on SeeSaw. *MIND BLOWN* Now I can provide specific and direct instruction to my students on the skill.

I can give my students my smiling face and angelic voice while giving that direct instruction for the day. The video’s time limit is 5 minutes, which helps remind me to keep my mini-lessons mini . It even gives you a 45 second warning countdown (or 30 seconds, I can’t remember because I start to panic at that point!).

The best part- you don’t have to worry about links not working! Since you record it in SeeSaw, it’s just there ready to watch.

Need resources? Here are my digital worksheets for second grade.

• Digital and Distance Learning | Math
• Digital and Distance Learning | Phonics
• Digital and Distance Learning | Grammar

4. Multi-Device Compatible

SeeSaw works across several different devices. Not only that but SeeSaw does it well . I actually use different devices for different parts of making activities. I use my phone or iPad to take a picture (of a worksheet, recording sheet, etc) then either complete the instructions on that device or I switch to my computer for quicker and easier typing and recording instructions.

This whole compatibility thing has been great for the extended remote learning! Here’s my setup: I use my phone to record the videos (using a phone tripod) and take worksheet pictures and upload, then I save the activity, switch to my laptop and type and record the instructions (and I have the trusty SeeSaw icon cheat sheet open in another tab).

5. Whole Class Activity Teacher View

My second favorite feature is the whole class teacher view of the activities. With one press of a button I can see all the students who have submitted the activity and who has not. This has making checking in with students a breeze!

You view your class one assignment at a time, which greatly helps in grading. From this view, I can click on individual students to see the their response. Then you can click the arrows to go to the next student or return to the previous one.

There is also a Sample Student that you as the teacher can use to show how to complete the activity.

6. Resend Activities

As every teacher, my greatest hope and dream is a 100% complete and perfect turned in assignment… but again, that’s a huge hope. As you are checking/grading students’ work, and you happen upon an incomplete activity, you can resend it back to the student.

Under the activity there is a button to approved, send back, or delete. I wish there was a feature that if an activity is sent back, then the activity reappears in the student’s “Activities” page as it was originally sent (maybe in a future update!)

In order for students to access the resend activity, he/she needs to go to Journal -> Student Name -> scroll through submitted activities until there’s an activity with an orange bar that says “Draft” at the top.

7. Teacher Comments & Grading

There are a few ways to leave feedback/grade. The comments section under each submitted activity is a great space to leave direct feedback. At first, I was typing out what the student needs to change by saying something like: “Number 5 is wrong; You switched Number 7 and 10.”

And just hope the student can figure that out. Then I discovered that just like how students can edit their work, I as the teacher can also “Edit Item” (go to the 3 dots in the bottom right corner for the options list). I’ve now started going into the activity to add grading marks (like a red X on the incorrect numbers- it’s a sticker option within the activity).

Once a student makes the corrections, I go back in and delete those red Xs. Digital stickers from clip artist on Teachers Pay Teachers have come out with lots of digital sticker options. Here is the point you could upload a digital sticker to the activity.

One more thing about making comments- you can add a Voice Comment. Click Comment, then at the far right you can click the microphone and record a message for that student, again providing an opportunity to reach all learners.

8. Activity Library

The Activity Library is the hubbub of activities. When you go to assign an activity, you’re taken to the activity library where you can search activities from the general SeeSaw community, your school, and your created activities.

You can search all grade levels and subjects. If you find an activity from the community you want to use, it’s so easy to make a copy for yourself and edit the instruction and/or activity to match your instructional need.

All your activities are saved to My Library, and it’s so helpful that it shows the activity example as the image so you can quickly visually find that one activity. You can also organize your activities in My Collections.

This has been super helpful during the extended remote learning. I make all the activities the week before and organize them by subject. This makes it super slick to find and assign when it’s time.

What platform do you use for digital learning?

I’m Katie, a teacher just like you!

And just like you, I love giving my students engaging activities  to promote learning at the highest levels. My passion is growing and developing all my students using best practices. 

And, I am here to help and empower you as the teacher. My desire is to equip you with strategies and helpful classroom management tips to make your teaching and your classroom the best they can be!

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5 Surprising Things You Can Do With Seesaw

This portfolio app is a real classroom powerhouse!

Have you tried Seesaw yet? This digital portfolio app allows you to capture student thinking and learning through pictures, drawings, writing, video, and voice and then privately share them with families. But did you know that it is so much more than just a portfolio tool? Here are five ways I use Seesaw in my classroom.

1. Send home newsletters in Seesaw.

I no longer make copies of a newsletter that may or may not make it home crumpled up in the bottom of a backpack. Instead, I use family announcements in Seesaw to send messages to all families at once. Not only does this save a tree, but parents get a notification when there is a new announcement.

From there, they can do things such as ask a question about the upcoming field trip, “like” a class picture I shared, or make a comment on it. Seesaw now has a translation option too. This new feature gives parents the option of translating the message into 55 different languages. They can even reply to you in their native language, and you can hit the translate button to read their responses.

Take it up a notch with video announcements.

You can create a video right inside Seesaw or use another tool, such as Shadow Puppet EDU, iMovie, or Powtoon, to share a video with families. This is great for explaining homework directions or sharing a new strategy you taught in class. This year I’m introducing myself to my new class with a PowToon video that I am going to send to families, using Seesaw. My son’s teachers also send video announcements through Seesaw, and as a parent, I LOVE it! It’s so much easier to stay up to date on what they are learning by watching a three-minute video instead of reading a long newsletter. And it’s so much easier to make a short video announcement than it is to write a newsletter!

2. Send students on a scavenger hunt with Seesaw Go.

Use Seesaw Go to take a tour of your classroom in a fun, interactive, and collaborative way. The Seesaw team has created a scavenger hunt with talking emojis that is ready to use in your classroom. Just print out their game boards and QR codes. Hang the QR codes in important places around the room, such as the classroom library, where backpacks are hung, and even on the teacher! In small groups, students have to find and scan the hidden QR codes. Then they cross off the matching emoji on their game board until they have found them all. This fun activity gets students moving and collaborating while learning about important places in the classroom.

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Take it up a notch by teaching procedures with a scavenger hunt for students and parents.

Try personalizing a Seesaw scavenger hunt for your classroom. To begin the year, I’m using Seesaw to create a digital breakout for my class. Just like an escape room, they will have to solve puzzles and clues about procedures and rules in our classroom in order to find the code that will open the digital locks! The clues will be Seesaw videos on QR codes hidden around the room.

You can also have students help you create a scavenger hunt for their parents to explore during open house. Have students draw self-portraits and use the app Chatterpix to create videos about important information parents need to know. They can explain things such as homework expectations or how students are dismissed at the end of the day. It can even include important places to find in the school, such as the cafeteria or the office. They can also hunt for helpful people like the janitor or the librarian. Instead of printing a game board, have students take a picture of the people or places they find on the scavenger hunt and post them on SeeSaw.

3. Differentiate with video directions.

Video directions created by 3rd grade teacher Kelsey Brewer

Teachers are pulled in so many different directions that they have probably wished they could clone themselves at one time or another. While cloning is not yet an option on the SeeSaw dashboard, try recording directions. Just take a picture of an assignment and use the record tool in Seesaw to read the directions. Then print Seesaw’s QR code of the video. Paste it onto the assignment, and students can scan it and listen as needed. It’s almost like cloning yourself!

Take it up a notch with student-created teaching videos.

Student created video by a 5th grader from the class of Margot Hatch

Let your student experts do some of the teaching! You can differentiate for your advanced students by letting them create teaching videos in the style of Khan Academy. Some of our advanced fourth graders showed mastery in fractions. So they got to use Seesaw to create teaching videos that showed their classmates how to turn mixed fractions into improper fractions. They used the draw-and-record tool to model it, and they narrated their thinking through each step. We printed the QR code from their video and posted it on the classroom anchor chart. The class got to watch it whenever they needed an example. We also shared it with parents so the students could reference it when doing homework at home. This gave students the opportunity to learn from each other and feel like movie stars!

4. Create formative assessments with Seesaw Activities.

Formative assessment created by kindergarten teacher Allison Pack.

Seesaw Activities are a great way to structure common grade-level assessments and collect data that captures student thinking. Kindergarten students were working on writing the correct short vowel sound in a word. The kindergarten teacher created a formative assessment in Seesaw Activities that included sentences with picture clues such as, “I see a fish and a fan.” The short vowels in “fish” and “fan” were missing. The students had to use the draw-and-record tool in Seesaw to write in the correct vowel and read the sentence. This was assigned to all kindergarten students as a Seesaw Activity. As a team, the kindergarten teachers got to analyze the student answers and the kind of mistakes they were making. Being able to hear their thinking out loud gives an insight into their processing that you couldn’t get by just looking at their answers alone.

Take it up a notch with RTI progress monitoring.

Progress monitoring tool from the class of Perry Lane and Sarah McNew

When students go through the RTI process, it usually begins with a six- to eight-week classroom intervention. A Seesaw Activity is a great place to record their progress. We had a first grade student who had OT concerns. His teacher created a template for shapes that he needed to practice tracing. She was able to assign it as a Seesaw Activity over the course of the intervention to the one student who needed it. When she returned to the RTI team after six weeks, the whole team got to watch several recordings of this student finger-tracing the lines of each shape. The ability to watch a recording of a student’s thinking as they completed the same task over and over is invaluable information to share with an RTI team. When everyone can essentially see and hear the student, it gives everyone a glimpse into that child’s learning process.

5. Use Seesaw skills as a standards-based gradebook.

Student names have been removed for privacy

Did you know that you can tag student work with Common Core Standards, TEKS, etc. and grade them on that standard in Seesaw? You can score their work using a three to six-star rating. It is color-coded red (1), yellow (2), light green (3), and dark green (4), so you can see at a glance which standards have been taught. It also calculates each student’s average score on every standard that you tag by color coding it. It’s a built-in gradebook!

Take it up a notch with student self-assessment.

Have students create goals and assess themselves using a rubric. Third through fifth grade students created SMART goals for their keyboarding fluency. After taking a keyboarding test to see how fast and accurately they typed at the beginning of the year, they set goals for themselves and tracked their progress on Seesaw. Then I used Seesaw Skills to grade their progress after they completed new typing tests throughout the year. It’s very helpful to have student goals and self-reflections along with the teacher’s grade all in one place when filling out report cards or during parent-teacher conferences.

We’d love to hear how you use Seesaw in the classroom. Come and share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

Plus, how I use Instagram in language arts.

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You Don’t Need to Do Homework for Agatha All Along — And One Line Reveals Why

That’s how you do an exposition dump.

Time moves differently in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe . That tends to happen when your franchise releases roughly seven projects in a year — and though Marvel is working hard to make its release slate slightly more manageable, it’s still getting harder to account for everything that’s happened within the MCU lately. Even relatively great stories like WandaVision — which is only three years old somehow — feel like they took place ages ago, such is our capacity for retention. And that leaves spinoffs, like the newly released Agatha All Along , with something of an uphill battle.

How do you bring audiences up to speed without assigning any “ Marvel homework ”? Can a spinoff continue its story when it’s seemingly so removed from the thing that started it all? Agatha endeavors to answer all this and more in its two-episode premiere — and though it takes a second to ease back into this world, the series does manage to summarize years of MCU history without too much effort.

Spoilers for Agatha All Along ahead!

What Happened to Agatha at the End of WandaVision ?

What’s Agatha been up to since WandaVision ? Not much — but that might be Agatha’ s best reveal.

Agatha is a direct follow-up to WandaVision , but it does still take place after a three-year time jump. In the time since Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) stole the Darkhold and used its dark knowledge to wreak havoc in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) has been up to... not much at all, actually. For the past three years she’s been stuck in Westview, the idyllic town that Wanda hijacked to live out sitcom-inspired bliss with a resurrected version of Vision (Paul Bettany). Wanda did disable her spell, allowing the residents of Westview to reclaim their normal lives. Agatha, however, never got the memo; she’s spent the past three years seemingly trapped in a Mare of Easttown rip-off.

Agatha is able to break free with a little help from “Agent” Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza), a blast from her past who’s also a powerful witch in her own right. Unfortunately, Rio’s intentions are not all good: she only wants to break Wanda’s spell so that Agatha is nice and lucid when she gets her revenge. Why she and Agatha are at odds is a story for another day, but Rio does seem to know exactly how Agatha got stuck in a one-woman show, for anyone in need of a reminder.

In the WandaVision finale , Agatha made a valiant attempt to steal the Scarlet Witch’s reality warping powers. But Wanda fought back and absorbed Agatha’s powers instead, creating a new spell that trapped Agatha in the “role” of the nosy, harmless neighbor. Now, Rio explains, Wanda is long gone, “and all the copies of the Darkhold with her, leaving [Agatha] trapped in her distorted spell.” No one need remember the specifics of her battle with Agatha, or even the events of Multiverse of Madness . All that matters is that Agatha’s been in limbo ever since WandaVision came to an end.

Where That Leaves Agatha Now

Aubrey Plaza’s mysterious witch is the perfect character to bring us back up to speed.

Though she no longer has any powers to speak of, Agatha does manage to claw her way out of mental imprisonment. When she finds herself back in reality, her conflict with Wanda is the furthest thing from her mind. That allows the series to set up more relevant conflicts in no time at all.

With one brief scene, Agatha manages to remind us all of the events of WandaVision while keeping things focused on Agatha herself. Wanda’s shadow does loom large over the Agatha pilot, but the series does well to move on from the character as quickly as possible. Episode 2 is all about Agatha’s relationship with other figures from her past, setting the stage for a twisty adventure on the witch’s road. Unlike so many spin-offs and sequels within the MCU, Agatha is working hard to be self-contained, and that should be a relief for anyone hoping to jump into the series without any homework.

Agatha All Along is now streaming on Disney+.

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Experts say AI is the new social media — and parents are not prepared

According to a new study, there is a gap between what parents think their kids are doing when they do homework online and what they're actually doing.

Common Sense Media , a company that aims to build a more healthy, equitable and empowering future for all kids in the digital age, talked to more than 1,000 teenagers to find out how they are interacting with AI, or Artificial Intelligence, on a daily basis.

The company's research found that 7 out of 10 teens between ages 13 and 18 use at least one type of generative AI tool that take a question or prompt and provide an instant answer.

Most often, teenagers are using these tools to do their homework.

"Parents and teachers are pretty much out of the loop, so that young people are using AI platforms with virtually no guidance," says Jim Steyer, CEO of Common Sense Media. In fact, only 37% of parents whose kids use AI actually knew their children were using it.

Steyer said that parents have learned valuable lessons about technology from the introduction of the social media craze. At the time, it had few guardrails and kids had unfettered access to a variety of outlets.

This time around, parents have a chance to get ahead of the wave.

The upside of AI

A growing number of experts, like Jonathan Haidt who wrote “ The Anxious Generation , have expressed concern with the abundance of technological resources kids have access to.

But teens and technology aren't always a bad combination.

NBC's Kate Snow talked to Savannah Hill, a junior in high school who takes dance classes four days each week. Her busy schedule was "one of the reasons why I ended up resorting to ChatGPT," Hill says.

When she had trouble catching up on her work in physics class, Hill says she "would go to ChatGPT to understand the topic that was being taught."

Like many overwhelmed parents, Hill's mother, Muna Heaven, said she didn't know her daughter was using ChatGPT and felt "disappointed that the pace of the class got to the point where she had to find her own resources."

The discovery wasn't all bad, however. "I'm very proud that she found a way to teach herself independently." She added, "I think that aspect of AI is great."

Here's what parents need to know about AI

Nearly half of parents haven't talked to their teenage children about AI and the vast majority of parents say that schools haven't communicated with them about AI policies, says Common Sense Media.

So far, teens have been left to figure out their own rules about AI, which is why Steyer said, "It's essential for parents to take test drives with their kids, and learn with their kids how AI works."

For kids who utilize AI for schoolwork, Common Sense Media recommends teaching kids how to form the right prompt and fact check AI's responses.

It's also important to teach children not to rely on AI for all the answers.

Heaven noted how important it is for teenagers to "hold fast" to their "authentic voice," and that "the magic is in the creativity" that comes directly from the kids themselves

"And I think that maybe just raising their awareness of what's not good, having more conversations around the dinner table is what I see as one of the mechanisms to get our children through," she added.

Rosie Colosi lives in New Jersey and is a reporter for TODAY Parents. She has bylines in The Atlantic, The Week, MSNBC, and PureWow, and she has written 33 nonfiction children's books for Scholastic, Klutz, and Nat Geo Kids. Once upon a time, she played Mrs. Claus in "The Rockettes' Radio City Christmas Spectacular," but now she mostly sings songs from "Annie" to her two daughters … while they beg her to play Kidz Bop.

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‘He failed’: Father left wife alone to use wooden rolling pin to beat their 8-year-old daughter to death for not doing homework, jury concludes

Left: Sayra Barros (Gregory B. Levett & Sons Funeral Home). Right: Cledir Barros (WAGA/YouTube).

A Georgia father knew for over a year his wife was abusing his 8-year-old daughter Sayra Barros. Despite knowing this, 38-year-old Cledir Barros left the girl alone with his wife and Sayra’s stepmother, prosecutors said.

When Sayra did not do her homework, Natiela Barros allegedly became enraged and beat her to death with a rolling pin in late January. Both parents faced charges in connection with the child’s death, with the cases being tried separately and Cledir Barros’ case going first. After two previous trials ended in a mistrial because a jury could not come to a unanimous verdict, jurors in the third trial convicted Cledir Barros of second-degree cruelty to children, the Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office said .

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A judge sentenced him to eight years in prison and two years probation.

“We extend our condolences to the three young girls who tragically lost their sister,” District Attorney Patsy Austin-Gatson said in a statement. “This beautiful girl needed her father to protect her. He failed to do that.”

Prosecutors presented evidence at trial showing Cledir Barros had known since August 2022 that his wife was abusing Sayra. Teachers at her school, Harbins Elementary in Dacula, testified Sayra would come to class with noticeable injuries. The teachers reported those injuries to authorities. But when they questioned Barros about what was going on, he pulled her from the school. He then arranged for Natiela Barros to home-school her, prosecutors said.

Cledir Barros testified for about two-and-a-half hours at the latest trial, claiming he had no idea about the abuse.

“I’ve never seen any of my kids get injured from spanking ever,” he said, according to Atlanta Fox affiliate WAGA .

He also said he pulled her out of school because she was having issues there, but not at home. His defense lawyers pointed out he was not at home for much of the week leading up to the murder as he was out on the road working as a truck driver.

Despite the brutality of his daughter’s death, Cledir Barros said he forgave his wife in the immediate aftermath.

“At the moment of this incident, I forgave her simply because the spirit of God led me to forgive her, not consented to what she did, which was terrible,” Barros said.

Natiela Barros is charged with murder , aggravated assault and child cruelty. Her case is still pending,

As Law&Crime previously reported , the Gwinnett County Police Department said in a press release that officers responded to a medical call at a home in the 300 block of Vine Springs around 2:15 p.m. on Jan. 30.

Officers said Natiela Barros had been alone with Sayra when she became unresponsive. Barros called her husband who came to the home and started CPR before calling 911, according to authorities. After officers arrived, paramedics pronounced the girl dead on scene. Homicide detectives were called to investigate “given the circumstances” of the death. They interviewed the adults at the home.

Cops arrested both parents in the days after the incident. Citing an arrest affidavit, WAGA reported Natiela Barros beat the girl “with a wooden rolling pen 10 to 20 times, refusing to get her medical care afterwards.” The affidavit said she hit the girl in several areas including the neck.

Before his arrest, Cledir Barros spoke with Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB .

“I can’t even put into words, you know, something that came upon her, she just lost control went above and beyond. I don’t know,” he said.

One neighbor said she never saw any violence at the Barros home.

“Shocked, completely shocked,” she told WAGA.

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