Nearpod’s interactive activities in the classroom have the power to add interest and excitement to everyday learning. Using digital activities such as gamification, drag and drop, drawing, matching, and collaborative discussion enhances classroom learning for all students.

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for a free Nearpod account below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

What interactive activities keep learners engaged during a lesson?

Interactive activities keep students engaged by providing a creative and collaborative learning experience. With our growing options of Drag & Drop, Draw It, Time to Climb, Matching Pairs, Collaborate Board, Quiz, Poll, and Open-Ended Questions, teachers have multiple options to meet the specific needs of the diverse learners in their classrooms.

Activity Banks offer an ever-growing collection of ready-to-use engaging activities. With 2,000+ activities available, and hundreds more being added, there’s something to meet the needs of every classroom.

Our standards-aligned activities provide comprehensive opportunities for:

• Recalling prior knowledge 
• Supporting a student’s learning progression 
• Building an understanding of essential skills 
• Collecting essential assessment data 

6 quick ways to use interactive classroom activities

1. Use gamified interactive activities

Gamification keeps students engaged and alert! Not only does friendly competition and fun gameplay lead to increased participation, but it also motivates students to dig deeper into what their learning. When used consistently, educational classroom games can increase students’ social and emotional learning skills, such as problem-solving, collaborating with peers, behavior management, and more. Teachers can also get real-time insight into how students are doing while keeping them focused and smiling.

A student-favorite interactive classroom game on Nearpod is called Time to Climb. With this activity, you can assess understanding with a gamified multiple-choice quiz where students can race to the top of a mountain with their favorite characters.

2. Demonstrate steps, labels, and sorting with interactive diagrams

Captivate learners through problem-solving and critical-thinking activities. With interactive diagrams and models, students can show their understanding of the concepts being taught. Use these classroom activities to have them create timelines, outline steps, pair labels, and sort ideas into buckets to demonstrate what they learned.

Drag & Drop activities teach concepts in a fun and engaging way. Students can sequence events in a timeline and steps in a process, label diagrams, and models, or sort properties, categories, and characteristics. You can also create your own activity by uploading a background and inputting draggable text or images. Drag & Drop activities provide students with gamified learning opportunities and increased engagement and retention. As students physically engage with concepts, learning will be transformed within an interactive classroom environment.

Here are some Drag & Drop activities you can use in your classroom:

• Sort natural and manmade resources (Grades K-2)
• Showcase steps of the life cycle of a bean (Grades 3-5)
• Add, Subtract, Multiply, & Divide Decimals (Grades 6-8)
• Identify euphemism figurative language examples (Grades 9-12)

3. Provide opportunities for creative expression

Let students express themselves creatively through drawing. This could be on a blank sheet of paper, the board, canvas, or their devices. Having students draw on their devices can address common misconceptions as they work in real time, creating a truly adaptive, interactive classroom.

Our Draw It activities provide interactive tools for students to represent problem situations and a working space in which teachers can see in real-time the progression of student thinking as they write, draw, and record their thinking processes. Draw It activities are the perfect fit for when teachers want to see work in progress. It’s one of our most used activities on Nearpod because it is easy for teachers to customize and collect student responses. You can create your own Draw It activity by creating a prompt for students, using a blank background or uploading your own, adding a reference media if you please, and then having them complete the activity on their own devices.

Here are some Draw It activities you can use in your classroom:

• Animals Preparing for Winter: (Grades K-2)
• Drawing Shapes: (Grades K-2)
• Template: Life Skills Cause & Effect (Grade K-2)

4. Prioritize classroom discussions

Encourage classroom discussions to create a rich dialogue, facilitate discussion for all student learners, and give students multiple opportunities to see how their peers solve problems and hear the language they use to describe representations. Not only will this keep your students focused, but it will also help them practice social and emotional learning skills.

How can you ensure all students are participating and can be heard? Through our Collaborate Board, students can share ideas with a larger audience as they begin their discovery on selected topics. With this activity, students can share their thoughts and ideas on an interactive digital board that’s moderated by the teacher. Teachers can support a whole class discussion while ensuring all students’ ideas are heard and considered.

Here are some Collaborate Board activities you can use in your classroom:

• Check-In (Grades 2-12)
• Which Doesn’t Belong: Reptiles & Amphibians: (Grades 1-5)
• Would You Rather: Run or Fly (Grades 3-5)
• All About Fictional Characters (Grades 6-12)

5. Matching activities for students to self-asses

It’s important for students to assess themselves to see how they’re understanding the lesson. Our Matching Pairs activities guide students in thinking through processes, demonstrate student understanding, and provide accessibility for visual learners. With this activity, students can match two cards that pair together. They are given instant feedback to allow for opportunities to self-assess and guide students in refining and revising their thinking. In the end, you’ll be able to see how many tries it took for them to get all pairs correct. Teachers can create their own Matching Pairs with just a few clicks on Nearpod and add a time limit with the timer!

Here are some Matching Pairs classroom activities:

• Match Seasons and Weather (Kindergarten)
• Internet Vocabulary Grades (K-5)
• Narrative Writing: Text Examples (Grade 6)
• Trigonometric Ratios: Matching (Grades 9-10)

6. Keep students focused by launching activities on-the-fly

Through our Quick Launch feature, teachers can add learning activities to drive adaptive teaching and differentiated, personalized instructional decision-making that accelerates learning for all. Teachers can use Quick Launch to launch an Open-Ended Question, Collaborate Board, or Timer!

Use Quick Launch for learning fun moments to create a quick exit ticket, bell ringer, or do-now. You can also consider using this for those in-the-moment sparks of inspiration or when you’re trying to get student’s attention back to a lesson.

Sign up for free to use these interactive classroom activities

Increase transformative learning in your classroom through these tips. As features and tools become more engaging, teachers have the ability to design learning experiences that are more effective, interactive, and personalized. Use Nearpod’s collection of features to create an interactive classroom where student learning comes first truly!

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for a free Nearpod account below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Jessica Clarke

Jessica Clarke is the Curriculum Manager at Nearpod.

The post 6 quick ways to use interactive classroom activities appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

While athletes vie for gold every two years in the Olympics, you can reach for gold right now—Nearpod Gold, that is! You may have started with a free Nearpod Silver subscription, but do you even know what you’re missing out on? You can upgrade your Nearpod account to Nearpod Gold for $159/year at any time to discover even more Nearpod features and benefits that you’ll love.

Teachers can sign up for free below and then upgrade to Gold to access and create interactive lessons. Or, take your Nearpod game to the highest level and experience the full power of this platform with a school or district account. Speak to your administrator about Premium Plus accounts for schools/districts!

How to get Nearpod Gold

If you don’t already have a Nearpod account, start by signing up for a free one and then simply upgrade. Once logged in, you can select the profile icon in your screen’s upper-righthand corner, then click “UPGRADE.” You will be asked to enter your payment and address information before clicking “COMPLETE PURCHASE.”

If you want to secure a Gold account today, you can use this special Nearpod Gold code to get 3 months for free: NP-BTSB24.

7 Ways to maximize teaching with Nearpod Gold

1. Integrate the Google Slides Add-On

Are you an avid user of Google Slides? With Nearpod Google Slides Add-On, you can integrate any of Nearpod’s interactive features into your Google Slides deck. We all know how hard teachers work to capture students’ attention and engage them in learning activities. With Nearpod Google Slides Add-On, you can enrich your existing slides with multimedia content and reference materials to appeal to a wide variety of learning styles. Interactive features like Draw It or Collaborate Board reinforce those active learning strategies that help support the retention of new information and bolster communication, critical thinking, and creativity skills (the 4Cs!).

Imagine how you can level up your Google Slides with this premium Nearpod feature. Take your typical slide presentation to a whole new level by adding in any of the nine different formative assessment activities or any of the Nearpod multimedia content, including virtual field reality trips. With these active learning strategies, you are sure to spark student engagement. You can even save time by leveraging the Google Slides templates for various design elements. And don’t forget to lean on Google’s collaborative feature and share these lessons with your team teachers, so that you can all can contribute and share ideas to slides across the grade or subject.

2. Use the Drag and Drop activity

Nearpod offers a suite of formative assessment activities, but one that is exclusive to Nearpod Gold and above is Drag and Drop. You can use this activity to test students’ recall and understanding. From close reading exercises to vocabulary definitions to timelines, there are many ways to use Drag and Drop across various subject areas. With Drag and Drop, students can sort, order, or label images or text sequentially or in groups. This visually rich activity encourages kids to use logic and spatial skills to label, sequence, sort, and categorize. You may want to use the activity as an anticipatory set to gauge students’ prior knowledge or as a quiz at the end of a lesson to evaluate students’ level of mastery. Did you know you can even add a background image and customize draggable items for each Drag and Drop activity? You can create your own or choose from a large library of premade activities within Nearpod:

• Math (Grades K-1) Representing the Numbers 14, 15, 16: Students will engage in practicing various methods of representing numbers using draggable objects.
• Social Studies (Grades 3-5) Locating & Identifying States: Northwestern States: Students identify the location of and label five northwestern states.
• Science (Grade 4) Labeling the Parts of a Plant: Students can practice identifying the different parts of a plant.
• English Language Arts (ELA) (Grades 6-8) Story Elements: Students will identify the story elements of a passage.
• Math (Grades 9-12) Identifying Congruent Triangles: Students will sort triangles based on their characteristics.

3. Download and create more lessons with 10x the lesson storage

Quite simply, Nearpod Gold offers 10 times the amount of storage compared to Nearpod Silver. Whether you filter or search for lessons and save them to your account library or you design your own lessons, ample storage is helpful when saving lessons rich with multimedia and interactivity. We know how precious time is for teachers, so 10 times the storage enables you to easily organize and find the content you need for your daily instruction within a couple of clicks.

Browse through the following resources and save lessons to use for your next instruction:

• Lesson guides
  • Math Lesson Guide for grades K-9
  • ELA Lesson Guide for grades K-9
  • Social Studies Lesson Guide for grades K-8
  • Science Lesson Guide for grades K-8
• Core subjects lessons
• Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trips
• Curated collections like Current Events
• Interactive videos

Then, you can drag and drop the selected content into folders, which you can (and should) rename and color-code by unit, subject, class, or month. With more than 22,000+ high-quality lessons, videos, and activities that the expert Nearpod team and trusted, leading education organizations (such as Smithsonian, ReadWorks, NASA, and PBS Kids) have created, there is a lot at your fingertips, but we want to make sure your time is well spent connecting with students instead of searching through files.

4. Launch multiple live lessons at once

If you team teach or are a grade 6-12 educator, you may be teaching multiple classes of students the same lesson throughout the day or across a given week. With Nearpod Gold, you can launch multiple codes of the same Live Lesson, and still gather class-aligned data through the Student Reports that you can find on your Teacher Dashboard. You can also still access real-time insights for a data-informed approach to teaching, which will help you pivot and tailor your instruction day over day. You’ll be able to provide authentic feedback and personalize your approach based on data from the formative assessment activities across all classes.

5. Support larger class sizes

Class sizes can vary district by district, year over year. Public schools in the U.S. have an average of 24 students per classroom, yet there are growing concerns that this number may grow due to the national teacher shortage. Although your class size may fluctuate, Nearpod Gold’s extended capacity will cover all of your students. 

With Nearpod Gold, you can add up to 40 students per lesson with an individual account or up to 250 students per lesson with a school or district subscription. Larger class sizes mean more diverse learning needs. You can leverage the various upgraded features of Nearpod Gold to better differentiate your instruction, choosing to share different lessons or focus on particular activities with different groups and classes.

6. Always be prepared with Sub Plans

Nearpod Gold also gives you access to Sub Plans—a feature that enables you to create and share your own or premade standards-aligned lesson plans to use at a moment’s notice. Why add to the stress of curating and organizing materials and resources at the last minute when you can’t be there? Share easy-to-implement lessons that a sub can use in your absence.

Simply email the Sub Plans to your substitute teacher beforehand. You can monitor the classroom’s activity remotely since you can access real-time data through the Teacher Dashboard, or you can review all of the lesson data after class time is over in the Student Reports. Find ways to create Sub Plans that are engaging yet meaningful, and encourage students to continue learning on their own even if you’re not right by their side.

7. Adjusting code expiration date

When you choose to use a Student-Paced Nearpod lesson with students, you can send the lesson using a 5-letter code. And you can share content with students’ families—think newsletters!—in the same fashion. Usually, the platform will default to having the access expire in two weeks. However, with Nearpod Gold, you can modify the expiration date. This flexibility enables you to extend a student’s learning as needed.

When crafting an authentic assessment as part of your Project-Based Learning (PBL) approach, you may realize students need more time with activities and materials. Or, you may want to provide further reinforcement and materials for students to explore on their own during a given unit of study. You may want to plan ahead and curate materials for rotation stations or provide access for students who are absent, or you may want to create open access for resources that students can repeatedly use, such as reflective journals or choice boards. There are many reasons for wanting to extend access beyond two weeks, and Nearpod Gold provides that flexibility.

Upgrade to Nearpod Gold

Go for gold … Nearpod Gold! You can find the upgrade option by clicking on your account settings in the upper right-hand corner of your screen and following the prompts. As you use the next couple of months to prepare for another banner year, consider how Nearpod Gold can help you and your students start off the new school year successfully. If you have any questions or would like to see a demo of some of the premium features, don’t hesitate to reach out to our team to learn more!

Teachers can sign up for free below and then upgrade to Gold to access and create interactive lessons. Or, take your Nearpod game to the highest level and experience the full power of this platform with a school or district account. Speak to your administrator about Premium Plus accounts for schools/districts!

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post 7 Ways to maximize teaching with Nearpod Gold appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Collaborative learning is all about coming together with others to understand a concept or work on a common task. In the classroom, collaboration is a great way to practice life skills that students can take into the future. Classroom communities often reflect a smaller version of a future workplace or project where students must work together on a joint task.

Use Nearpod’s Collaborate Board for collaborative learning

With Nearpod’s Collaborate Board, teachers have an opportunity to connect technology with pedagogy in the classroom. Students work to understand how their individual thoughts, ideas, and contributions fit into a larger shared collection of thoughts in Nearpod. Whether you are new to Nearpod or an experienced user, an individual feature like Collaborate Board can offer many unique ways to bring student-centered discussions to life.

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

5 Ways to create collaborative learning experiences in the classroom

1. Make collaborative classroom discussions part of every lesson

Classroom discussions in any subject are an essential part of the learning process for students. Discussions are an opportunity to brainstorm creative ideas, put students at the center of their learning, learn from peers, and develop critical thinking skills.

When discussions happen in the classroom, students are at the center of learning. They listen to and learn from their peers while actively absorbing knowledge from each other’s thoughts. Additionally, discussions emphasize the need and importance of multiple and different perspectives.

However, most students don’t naturally engage in discussion around academic content that builds their understanding of something they’re learning. Sometimes students choose not to participate in a traditional classroom discussion. When students aren’t engaged in classroom discussions, they aren’t benefiting from the critical thinking and problem-solving skills of their peers.

With Nearpod’s Collaborate Board, student-centered discussions merge with technology to ensure students have a platform where it’s easier than ever for their ideas to be heard, shared, and developed. Using technology to support discussions helps all students develop the confidence to participate, which broadens the different perspectives and ideas all students are exposed to in the classroom.

Teachers use Collaborate Board to pre-assess students’ knowledge of a new concept they’re about to learn, check in on students’ well-being, and foster a sense of community around academic learning. Collaborate Board provides students with even more opportunities to build confidence around discussions in the classroom. Just add a question for students to respond to and let them take charge of their own learning.

2. Keep feedback at the center of classroom discussions

Discussions are most beneficial when students receive feedback on their contributions. Student-centered feedback is especially effective. Feedback and ongoing conversation during a collaborative learning discussion help students develop skills like learning to agree and disagree respectfully, leadership skills, and social skills and allow them to learn and grow from each other.

In today’s classroom, students are engaging with technology more than ever, and digital citizenship skills are especially important. Learning social and interpersonal skills in the digital world can be especially challenging. Still, with student-centered technology like Collaborate Board, teachers can support students and model how to recognize ideas, cooperate, and share appropriately. Teachers can even model how a student’s idea may change someone’s perspective, helping to create a safe environment and boost confidence in the classroom. To take cooperative learning a step further, split students into groups and assign roles for team building games such as scavenger hunts or role playing to practice social skills.

Students can provide feedback on each other’s posts on a Collaborate Board with hearts. Teachers with a School or District Premium Plus license can allow their students to comment on each other’s posts, bringing even further development to classroom ideas and higher-level thinking skills. This feature ensures that discussions brought into Nearpod don’t end at individual contributions. Instead, those initial posts and thoughts from students can change and grow over the course of a discussion with additional input from their peers.

3. Make collaborative learning visible

Visual learning helps students break down information into manageable pieces that are easier for them to understand. Classroom discussions are often not visual. However, when you can connect technology to a classroom discussion, teachers have the opportunity to give visual purpose to every discussion and reach visual learners.

Collaborate Board helps students collect and share thoughts or information all in one spot, making it easier for every learner to track the discussion and digest the information. When students learn in ways they like and understand, students are more likely to engage, pay attention, and be motivated to participate. Making learning visual in a discussion will also increase students’ interest in that subject matter which leads to long-term retention and makes communication easier and quicker.

4. Collaborate and contribute in multiple formats

In a traditional classroom discussion, students raise their hands and participate by talking. It can be difficult to hear from every student and increase participation in a method that only some students may feel confident using. When integrated with technology, students can participate in multiple ways. Providing multiple media formats values everyone’s contributions to the class. It helps personalize student learning and can even boost comprehension for students. 

Collaborate Board allows all users to share their thoughts with more than just a text or image post. Students can record an audio response, upload a video responding to a discussion, or even post a GIF to support your collaborative teaching initiatives.

In order to get all students actively engaged and collaborating in a classroom, students need their different needs met. Some students may require specific scaffolds or support. Collaborate Boards allow teachers to add new reference media to support student understanding. Teachers can provide a web link, video, PDF, an audio file, or image with their discussion question as a way to ensure all learners can access the information or have the support they need to engage confidently in a discussion. Consider trying problem-based learning by setting up group work opportunities for think-pair-share and encouraging team members to discuss a specific topic.

5. Build community and social emotional skills

Each classroom’s community is representative of the types of communities students will find themselves in as adults. Building a strong sense of community in class will help set up students for success when collaborating and building those life skills they’ll take into the next stages of life.

Collaboration helps build relationships by allowing students to access diverse viewpoints, acknowledge their peers’ differences without critique, and create safe, comfortable learning spaces. When students are in a learning community, they build interpersonal skills that allow them to work with all types of people. Engaging in culture-building and social emotional learning activities further enhances students’ ability to develop empathy, emotional intelligence, and effective communication within their learning communities.

Collaborate Board can be used at any point in the classroom to not only facilitate academic and collaborative learning strategies but to build community at the same time while practicing academic skills. We encourage teachers to use opportunities to collaborate in every lesson and ensure every student’s voice or perspective is heard during discussions. Create active learning experiences for team teaching with these collaborative learning activities.

Start using Collaborate Board

Technology only makes collaboration easier in the classroom by giving students multiple ways to collaborate and the supportive tools to make it happen. It brings so many benefits to 21st-century skills students will take anywhere in life. Using Collaborate Board will help nurture responsible citizens with global perspectives who can collaborate to solve real-world problems. Here at Nearpod, we can’t wait to see how working together in the classroom creates a better learning experience and positively impacts student achievement!

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post 5 Ways to create collaborative learning experiences in the classroom appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

What is Nearpod for Canvas?

Canvas is an LMS that helps to gather all the tools together so students and teachers can easily access them – think of it as a custom one-stop shop. If your school or district uses Canvas already, you can save your teachers and students time by integrating your Nearpod account. The four tips below will help you get started and learn how to add Nearpod to Canvas.

How to add Nearpod to Canvas: 4 tips for integrating

1. Install Nearpod LTI 1.3 for Canvas

Nearpod is LTI (Learning Tool Interoperability) Advantage certified, which is an interoperability standard that allows institutions to create a technology ecosystem where different products can “speak” or communicate with each other. This communication is key, whether products are being used in the classroom, for distance learning, or in a hybrid scenario. You will need to have a Nearpod School or District license to access Nearpod LTI.

Nearpod’s LTI 1.3 (the latest) for Canvas includes:

• Single sign-on
• Assignment linking (deep linking)
• Canvas SpeedGrader – manual grading
• Support of all Nearpod school and district setup configurations
• Support of all Nearpod rostering options

2. Create a home base

Schools and districts can maximize their Canvas investment by showcasing how Nearpod seamlessly integrates. You can embed and assign live and student-paced lessons and videos into Canvas. Students then click on the shared link to access the shared lesson. You and your students will appreciate the ease of accessing resources curated into one centralized hub.

How to add a Nearpod assignment to Canvas

1. From the left navigation menu, click on Assignment.
2. In the top right corner, click on + Assignment.
3. Scroll down to Submission type, and from the drop-down menu, select External Tool.
4. Click on Find.
5. From the modal that appears, find Nearpod (LTI 1.3).
6. Sign in to your Nearpod account if you have not already done so. 
7. Select the Nearpod delivery type from the lesson you want to add to this assignment, Live Participation or Student-Paced.
8. Complete the Canvas assignment details and click Save & Publish when ready.

3. Track and grade student progress

With Canvas, teachers can input, manage, and share grades with students via the Canvas Gradebook. You can sort through students and/or assignments to reflect on your next instructional steps.

Via Gradebook, you can access Canvas’s SpeedGrader to gain real-time insights into students’ understanding. SpeedGrader displays students’ submissions, and you can provide feedback via annotations. You can grade submissions using a simple point scale or a comprehensive rubric. Students will be able to see their own reports in “Submission Details.”

You can access the SpeedGrader through the Assignments or Grade areas. Click below to view step-by-step instructions for both ways.

4. Seek out professional growth opportunities

Make sure that you and your colleagues are up to date on the latest and greatest features that Nearpod’s integration with Canvas includes. Consider creating a teaching cohort, as Cleburne Independent School District in Texas did, so that all teachers can see the ease of use and share best practices.

“We wanted to make sure from the instructional technology side that we were creating an actual cohort, where we could help teachers grow during the process.”

– Tracy Shea, instructional technology & district multimedia specialist

5. Showcase the results

Share with your stakeholders the ways in which you are enriching students’ learning experiences with tech. Tout the ways in which you are creating continuous student engagement through Nearpod’s integration with Canvas. As referenced earlier, Cleburne ISD leveraged Nearpod’s integration with Canvas to transform its practices and build a strong culture of digital citizenship within and across its schools.

Start using Canvas with Nearpod now

Take advantage of how edtech companies like Nearpod and Canvas collaborate so that their platforms can support one another in making teachers’ instruction more efficient, engaging, and effective for students. Consider speaking with your district or school’s tech lead to see what needs to happen for your Nearpod account to integrate with your Canvas account!

Admins: Interested in Nearpod for your school or district? Schedule a call to access these integrations and so much more!

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post Tips for integrating Nearpod with Canvas LMS appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

How to use Student-Paced mode on Nearpod

1. Choose an interactive lesson from the Nearpod lesson library or create your own. They’ll all be saved under “My Lessons.”
2. Hover your mouse over the lesson cover. Click on “Student-Paced.” This will launch the lesson and create a code. (TIP: Once you create a code, you can no longer edit the lesson, so make sure your lesson is ready. If edits need to be made afterward, you will lose the first code and must create a new one.)
3. Add an expiration date for the new code generated if needed.
4. Click on the new code and select “Share” to view sharing options.
5. If you don’t want students to skip ahead through the lesson without completing the activities, toggle on “Require student responses and prevent skipping.”
6. Share the code with students, and have them type it on Nearpod. You can also share the link, embed the lesson, or use your learning management system (LMS) to give them access.
7. Follow students along in real-time by clicking on “View Progress.”

6 Genius ways to use Student-Paced Nearpod lessons

1. Duplicate to differentiate

Differentiation can be intimidating, but the hard part shouldn’t be delivering differentiated content to your students. To easily administer differentiated instruction or practice, you can leverage Nearpod’s Student-Paced mode to enhance your classroom differentiation.

Offering several adaptions of a lesson is #TeacherGoals, for example, baseline, remediation, and enrichment lessons. Nearpod has 22,000+ pre-made standards-aligned customizable lessons. Use the filter in the lesson library to search lessons by subject, resource, grade, and standards. The best part is: once you download your Nearpod lesson, you can edit it!

Nearpod offers the option to ‘Duplicate’ each lesson. Consider duplicating and adapting your lessons to meet the remediation and enrichment needs of your students.

Launch multiple versions of your lesson with different Student-Paced codes to host student conferences or work in small groups. To explain directions or provide more context about the content, watch a video using Front of Class mode and then have students split into groups.

2. Reports to identify prior knowledge

A difficult concept of differentiation is identifying the variety of student levels based on prior knowledge. An added layer of difficulty is completing this on time. Consider giving a Student-Paced pre-assessment lesson at the start of your lesson, then access reports immediately to identify areas where students need remediation or enriched content.

Nearpod’s Post-Session Reports allow you to access student data from the lesson. You can also use the Teacher Dashboard during the lesson to see responses in real time. Now, you’ve eliminated the need to take papers home to grade that night and assign differentiated lessons the next day. With Nearpod’s easy-to-read reports, you can immediately group students into the appropriate Student-Paced lesson & centers.

3. Skill and Drill Centers

Create a Nearpod Student-Paced lesson built off Skill and Drill practices. Skill and Drill is very similar to memorization, but it involves repetition of specific skills, such as addition and subtraction or spelling. To be meaningful to learners, the skills should become the building blocks for more meaningful learning.

Set up Student-Paced Nearpod centers. Create a competition with your students, engage them, and reward them. If your student can learn, master skills, and have fun. You’re off to a great start!

Consider kicking this off with a Nearpod Time to Climb Student-Paced activity. Nearpod has premade interactive activities for Matching Pairs, Draw It, Drag and Drop, and more! Reduce lesson planning time and use these activities in your centers.

4. Student choice boards

Choice boards have become extremely popular with students because students choose how they will learn a concept. Teachers love this technique because choice boards keep students more engaged.

Inside each choice on the choice board, provide a Student-Paced code for a unique lesson.

How to set up a student choice board:

1. Select a topic to focus on and decide what element of choice you want to provide (Rigor? Depth of knowledge? Type of practice?).
2. Create multiple lessons, tasks, or activities aligned with these choices.
3. Arrange the activities on the board (You can write or link the Nearpod code directly on your choice board!).
4. Have students choose tasks to complete (I like to have them choose either adjacent or diagonal tasks, like a tic-tac-toe board).

5. Classroom or school newsletter

Communicate with your parents by leveraging a Nearpod Student-Paced newsletter. Fill your newsletter with information and a variety of activities. Gather data from your audience along the way.

Here are some ways to use Nearpod for your Parent Newsletter:

• Poll: Identify parent volunteers for special events
• Open-Ended Question: Ask for feedback for improvement
• Collaborate Board: Open the door for parents to collaborate with one another and share ideas

By utilizing a Nearpod Newsletter, parents also have the opportunity to see what their child’s classroom experience is like. This is a very powerful and transparent approach. You can also empower your students to help their parents use Nearpod, too!

6. Flipped Classroom / Flipped Faculty Meeting

Share codes with your students to complete the lesson either in or outside of the classroom. Students can access these lessons at any time for content review or find resources. As an administrator, coach, or in a leadership role, consider using this approach when presenting content to your teachers. Provide a Student-Paced code to view before a faculty meeting. Now, you can spend more time collaboratively working together and having rich discussions instead of spending the majority of the time teaching content.

Start using Nearpod for free!

Nearpod’s Student-Paced feature opens up so many possibilities for using Nearpod in your classroom. Utilizing both Student-Paced and live participation lessons, your students’ engagement and achievement will soar. So, are you looking to give Student-Paced lessons a try yet? Test drive one of these suggestions and see the benefits for yourself!

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Katie Micallef

Katie is a Personalized Learning Leader in Volusia County Schools. She helps teachers incorporate educational technology into their curriculum. She believes that students deserve an instructional practice that resonates with their daily lives, and that includes the utilization of technology. She is on a mission to promote the endless benefits that edtech can have on 21st century instructional practices.

The post 6 Genius ways to use Student-Paced Nearpod lessons appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

An introduction to Nearpod lessons

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Join us for Camp Engage: Back to School!

Join us for Camp Engage on July 25-27th! This FREE virtual professional development event is designed to provide educators with engaging, high-quality learning experiences, led by experts in the field. Our sessions are crafted to offer practical insights and strategies, ensuring immediate impact in the classroom.

Whether you’re new to Nearpod, a seasoned expert, or interested in learning, everyone is welcome to join!

What you need to know before creating a Nearpod lesson

As you begin creating lessons for students, it is important to understand Nearpod’s features. Interactive slides are broken down into three major categories:

Creation media

Slides, Sways, and Slideshows hold the essential content to guide your learners through the interactive lesson. The most common content media educators use is slides.

Dynamic media

Incorporate 3D objects, Simulations, and VR Field Trips to breathe life into your content, fostering a deeper understanding.

Interactive activities

Engage your students with captivating activities like Time to Climb, Draw It, Open-Ended Questions, and Collaborate Boards, which capture the pivotal moments of learning.

How to create a lesson on Nearpod

Our Lesson Builder features a user-friendly design familiar to those who have experience with tools like PowerPoint or Google Slides.

Step 1: Launch the Lesson Builder

Click on “Create” and select “Lesson” to launch the Lesson Builder.

Step 2: Choose your slides

Select “Slides” from the Activity Selector. The Slide Editor offers a variety of pre-designed templates and layout features, enabling you to curate content slides for your lessons. Unleash your creative style in text boxes, leveraging rich-text capabilities and the Nearpod Equation Editor. Layer images, GIFs, and even your own audio directly onto slides. Create your content even faster using the new quick add slide button!

Step 3: Incorporate interactive media and activities

Click “Add New” to continue adding Dynamic Media and Activities, to finish building your interactive lesson.

Include activities from the Nearpod lesson library to customize your lesson using the Activity Bank. With thousands of pre-made Time to Climb quizzes and Matching Pairs, Drag and Drop, and Draw It activities, teachers can easily customize any lesson in Nearpod with standards-aligned activities.

Step 4: Input lesson details to stay organized

Click on “Lesson Details” to give your lesson a title, provide a description for the lesson, and tag the lesson with relevant grade levels and subjects. This metadata enhances searchability, making it easier to find and share your lessons.

Step 5: Launch and observe the magic

Launch your lesson in either Live Participation or Student-Paced modes and see the impact of Nearpod in action!

Tips for creating your own Nearpod lesson

As you design interactive lessons for students, here are some tips to get you started!

Tip #1: Use the lesson library for inspiration

It can be difficult knowing where to start when building lessons for your students. Nearpod’s curriculum team comprises former educators who design lessons around the latest research into active learning strategies, such as the 5 E’s Model and Guided Inquiry. Filter the Nearpod Library by grade level, subject, or state standards to discover new ways to approach your content. You can even copy and paste library resource content directly into your lessons!

Tip #2: Use what you already have

We know you already have amazing resources in other formats. Use the Upload Slides feature to quickly upload your PowerPoints and Google Slides into Nearpod, transforming them from static presentations to lessons for your students. You can even use worksheets for Draw It or Drag and Drop activities. Learn more about how to convert your existing presentations into a Nearpod lesson.

Tip #3: Enhance your Google Slides with the Nearpod Add-On

If you prefer to “Nearpodize” your existing Google Slides while working within the familiar Slides tool set, Gold, Platinum, and School or District users can integrate Nearpod activities and dynamic media content directly with the Nearpod add-on! With the Nearpod Slides add-on, your embedded hyperlinks stay active, and Microsoft Immersive Reader will be able to read all the text on your Slides to support all learners. Learn more about integrating your Nearpod lessons in Google Slides.

Already have access to a free Nearpod account? Click below to upgrade to Gold!

Tip #4: Organize ALL of your digital resources in one space

As we incorporate technology into our classrooms, it is easy to lose students to an array of open tabs. Direct students to specific websites, district curricular resources, or collaborative learning experiences with Google or Microsoft tools quickly and easily, using Nearpod’s Web Content feature. Using Web Content, all of those links can be easily integrated directly into your interactive lessons, ensuring you and your students are always on the same page. Learn more about enhancing your lessons with Web Content.

Tip #5: Combine dynamic media and activities

When creating lessons, it is important to remember all of the magic you have available to you in Nearpod. VR Field Trips, PhET Simulations, and 3D objects help the learning come to life. But did you know that you can easily pair that dynamic media content with one of Nearpod’s activities to truly make student thinking visible?

• Combine several VR Field Trips for a compare and contrast interactive classroom activity. Students can explore the various locations and then use a Collaborate Board to discuss or even debate their findings with their peers.
• Add a blank Draw It after a Simulation for students to upload their discoveries. First, they experience the simulation and then take a screenshot of their work. They can upload their image and then annotate right on top of it to explain what they have uncovered. 
• Create a Drag & Drop activity to label the parts of a cell using a screenshot of a 3D object. Students can explore the cell in their browser and then demonstrate their understanding by correctly labeling the various parts they have seen.

Start creating lessons on Nearpod

Whether you are using pre-made lessons from the Nearpod Library, enhancing your own materials, or even working directly in Google Slides, Nearpod makes it easy to create lessons for your students’ learning needs.

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post How to create interactive lessons for students with Nearpod appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

According to an ESSA Level II study, CAASPP scores for math achievement demonstrated significant improvements among students who utilized Nearpod compared to those who did not, across various grade levels:

• 8th graders exhibited higher scores: 2516 compared to 2486.
• 6th graders also showed improved scores: 2501 compared to 2483.
• Additionally, 6th graders with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) displayed enhanced scores: 2424 compared to 2393.

These findings highlight Nearpod’s positive impact on math academic outcomes across different student demographics, making it an ideal platform for a powerful supplemental math curriculum program.

Find the right supplemental resource for your instructional need

Full lesson experience

We know that half the battle in schools right now is finding top-quality resources for teaching and evaluating supplemental programs effectively. Resources need to be flexible enough for teachers to make their own, while still remaining rigorous, engaging, and differentiated to meet the needs of all students in their class. Nearpod Math allows teachers to support their instruction with a standards-based lesson, digitized in a ready-to-teach, problem-based format that keeps students at the forefront of instruction. These lessons provide warm-ups to get students thinking about the standard and topic of the day, then lead to exploration and practice through interactive activities and collaboration with classmates.

Always on the hunt for more

We also know that core instruction may not always be enough to meet the needs of all learners. Teachers likely need more for any given topic, and we’ve got them covered. Find opportunities to practice, reteach, and extend lessons, as well as videos and activities specifically aligned to the standard or topic within you’re working on. These supporting resources allow teachers to highlight a key concept by using a mini-lesson for small groups, showing a short video, or assigning additional practice opportunities in the form of a Time to Climb, Matching Pairs, Drag & Drop, Draw It, or one of our new virtual math manipulatives activities. All of these resources are conveniently organized in one place to help teachers maximize their limited time available to plan instruction.

Confidence-boosting math experiences engage every learner

The role model approach: Math is for me!

Too often, we find students unable to relate to the math classroom. Nearpod Math provides access to role models throughout the offering that look and think like typical math students across the nation. We built a character crew that grows and learns with the students across their K-8 math instruction journey. Through our Oh Now I Get It video series, these relatable characters demonstrate common misconceptions that may occur in the math classroom to clarify their understanding. These characters also walk students through relevant and authentic real-world connections through our Math in Action video series. We are excited for Sammy, Jaden, Willow, and all of their classmates to boost math experiences and engage every learner.

Building conceptual understanding

Our new virtual math manipulatives provide students with a scaffold to solve problems using Color Tiles, Base 10 Blocks, Algebra Tiles, and Fraction Tiles. Teachers are able to use our pre-made activities or make one on the spot to address a specific problem and drive conceptual understanding for students who may need additional support. Teachers can see the student solving in real-time, share student work in real-time, and allow individuals to model their thinking with the whole class. This helps peers become math role models for one another and demonstrate their understanding.

Reducing pressure and anxiety amplifies student voice

With the power of Nearpod, teachers truly have the ability to amplify student voice and hear from every student on every question. This reduces anxiety and allows students to practice without fear or judgment of being wrong. We intentionally integrated opportunities for student collaboration through interactive activities and discussions. With our Live to Student-Paced feature, teachers can release students to complete math activities at their own pace and monitor their progress in real-time. This removes the pressure that the class is waiting for “me” to finish while supporting the students who are able to move swiftly through more practice problems. Teachers decide what’s next because they know their students best.

Teachers drive the path

Flexibility is key when using supplemental resources. With Nearpod Math, teachers get access to high-quality resources that can be customized to meet their unique classroom needs. Not only can teachers edit, remove, or add to the existing Nearpod resources, but they also can create or upload their own to further support small groups, whole-class, reteaching, or enrichment opportunities!

Confident next steps after every turn 

Teaching math is complicated. Nearpod assists teachers in managing classroom behavior by facilitating engaging lessons while supporting teachers in addressing misconceptions before they start. Nearpod Math experiences are rich with real-time student insights, a live teacher dashboard, exclusive content, and on-the-fly instructional tools such as live annotation so teachers can intervene at the moment. Forget the days of teachers reviewing 150+ exit slips a day to adapt tomorrow’s instruction and start seeing where kids are so you can make adjustments in the moment.

Boost student confidence with Nearpod Math

Powered by Nearpod Premium Plus, Nearpod Math is available to schools and districts seeking to solve the “experience gap” found in other supplemental math programs. The program helps your teachers bring 21st-century skills to impact student learning each and every day.  Want to take a deeper look into the features that support boosting student confidence in math?

Pamela Villalba

Pamela Villalba is a Senior Curriculum Manager at Nearpod. She previously served as the Director of Secondary Curriculum and Instruction at a large urban school district in Central Florida where she led a team of content experts to support over 60 middle and high schools in the areas of professional development, school support, and curriculum within all core subjects. Pamela is currently in charge of supporting Nearpod in creating an innovative offering to support Math teachers across the nation.

The post 6 reasons your school’s math instruction needs Nearpod Math appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Why use virtual field trips in the classroom?

Through VR field trips, we can take students around the world and create authentic, real-world learning experiences while boosting student engagement in learning and sparking curiosity! As we look for activities and tools to keep students engaged, it is the perfect opportunity to explore emerging technologies like augmented and virtual reality. Give students the chance to interact with the content they are studying in a more meaningful way and move them from consumers to creators with these virtual field trips for kids. This not only helps increase student engagement but also leads to higher student achievement.

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for a free Nearpod account below to access these standards-aligned activities and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Top 10 Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trips for Students

Explore these ten virtual reality field trips from Nearpod and take your students on an immersive learning journey! I chose these VR trips because they enable students to explore different cultures, build global awareness, and develop social emotional learning (SEL) skills in the process. We can use these VR field trips for all grade levels and content areas. As a language teacher, I love the VR field trips to Spanish-speaking countries, which enable students to explore closely on their own, ask questions, become curious, and develop a more significant global and cultural awareness. Rather than simply looking at pictures in a book, watching videos, or reading about these places and things, with Nearpod’s interactive virtual field trips, we put the learning right in our students’ hands.

Here are 10 virtual fields trips you can use for any subject and grade level! No virtual reality headsets are needed!

1. Explore shapes using the Eiffel Tower

In this lesson, students visit the Eiffel Tower to learn about two-dimensional shapes in three-dimensional objects. The VR Feature allows them to see a 360 of the Eiffel Tower and the city of Paris! Connect their VR experiences back to math instruction by having them complete a drawing assessment called Draw It and other activities.

2. Calculate interest using a castle

In this lesson, students experience VR travel by visiting a castle in the Netherlands to calculate interest payments. Pair this activity with a math unit about calculating interest. Have students explore the castle, followed by a Draw It activity where they can practice their problem-solving skills with a word problem. They can show their work and highlight their final answer within the Draw It tool. In real-time, you’ll be able to view student progress as they draw and complete the activity.

3. See evolution on Galapagos

In this lesson, students will visit several islands in the Galapagos to learn more about evolution. You can explore a variety of free virtual field trips for students in the Galapagos. Have them observe the ecosystems and make inferences through an Open-Ended Question on why these islands are considered the best place in the world to observe evolution by natural selection.

4. Discover ecosystems

Most of us go about our daily lives not thinking about the resources we use or whether those resources will ever run out. This lesson explores the carrying capacity of resources on a small scale that affects the larger scale as we explore various ecosystems. In this VR trip activity, students can select resources found on an island, estimate their longevity, and identify limits for capacity. This lesson also includes a Collaborate Board where students can discuss their survival strategy.

5. Tour the social-emotional world

Social emotional skills play a crucial role in a person’s success, both socially and academically. In this VR lesson, students will explore self-determination, communication skills, leadership, and creative problem-solving. This lesson includes various interactive Nearpod activities, as well as a video about how to feel motivated and empowered accompanying the virtual field trips.

6. World cultures and globalization

In this lesson, students will explore world cultures and cultural diffusions. They explore sites around the world, looking for similarities between these cultures and their own through a virtual tour. They will also consider the impact and role of globalization.

7. Travel through the United States

In this Nearpod VR mini-lesson on world geography and culture, students travel to the US to learn key facts about the United States and explore some American locations. Students compare and contrast the United States with their own country. If your students live in the U.S., this is a fun way to dive deeper into exploring important locations that students haven’t or have visited using VR field trips.

8. Inspect ancient empires

In this VR lesson, students learn about the world’s great empires as they explore the ancient ruins of Egypt, Greece, China, and the Inca Empire via virtual reality and make predictions about values and daily life at the time. Students can discuss and share their thoughts using the Collaborate Board and Open-Ended Questions included in the lesson.

9. Bring characters to life

In this VR trip lesson, students will learn about the role characters can play in a story and the key components of creating a relatable character. Students will craft characters of their own using inspiration from virtual field trips of animal ecosystems. They can explore different sites all around the world and write about their favorites. Assign this to students for independent work with Student-Paced Mode or synchronously with the class by launching a live lesson.

10. Wander through nature and write poetry

In this VR lesson, students will strengthen their poetry skills as they learn how authors use sensation and emotion in poems. Students will explore various scenes through virtual reality experiences as inspiration for writing their own poetry.

Use these virtual reality field trips for students

We have an opportunity to innovate and re-imagine learning as we bring new ideas into our classrooms. Using Nearpod immerses students in different learning experiences or traveling with VR trips, especially during hybrid or distance learning. Nearpod is excellent for assessing students and creating more interactive and engaging lessons that spark curiosity by bringing virtual reality into the classroom! Remember, no VR headsets are needed to use these interactive experiences. Using virtual reality travel experiences as a hook into a lesson makes a difference for students and can be a great way to promote some conversation. Get started by choosing one of the top ten VR field trips and take your students on a VR field trip today!

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for a free Nearpod account below to access these standards-aligned activities and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Rachelle Dene Poth

Rachelle is an edtech consultant, attorney, author, and Spanish and STEAM Emerging Technology teacher. She is an ISTE Certified Educator and former president of the ISTE Teacher Education Network. She is the author of five books available at bit.ly/pothbooks. Rachelle is passionate about education!

rdene915.com/

The post Top 10 Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trips for Students appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Combining powerful education tech tools, like Nearpod and Flocabulary, to do more than either one can separately do is not a new concept. App smashing is “the process of developing content on multiple digital applications and then integrating or ‘smashing’ them together in order to create a richer, innovative digital product.” (Brenner & Hauser, 2015). App smashing can also increase the efficiency of using multiple edtech tools in the classroom. With an average of 42 tools used by an individual teacher in a classroom, it is more important than ever to use the tools in the most effective way possible.

What are the benefits of using Nearpod and Flocabulary together?

When you consider the platforms and the content available with Nearpod and Flocabulary, it becomes clear that each tool contributes to powerful learning in its own way.

Nearpod, at its core, is a robust, multi-purpose instructional platform that transforms instruction from direct teaching into an interactive, two-way learning experience that drives results. It has the functionality to bring most, if not all, of your instructional resources together for an efficient delivery. This can increase instruction by decreasing the time needed to move between tools, so you avoid losing students between tabs.

Flocabulary, on its own, accelerates learning and academic vocabulary of Tier 2 and Tier 3 words through rigorous and authentically engaging learning experiences centered on video-based lessons. Using a tiered word system helps teachers and students focus on the words they need to be successful in the academic space.

Dr. Laura Rigolosi, Curriculum & Literacy Specialist at the Center for Professional Education of Teachers, references Dr. Isabel Beck’s work when she describes the tiers as follows.

“Tier 1 words are basic words that students typically know, unless they are an ELL, and in that case they may need to be taught that word. Tier 1 words include: computer, sunlight, coffee, sleep, etc.

Tier 2 words are those that are often used in classrooms and extend beyond one particular subject area, including: analyze, tweak, estimate, determine—words in that academic arena.

Tier 3 words are highly specific for each content area, and are housed within a particular subject. Examples of Tier 3 words include: parabola, hypotenuse, simile, monarchy, osmosis, etc.”

Through the Flocabulary video, students have a first introduction to a set of vocabulary words in a given context. Flocabulary’s memorable and rigorous activities then allow students to have multiple exposures and practice opportunities to apply their learning.

The two platforms, Nearpod and Flocabulary, can significantly impact learning all by themselves, but have you ever wondered what might be possible if these tools were used together in creative ways?

How to add Flocabulary to Nearpod

Nearpod lessons can easily house activities from any other platform using the Web Content option. But adding a link is just the beginning. Imagine one of your favorite Flocabulary activities as part of your best Nearpod lesson, or finding an entire lesson in Nearpod that is built around a Flocabulary video. These are just a few of the ideas we consider as we explore how to bring Nearpod and Flocabulary together.

How to find Flocabulary lessons on Nearpod

Additionally, you can explore Flocabulary lessons in the Nearpod Lesson Library. Search “Flocabulary” and filter lessons by grade level, subject, and type. To view lessons only, click on “Lessons” at the top of the screen. If you have a Flocabulary account, you can access various lessons, videos, and activities. If you don’t have access to Flocabulary, check out these unlocked lessons! Keep reading to explore how Nearpod and Flocabulary can be combined to deepen the learning experience.

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod and Flocabulary. Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons on Nearpod. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod and Flocabulary for schools and districts.

How to combine the power of Nearpod and Flocabulary

1. Topic Sparks and Literacy Across Media lessons

Prebuilt and editable lessons are always a teacher’s go-to resource when things get busy during the school year when faced with unfamiliar new content, or when the ideas are just not flowing to create something new. The stellar Nearpod and Flocabulary content creators collaborate to create two sets of lessons that strategically combine the superpowers of each platform. Each lesson includes instructional content wrapped around a high-quality hip-hop based video. These lesson series are called Topic Spark lessons and Literacy Across Media lessons.

Topic Spark lessons are 25- to 30-minute learning experiences that feature a Flocabulary video and best-loved Nearpod features, such as a Collaborate Board to continue the discussion or a Draw It to build on the creativity from the video.  These lessons are designed to introduce students to new topics, provide an opportunity for review, or be used in stations or blended learning classrooms.

Here are some of our favorite sample lessons!

• Active Listening (Grades 4-8)
• Statue of Liberty (Grades K-3)

Literacy Across Media lessons are 45- to 60-minute learning experiences that use Nearpod features in conjunction with a Flocabulary video to build content knowledge and apply literacy skills to multiple types of media. These lessons are designed to provide rigorous, grade-level differentiated instruction, encourage critical thinking, support culturally responsive learning environments, and focus on one section of a Flocabulary video for close reading and analysis.

Here are some of our favorite unlocked lessons!

• Location, Latitude, and Longitude (Grades 4-5)
• Intro to Long Division (Grades 4-5)

2. Embed Flocabulary videos

The most famous component of any Flocabulary lesson is the video, especially if you’re interested in learning how to add Flocabulary to Nearpod! The video, on its own, provides students with an opportunity for a memorable learning experience that can be used to introduce new topics and the academic vocabulary words that are key to unlocking the content.

An effective practice when using a video in a lesson, especially with Flocabulary videos, is to play it uninterrupted. The first time, allow it to play straight through to simply enjoy the media and take in some of the initial learning. Then play the video again, with either a specific purpose for watching or with embedded questions using the Nearpod Interactive Video tool to check for understanding with open-ended and multiple-choice questions.

Adding formative assessments directly in the video allows students to have a moment to pause and focus on a specific vocabulary word or part of the content to make a lasting connection in their learning. Utilizing an Open-Ended Question specifically can move beyond a check for understanding. Crafting a well-worded question will encourage students to connect the new information to previous learning or push them to consider how it might apply to future work. Another idea would be to use the Open-ended question to prompt students to create or share questions they might have instead of answering one. Asking thoughtful questions is a critical thinking skill that will raise students’ levels of thinking.

All Flocabulary videos can be added to any Nearpod lesson in two ways with access to school/district accounts on both platforms. Having these options available through the Nearpod platform makes the transition between videos efficient and requires minimal movement between tabs and platforms, limiting the loss of instruction time that can occur when there are multiple logins and passwords.

Add videos from the Nearpod library

You can find your favorite Flocabulary video in Nearpod through the Interactive Video option when building a lesson, or by searching the Nearpod library for video content from Flocabulary. Flocabulary videos from the Nearpod library have comprehension and discussion questions already embedded in the video to create a more interactive experience.

Add Flocabulary lessons as Web Content

Another method to incorporate a Flocabulary video is by directly embedding it into the Nearpod lesson as Web Content using the lesson URL. When utilizing this approach, the Flocabulary video will open within the Flocabulary platform, granting students the ability to adjust the playback speed and access the lyrics. Unlike the previous method, this video will not contain embedded questions and can be played continuously without interruptions.

3. The Flocabulary lesson sequence

Switch up the Flocabulary sequence as you bring the activities from the lesson sequence into a Nearpod lesson. Add individual activities supporting a different lesson for additional vocabulary review, a creative introduction, or a quick assessment. You can re-create these activities using Nearpod or simply embed the URL of the Flocabulary activity using the Web Content feature.

Consider adding the Flocabulary Vocab Game as a bell ringer into your lesson or drop in the link to the Read and Respond activity for additional review of related vocabulary, a learning standard, or a specific topic.

Use the attached Vocab Card template in a Draw It activity and provide students with the opportunity to create their own vocabulary cards!

4. Connect to the Lyric Lab framework

The broadest option for bringing Flocabulary into any lesson at almost any grade is to use the Lyric Lab framework. While in the Nearpod lesson, provide the prompt and words students will need to include in their scaffolded writing experience through Lyric Lab.

Use this template to create your own slide if you would like it to look similar to the Lyric Lab experience.

Then, using the Nearpod Web Content option, link to any Lyric Lab in the Flocabulary platform. An example might be the End Punctuation lesson using this link. The vocabulary words listed can be a reminder to students to use the required punctuation as they write their lyrics around the content and vocabulary of your choosing … or theirs!

The power of Lyric Lab begins by giving students the creative avenue to share what they know or have learned about a topic. This can be expanded when students have the opportunity to perform their lyrics or read their writing to an authentic audience—an audience of more than their teacher and classmates! Tap into your school’s media options such as morning announcements, in-school news channels, or upcoming family night events.

5. The independent practice (a.k.a. homework)

Homework is one of the most debated topics in education. Do you give it? Do you not? Is it fair? Is it not? Is it for a grade? Is it for practice? No matter what your opinion is, we can all likely agree that students need some time to practice new learning on their own and would prefer it to incorporate an element of fun along with the required rigor.

Provide additional practice for students by linking a complementary Flocabulary lesson at the end of your Nearpod lesson. On Flocabulary, use the search by state standards option or the key word search to find the lesson that most closely supports the topic.

When you have decided on your Flocabulary lesson, add it to your Nearpod as Web Content. Send students directly to the Flocabulary lesson following the large group instruction. This can be designated in whatever way makes the most sense in your classroom: homework, classwork, small group work, station rotation, or centers. Switch from Live to Student-Paced mode to have students complete the work at their own pace. Linking it into the Nearpod lesson makes it more efficient for students to move from one platform to another without getting distracted by other technology and tabs.

Whatever you choose to call it, we call it a memorable learning experience that students will more than likely be interested in completing. Assign all or parts of the Flocabulary lesson depending on the needs of your students. You do not have to grade it; the students’ responses are provided for you in the Flocabulary lesson report and can be used as evidence of practice or translated into a grade based on your expectations.

Start using Nearpod and Flocabulary together

Using technology in the classroom is not a quick, impromptu decision. It takes deliberate, thoughtful planning to ensure the technology is being used to provide a positive impact on student learning as well as provide evidence of the impact on the learning experience. When combining tools like Nearpod and Flocabulary, there are any number of ways you might choose to use these two platforms together. We’ve just provided a few examples. Whether you use all parts of a Flocab lesson to follow large group instruction or choose just one or two Flocabulary activities to add variety, start with the approach that will best improve learning outcomes for your students and then let the learning flow!

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod and Flocabulary. Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons on Nearpod. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod and Flocabulary for schools and districts.

Julie Cobb

Julie Cobb is a Director of Professional Services at Nearpod, leading high-quality implementation and training consultations for Nearpod School and District partners across the United States. She has her Bachelors in Education of the Hearing Impaired and her Masters in Educational Leadership. Passionate about education technology, she was inspired to join Nearpod because she wanted to share innovative ways to transform teaching and learning using technology in the classroom and beyond.

The post 5 Ways to combine the power of Nearpod and Flocabulary appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Nearpod helps educators make any lesson interactive, whether in the classroom or virtual. The concept is simple. A teacher can create interactive presentations that can contain Quizzes, Polls, Videos, Collaborate Boards, and more. You can access thousands of premade K-12 standards-aligned lessons or upload your existing lessons and make them interactive using Nearpod in the classroom. Nearpod makes teaching easier with the interactive tools, resources, and content teachers need, all in one place. You can sign up for a free account today and learn 5 ways to use a free Nearpod account.

The students can access a teacher’s Live Participation presentation through a code, and the teacher then moves the class through the lesson and lets students interact with the media as they go. Teachers can also opt for Student-Paced mode, where the student controls the flow of the lesson. This mode is perfect for remote learning, hybrid learning, sub days, homework assignments, or independent work. The app is web-based and works on any device with an internet connection.

New to Nearpod? Sign up for free below to create your own interactive lessons and access engaging standards-aligned resources!

Join us for Camp Engage: Back to School!

Camp Engage, which is July 25-27th, is a FREE virtual professional development event packed with interactive, expert-led sessions focused on topics you care about, and innovative strategies to support your instruction.

Each session is crafted to provide immediate classroom impact, so you can apply what you learn at Camp Engage right from the start— just in time for back to school. Whether you’re new to Nearpod, a seasoned expert, or interested in learning, everyone is welcome to join!

10 ways to use Nearpod in the classroom

Below are just ten simple ways you can utilize this multiple-solutions-in-one tool:

1. Simple presentation delivery

At its most simple, you can use Nearpod as a substitute for other presentation tools. Instead of running a Powerpoint or Google Slides, you can utilize Nearpod and make the lesson more interactive. You can even ‘drag and drop’ your existing Google Slides, PDFs, and PowerPoints into the app for it to instantly create a Nearpod presentation. Then you can select from countless interactive activities and formative assessments. The presentations will be beamed to each student’s device in the classroom. You also do not have to rely on students being able to see the board.

2. Personalized provision and differentiation

Following on from the idea of using Nearpod as a simple presentation tool, you could isolate the use of the app to one student or a small group. It could be that you are beaming extra teaching provisions to particular pupils during a starter. This could be the missing link that provides more support for a child with visual impairments. It could provide that extra bit of help for a low attainer in your class. You can also duplicate the lesson and modify to deliver differentiated content to your students. You can edit these lessons with personalized formative assessment activities, collect feedback, and inclusive accessibility.

3. Distributing student resources

Using the app to distribute resources is another simple way of using it in the classroom. You can fill your presentation with images or worksheets and ask the students to use the Students Notes feature to save the presentation to their drive to access the information later when studying for an exam or completing homework. 

4. Live formative assessment

The app can become even more useful if you insert one of Nearpod’s many formative assessment activities into your presentation. As a teacher, you can create customized Quizzes, Polls, Open-ended Questions, Matching Pairs, Draw It activities, and more. Use these tools to view their responses and check for students’ understanding in real-time. The teacher can instantly gain insights into the classes’ overall understanding and make adjustments on the fly.

5. Interactive gamification and activities

One simple way to implement Nearpod into your daily instruction is to have students do an interactive activity. Add interest and excitement into everyday learning with Drag & Drop, Draw It, Time to Climb, Matching Pairs, and Collaborate Board. To review a unit use the gamified multiple-choice quiz, Time to Climb. With Collaborate Board, teachers can host classroom discussions with students using an interactive board to share ideas in real-time.

6. Self-assessment

It is common practice in Primary and Secondary schools for students to assess themselves and evaluate their own confidence levels. This is usually achieved through a traffic light system that children are encouraged to draw in their workbooks. Red indicates a poor confidence level, amber indicates a fair understanding and green indicates a very good understanding of any given learning topic.

Nearpod contains the option of inserting a ‘Poll’. In this situation, students’ opinions are questioned. This makes the ‘Polling’ tool a perfect feature to use when ‘traffic lighting’ in the classroom. The information is then saved in the aforementioned reports!

7. Modeling

The app also has a feature called ‘Draw It’ that can be built into your presentations. This beams an interactive whiteboard to the students’ devices. The teacher’s device will display all of the students’ ‘drawings’ and the teacher can then ‘share’ individual whiteboards with the entire class. Hitting share will cause the chosen ‘drawing’ to appear on every device. This enables teachers to share good work and model good progressions.

8. Open-ended tasks

Nearpod in the classroom allows for creative flexibility. The ‘Open-Ended Questions’ feature allows the teacher to pose a question or set up a scenario for the students to respond to. With this tool, you can facilitate creative writing tasks. As a result, the advantage of using something like Nearpod for this kind of activity is that the ‘Open-Ended’ answers are then automatically logged in the reports.

9. Setting homework

All of the above examples revolve around the idea of using Nearpod in a Live session, but students can also engage on their own time. You can provide a Student-Paced code and they can access the Nearpod lesson at home, or anywhere with an internet connection.

10. Sharing and using pre-made resources

One way of using Nearpod involves almost no work at all. Once you log on, tap on the ‘Nearpod Library’ button on the left side and it will take you to a library of pre-made Nearpod lessons. You can find interactive presentations on almost anything for K-12 made by reliable subject experts. Near down your search by using the filters on the left side, typing into the search for, or browsing around our featured content. You can search by lesson type, standards, subjects, grade levels, and keywords.

Get started using Nearpod

The customizable nature of the app means that it can be applied to any age range and teaching context. It saves you time with real-time formative assessment and session reports and helps build a connected culture in and outside of the classroom.

New to Nearpod? Sign up for free below to create your own interactive lessons and access engaging standards-aligned resources!

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Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

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