Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

Hello! Today we are going to learn about differentiated learning and how we can
implement it into our classrooms with the help of Seesaw. By implementing Seesaw, we
can increase differentiation within our classroom.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

My objective today is to help you implement more differentiated instruction with Seesaw
into your classroom.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

Let’s break out into discussions: What do you think would happen if differentiated
learning didn’t exist in any classrooms? How would students feel?
Without differentiated learning students might feel unmotivated to learn. They may lack
the confidence to reach their learning goals.
Imagine sitting in a classroom, where the teacher wants you to learn how to build a
house, but only gives you a limited amount of tools (that you do not know how to use),
how would you feel?

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

A classroom without differentiated instruction means no adaptive instruction based on

students’ learning making it difficult for certain student to excel. Students will have to try
to keep up even if they don’t understand what is going on and may be left behind.
Teachers do not need to know more about their students interests, strengths or
preferences making the learning environment less welcoming.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

Differentiated instruction works because we are making it student centered by engaging

students in lessons that are more engaging, relevant and interesting to each student.

It is organic and dynamic - the teacher are always learning about how their students
learn and adapt their lessons accordingly, making the learning opportunities more
effective for each student.

It is taking multiple approaches to the four classroom elements which we will discuss
next.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

According to Reading Rocket,

You can differentiate at least four classroom elements based on student readiness,
interest, or learning profile:

You can differentiate by content, process, products, and the learning environment which
you can also differentiate digitally.

Differentiating by content means to differentiate what the student needs to learn or how
they will get access to the information. Such as providing different reading materials at
different reading levels, creating audios for text materials, presenting lessons through
both auditory and visual, meeting students in small groups to either reteach a lesson for
students who are struggling or extend the thinking for advanced learner.

Differentiating by Process means to differentiate the activities the students are engaged
in. For example, providing interest centers that encourage students to explore the
subsets of the topic that interest them. Creating personal agendas or choice board
where the students have to meet the mandatory assignments but also provide work that
addresses the learning needs of the students. Providing manipulatives or hands-on
support for students who need. Giving the students that may need more time to
complete the activity or encouraging advanced students to look deeper into the topic.

Differentiating by products means to differentiate projects or assignments that we ask the

students to apply what they learned. For example giving them a choice board with
different options to demonstrate their understanding on the topic: it could be creating a

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 puppet show, writing a letter, drawing a picture, etc. You can also encourage students to
create their own product as long as they meet the required elements. Providing rubrics
that match and extend students’ varied skills levels. Allowing students to work alone or in
small groups.

Differentiating the learning environment means to differentiate the way the classroom
works and feels. For example, creating a quiet space for students who need it or
providing immediate feedback.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

Here is an example of how I differentiate writing in my Kindergarten classroom.

I will differentiate content, by providing hands-on demonstration, visuals, puppets, audios
and videos on blending sounds.
As for process, I will provide learning stations where they could work on building words
according to their levels with different tools.
I will differentiate products by providing sentence starters for students who need them
and allowing students to pick topics that interests them.
As for the learning environment, I will create a writing center for students who need the
word wall and space to write quietly.

I will show you how I differentiate writing digitally after I present the Seesaw platform.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

Now I want you to take a moment to fill out on your handout how you have differentiated
in the past according to the 4 classroom elements we discussed.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

Seesaw is a digital portfolio where teachers can assign differentiated activities. Students
can capture their learning by taking photos, recording videos, or by adding digital
creations. Everything is organized in one area for teachers and parents to view from any
device.

Here is a picture of one of my students working on CVC words on Seesaw. I was able to
assign activities according to their levels. Here is a video of what Seesaw is from both a
teacher and parent perspective.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

When implementing a digital portfolio, we are celebrating all students as learners! There
are many benefits to implementing Seesaw as a digital portfolio and learning platform
into a classroom. It helps build a home-school relationship because parents can see
their child’s learning progress. It makes it easier for teachers to highlight the process of
learning, provide better feedback and maximize formative assessment.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

By using Seesaw, you can differentiate student learning by creating and assigning
activities according to their levels and interests. Students also have options on how they
would want to demonstrate their understanding, whether it is audio recording, video
recording, drawing...the options are endless. Here is a link to one of my students
seesaw activity where she chose to record herself comparing the two books that we read
using her Venn Diagram. It allows me to quickly assess her reading comprehension and
speaking skills. This also helps students who are afraid to speak up during our
classroom discussions have a voice of their own and be heard.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

Here are a few examples of how I differentiate writing in Kindergarten using Seesaw.

For content, I still provide visuals, hands-on demonstration, audios, videos...etc but
through Seesaw. I assign specific content according to the students’ needs.
For process, I assign leveled books to specific students and then having them respond to
the writing prompt. The writing prompt varies with the levels.
For product, students can choose how they want to demonstrate their understanding by
applying their writing levels. Students can draw and label digitally, record their writing
process, type their work, take a picture of a physical writing.
For learning environment, I can provide students with a safe place to share their work, be
heard and provide them with immediate feedback.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

For differentiating digitally by content: you can provide videos, audio files, links and
visuals as part of your instructions for the activities on Seesaw.

Here is a screenshot of two of the activities I assigned my students, the first one is a
video on how to write the letter Z and the second one is a math lesson. Some students
need a visual and some might need audio. The videos I posted provide both a visual
and audio. Some of my lessons I also screencast and post it on Seesaw to make it more
hands on for the students. The students can follow along to the lessons.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

For differentiating digitally by process: you can assign different assignments for each
student according to their levels.

The picture on the left is what I communicated to the parents during our distance
learning. Leveled books were sent out to specific students. You can assign different
assignments for each student to differentiate their learning. The picture on the right is
what you (as a teacher) see when assigning lessons to your students, you can pick and
choose which student complete which assignment.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

For differentiating digitally by product: you can provide students with options on how to
demonstrate their understanding using a choice board.

One way of differentiating is allowing students to have choices on how they demonstrate
their understanding. You can create a choice board for students to choose from. Here is
an example of a Seesaw Choice Board I created to allow students to demonstrate their
understanding of subtraction up to 5. Students can either take a picture and label, draw
a picture and record their voice, or record a video of them telling a subtraction story.
This allows students to take ownership of their own learning which will increase student
engagement!

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

For differentiating digitally by learning environment: you can provide students with
immediate feedback, allow students to create activities that they are comfortable with,
but also allowing students to be heard.

Here are some photos of how as a teacher I can comment and make corrections on their
work. Students have a platform where they can be heard and not be afraid to
demonstrate their understanding.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

Now I want you to take a moment to finish your handout by filling out how you can
differentiate digitally with Seesaw.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

Here is a photo of my Seesaw class. On the right is a list of student names. Those are
the student’s portfolios. On the left, you see the feed of all the students work in your
classroom.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

We can create many fun and engaging activities. But, prior to creating an activity, here
are a few of the Seesaw icons you will need to employ frequently to create activities.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

Now let’s test your memory and see if you remember what each icon does.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

So now you know the different Seesaw tools, let’s watch a video on how to create a
Seesaw activity. Seesaw platform is easy to use, here is a video on how you can create
an activity on Seesaw.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

Now I want you to experience creating an activity! We can differentiate by process by

providing different students with a variety of activities that would support their learning
needs. Let’s say our objective is shape recognition. You can create different activities
according to what students need. You can create a worksheet for students to fill out,
have them record themselves finding shapes or take pictures of real objects representing
the different shapes. For this activity, we will create an activity where students may need
to move around and create real-life connection to shape recognition. Here is a video of
me going through the process of creating an activity.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

Here is what you will see when a student try to submit their work and a sample of what
their work might look like. As a teacher, you can approve their work to be uploaded to
their portfolio, send it back for them to fix, or delete their work.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

So now you know how to create an activity, the next step to implementing Seesaw is
getting your students accustomed to seesaw, show students how they can take pictures,
draw on it, and add audio.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

Now it is your turn to experience Seesaw as a Student. You should already have the
Seesaw app downloaded onto your device. Go ahead and click on the Seesaw App,
click on I’m a student, and then scan this QR Code.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

You will find this activity waiting for you under the activities tab, click on add response, I
want you to show me 3 seesaw ideas you can do for your class. You can choose how
you want to demonstrate your understanding however you like whether it is recording,
audio recording, drawing, or writing.

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Differentiated Learning With Seesaw

Since we are learning how to use Seesaw, please take some time to fill out my survey
via Seesaw. In the same class, click on add response to this activity, make sure you
click your name when submitting. You will use the drawing and labeling tool to complete
this survey. Thank you!

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