Krystal Deshais and Brenda Tetreault

CUIN 6320
The Impact of Seesaw in the Classroom

Seesaw benefits teachers, students, and parents. Seesaw increases communication with

parents and helps with family engagement. It helps teachers show and share student work,

growth and progress, develops students’ 21st- century skills, and allows technology to be used

effectively and purposefully in the classroom. With so many educational benefits, it is easy to

see why it has become a popular classroom app. Chang (2016) shared, “Already, Seesaw is being

used in an incredible one out of every four schools in the U.S. And according to the company, 92

percent of teachers report they have an increase in parent involvement and engagement since

using Seesaw, and another 95 percent report that Seesaw helps teach their students (develop)

21st-century skills and use technology more effectively”.

Teachers must keep open communication with parents. Teachers and parents are a team

and must share information regarding the student so both parties are aware of what it is the

student needs to continue to reach his or her full potential academically or otherwise. In the

Handbook on Family and Community Engagement, Weiss and Lopez (2009) state, “Families

want to know how their children are doing in school so that they can help them at home. They

benefit from timely and relevant data on attendance, behavior, and academic progress and

performance” (p.22).

The app Seesaw does just this. Seesaw makes it easy for teachers to share students’

academic progress and performance with parents. Not only is it easy to share, it can be shared in

real-time. Seesaw allows parents to access their child’s individual digital portfolio. Here they can

view pictures of their child’s work, audio narration and drawings can be added to photos as well.

They can also view videos of their child explaining a problem or reading.
 Krystal Deshais and Brenda Tetreault
CUIN 6320
The Impact of Seesaw in the Classroom

In kindergarten, so much of what we do is hands-on. We use a lot of manipulatives and

various workstations. There are many discussions that take place throughout the day. Students

talk about their learning and what they are thinking. We sing songs and play purposefully. There

is a lot of learning that is happening that parents may not be aware of because it is not completed

on a worksheet that can be sent home. Copple and Bredekamp (2009) state, “For their part, early

childhood professionals have a lot to share with families” (p.45). They continue, “And teachers

can give parents the particulars about what their own child said and did that day: what he is

exploring, learning, and achieving in class” (p.45). Seesaw makes sharing the particulars of the

early childhood classroom simple and efficient.

Seesaw is not only making teachers job a little easier, it is simple for students as well. In

the article “How Seesaw Accidentally Became a Teacher’s Pet at 1/4 of US Schools”, Seesaw

founder Carl Sjogreen explains that typically “20% of lesson time is spent just getting kids

signed in to education apps. That’s why teachers are reluctant to adopt tech in the classroom”. In

kindergarten ,where the majority of students enter school not knowing letters or numbers,

signing in by typing a username and password independently is basically impossible the first half

of the school year. With Seesaw, students can hold the app up to a QR code poster in their

classroom and select their name from the roster. This saves instructional time and helps

maximize student learning.

Integrating technology and other 21st-century skills into the classroom are hot topics in

education right now. “The ability to collaborate with others is an important 21stcentury skill and

an important condition for optimal learning” (Saavedra and V. Darleen, 2012). Some technology

applications listed in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for third grade include
 Krystal Deshais and Brenda Tetreault
CUIN 6320
The Impact of Seesaw in the Classroom

collaborating effectively through personal learning communities and social environments,

evaluating student-created products through self and peer review for relevance to the assignment

or task, and following the rules of digital etiquette. Seesaw can be used to meet all of these

TEKS in the third grade classroom. Teachers can turn on the setting that will allow students to

view other student’s work. Students can collaborate and practice digital etiquette and peer

reviewing by providing constructive criticism, suggestions, and/or words of encouragement.

Teachers can view any comments before they are posted to make sure peer feedback is

appropriate.

Seesaw can be used from early childhood education to high school. It helps teachers

communicate quickly and efficiently with parents. It can also be used as a form of data to share

with administrators or in parent conferences. It can assignments more engaging and allow for

technology standards to be met. Parents will be informed of classroom activities and their

students learning. Seesaw benefits everyone. We encourage all teachers to give it a try.
 Krystal Deshais and Brenda Tetreault
CUIN 6320
The Impact of Seesaw in the Classroom

References

Chang, L. (2016, June 26). Classroom learning gets a boost from education app seesaw.

Retrieved from https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/seesaw-education-app/

Constine, J. (2016, June 25). “How seesaw accidentally became a teacher’s pet at 1/4 of US

schools”. Retrieved from https://techcrunch.com/2016/06/25/seesaw-education/

Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S., (2009), Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood

Programs Serving Children from birth through age 8. (3rd ed.). Washington, DC, National

Association for the Education of Young Children.

Redding, S., Murphy, M. & Sheley, P. (Eds.). (2011). Handbook on Family and Community

Engagement. Academic Development Institute. Lincoln, IL.

http://www.schoolcommunitynetwork.org/downloads/FACEHandbook.pdf

Saavedra, A., & Opfer, V. (2012). Learning 21st-century skills requires 21st-century

teaching. The Phi Delta Kappan, 94(2), 8-13. Retrieved from

http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.lib.uh.edu/stable/41763587

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Technology Applications Subchapter A. Elementary

Retrieved from http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter126/ch126a.html#126.7