For school-based SLP, connecting regularly with parents can be difficult. I feel like I'd tried it all: journals, newsletters, weekly notes, carrier pigeons with minimal participation. At no fault of families or my own, the school to home connection was missing.
Enter Seesaw! Seesaw is a free digital learning journal that is changing the game in education. Families are being invited into the classroom (albeit digitally). Seesaw is an app that allows me to compile a list of students to form a “class” and post items digitally. The many features of Seesaw allow me to build digital portfolios for each student. Among these features are voice recording, video, photos, two-way feedback, text capabilities, drawing tools and the ability to communicate with various other apps (known as appsmashing).
There are endless possibilities for what you can create and share with Seesaw. It can be overwhelming—so when I first started, I just took pictures. Whenever a student met a goal or did something cheer-worthy, I would snap a picture, write a caption and post to his or her Seesaw journal. As I became more comfortable, I discovered new ways to share items individualized to my students.
Getting started is simple. Once each of your students has something in their Seesaw journal, you’re ready to invite parents. After clicking on “invite parents,” you’ll receive an email with a PDF link to individual handouts for each of your students. The handouts give parents explicit instructions on how to access their child’s journal, either by downloading the app or visiting the website.
Once a family member links to Seesaw, they receive push notifications every time something is posted for their child. Parents have the ability to “like” and comment on items. Seesaw also has a translation feature and can translate text in more than 50 languages. The translation feature is invaluable when communicating with families for whom English is not their first language. Did I mention it's free?
I've been using Seesaw for three years and parent participation is 100%!! They are checking in weekly, liking posts, making comments and asking questions.
Too often in our schools, the communication piece with families is diminished or missing. Seesaw completes the puzzle.
To learn more about using Seesaw click here!