Teaching math can feel like an uphill battle, with students often coming into the classroom believing that math is dry, hard, or simply not their strong suit. However, math instruction can be a rich experience full of questioning, exploration, and discovery. Despite this potential, math performance across the US remains a growing concern. The 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress reported the largest declines in math scores for grades 4 and 8 since 1990. Often, resources are too focused on standards coverage and content, lacking intentionality about the instructional experience.

Lessons and math tools for teachers

With Nearpod, you can use interactive videos, interactive slide-based lessons, and gamified activities for an engaging instructional experience. This guide will show a few ways to capture that energy and bring it into your math classroom using interactive tools.

According to an ESSA Level II study, CAASPP scores for math achievement demonstrated significant improvements among students who utilized Nearpod. These findings highlight Nearpod’s positive impact on math academic outcomes across different student demographics:

• 8th graders exhibited higher scores
• 6th graders also showed improved scores
• 6th graders with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) displayed enhanced scores

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Teachers can sign up for free below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons.

Nearpod Math Program

Nearpod Math, our K-8 supplemental curriculum, helps teachers enhance instruction with intentionally organized content and tools to create engaging math learning experiences for every student. With this program, educators can supplement any math skill or standard and build collaborative, active math classrooms.

Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to explore Nearpod Math and unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Math lesson guide

Nearpod has curated a Math Lesson Guide for Grades K-8 so you can spend less time searching for resources and more time doing what you love: teaching. With ready-to-launch lessons, activities, and videos, these guides can help you remediate key skills, reteach concepts, and even prep for testing time.

Download lesson guide

8 Engaging strategies and lessons for teaching math in any classroom

1. Write about math using Open-Ended Questions

To take math instruction off the page, ask students to explore what their work means. Calculating the solution to a problem is only one aspect of doing math; students also grow as mathematicians by discussing their work. With writing, you can ask your students to access deeper meaning within their work – by analyzing a story question, setting a goal, writing a plan before they solve a problem, discussing the steps they took to solve it, or justifying their answer.

According to McREL, writing can improve students’ grasp of mathematical reasoning and problem-solving, use of evidence and logical processing, and ability to communicate their findings more clearly and effectively. Simply put, writing expands student’s ability to be analytical problem-solvers.

When previewing a challenging question, you can ask students to pause and write a goal or a plan for the question before they begin. You can also use this to bring more dialogue into your classroom. Students need opportunities to share their thinking about math in a safe environment. This strategy allows students who may not want to share out loud to have their voices heard.

After solving a problem, use Nearpod’s interactive Open-Ended Question to prompt students to defend their answer; you may ask them to justify each step or focus on one part of the question to dissect. With the “Share” tool, you can anonymously broadcast any student’s answer and use it to open up a discussion with your students: Do they agree with this student? How was this answer strong, or how could it be improved?

Instead of having to circulate around the room to check each student’s work during math instruction, their plans will arrive on your screen in real time, and you can focus on the students who need you most. You can also attach Reference Media to Nearpod activities such as Draw It, Open-Ended Questions, or Polls to foster independent thinking.

2. Do a warm-up activity using a number talk

Number talks are perfect warm-ups and can be tailored to any grade level. It’s a great strategy to build numeracy and number sense with your students when teaching math. Number talks are short (10-ish minutes) question-based discussions that complement your regular instruction. They can become high-leverage learning moments in your classroom because you ask students to generate solutions and evaluate strategies. You may ask students to find a rule, solve a problem, or analyze a pattern in a number talk. The key is that students independently design and describe their pathways to solve the problem and then collaboratively share and critique their ideas.

To do a number talk with your students, present the class with a problem and ask them to solve the problem mentally, but don’t share their answer. When students have found a solution, they’ll signal to you that they’ve solved it, and if they can find more than one way to solve the problem, they signal that, too.

The “talk” portion of a Number Talk is the most essential: this is where students share out their solutions and evaluate them. It can feel energizing to hear active minds at work, but recording your students’ ideas as they share them aloud can be overwhelming. Nearpod can lean in on numerous ways during Number Talks.

How to conduct Number Talks

Nearpod allows students to share their strategy, whereas, in a traditional number talk, only a handful of students can share their thinking. Also, students can try the problem with low risk while giving the teacher formative data about the strategies. For example, a teacher might use 5 x 25 as the number talk. Then, students can share their strategy to solve the problem using Draw It slides or an Open-Ended activity. The teacher can then showcase strategies and have students explain their thinking orally to the class.

When students want to signal that they’ve found a solution, using a public signal, like raising their hand, can be overwhelming or discouraging to surrounding students. Try giving your students a Poll question on Nearpod asking: “How many solutions can you find to this problem?” You’ll receive instant data about which students have solutions and can pull ideas from across your classroom, even if they have put their hand down.

For the “talk” portion, ask your students to explain their ideas on a Collaborate Board. Collaborate Boards create a public space for all your students to respond to a question, and each student’s response shows up as a virtual post-it note. As the teacher, you can see who wrote which response, but the responses can be set as anonymous for student view. Your students can practice explaining their ideas in writing, have a clean and organized view of everyone’s ideas, and vote for their favorite responses by clicking the heart icon on the post-its they agree with most.

3. Use interactive drawing assessments to teach graphs

Analyzing data is one of the most powerful and important elements of teaching math. Graphs and tables are common in everyday life, and teaching your students to become “fluent” in graphs and tables empowers them to excel in class and make more sense of the world around them. Taking data and turning it into a graph is no small feat, though — and interpreting data from a graph can be even more challenging for students. You can use technology to breathe life into graphing and graph analysis in your classroom using Nearpod’s interactive drawing assessment tool, Draw It.

There are many steps to constructing a graph, and more likely than not, your students come into class with different levels of mastery: some of your students may be ready to plot, while others are still grappling to discern the x-axis from the y-axis. Using the Nearpod Draw It tool, you can quickly monitor each student’s progress. Each student’s work is displayed in your teacher view, and it updates in real-time to show you their work as they progress through a problem. With this data, you can narrate common misconceptions for the whole class and visit individual students for targeted support. With the “share” feature, you can also show-call student work — Nearpod will broadcast an individual student’s graph anonymously to every student’s screen, and your class can discuss (or admire!) their work.

The Draw It tool can also help you deepen how your students analyze data. You can upload any graph as a “background” that students can then draw upon. Ask students to annotate a graph to find the peak, individual data points, or outliers. You may want to show your students a graph missing certain data, like axis labels or a scale, and ask them to fill in the missing information. If your students are learning to construct their own graphs, a popular student activity is to “grade the graph,” create a graph riddled with errors, then ask your students to mark (and correct) as many mistakes as they can find!

4. Model the steps for problem-solving

If you have ever given students a problem to solve on a specific template, it’s important to model the steps to solve the problem. This will help support your students when it’s their turn to problem-solve.

One way to model for students is through Nearpod’s Draw It tool. Make the template or equation into a Draw It slide and have them use the drawing and writing tools to solve the question. You’ll get insight into their responses in real time. Teachers can review the responses on their screens and share them anonymously on students’ devices to discuss the strategies they used. To model examples, use the Live Teacher Annotation* and draw on the slide. Your drawings will show up on students’ screens immediately so they can see and discuss a strategy that might have been missing from your students’ examples.

*Live Teacher Annotation feature is only available for School & District licenses.

5. Teach math vocabulary with Matching Pairs

It’s no secret that math has its own language. Whether your students are learning to find partial products and how many quarts fit inside a gallon or to calculate continuous functions and find derivatives, students are engaging in decoding and internalizing new vocabulary. It can be challenging for students, especially our students who read below grade level or are learning English, and these challenges can compound over time, leaving struggling students behind.

It might feel tedious to dedicate a whole lesson to vocabulary or to ask your students to devote class time to making flashcards when teaching math. The good news is, you don’t have to. Integrate a Matching Paris activity into your lessons instead. Nearpod’s Matching Pairs tool is an interactive and attention-grabbing way to practice math terms. In a Matching Pairs moment, students’ screens fill with tiles that disappear as they correctly match each term with its definition. Students have as many chances as they need until they match each term with its correct definition.

This activity can be meaningful in your classroom in many ways because it’s flexible. You curate the terms and definitions that fit your content. You can cover many terms during a review lesson or only a few keywords for a quick check for understanding. With instant data, you can create targeted support groups and tier your instruction to match your students’ diverse needs.

6. Start (or end) a lesson unit with an educational game

Start the lesson by gathering data about what students remember about the concept to differentiate the instruction for the day. Starting the lesson with an engaging activity will help keep the energy level high throughout the lesson. Using educational games for math instruction helps students learn what’s being taught, builds problem-solving skills, and builds community while learning the lesson’s material.

Students love Nearpod’s educational game, Time to Climb, where students race to see which character gets to the top of a mountain first by answering a series of questions both correctly and quickly to increase their own points to become one of the top three winners of the game. You can also use an educational game to end a lesson unit to see what students have learned.

Drag & Drop is another Nearpod gamification tool teachers can add at the beginning or end of a lesson. Students can categorize, label, and sequence items or images with this activity.

7. Collect data in real-time to assess students throughout the entire lesson

Formative assessment is a valuable tool for teachers. It allows teachers to see what students know and what misconceptions they may have about addressing them immediately. Nearpod collects real-time data efficiently through various activities where the teacher can view all the student responses on one screen. For example, suppose students are creating a multiplication model on a Draw It slide. In that case, the teacher can see what strategies students are using and address any errors a student or group of students might have before moving on. You can also use the Collaborate Board to share student work, which allows students to review, discuss, and critique their peers’ responses.

8. Find premade content that is standards-aligned, engaging, and interactive

Finding reliable and quality resources to use for teaching math can be challenging. It’s important to use standards-aligned resources created by experts while engaging and flexible for students (and teachers!). Nearpod’s Lesson Library has the perfect blend of lesson resources you need. You can explore quality interactive lessons, activities, and videos made by content experts and partners. Teachers can explore the library, download lessons, and modify them, all for free! Use the search bar or filters to find resources that fit your classroom’s needs.

Traditionally, you might think about using Nearpod as a presentation tool. However, you can assign these lessons as student-paced for independent work to provide additional practice opportunities and games and gather formative assessment data. With Live to Student-Paced mode, teachers can toggle between Live and Student-Paced mode for flexible instruction to support differentiating for student needs. This engaging independent activity can allow students to get immediate feedback on activities.

Start teaching math with Nearpod

Digital interactives are a fun way to make your math instruction more dynamic. With these strategies, you can bring energy to your classroom and enhance your student’s mastery of mathematics while gathering meaningful, real-time data. Nearpod is a great tool to increase engagement, discourse, and achievement in your math class. It is easy to take your existing presentations, upload them to Nearpod, and make minor tweaks that allow instant access to your students’ mathematical thinking.

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.

Click here to learn more about Nearpod Math!

Kate Roscioli

Kate is a Title I Math Specialist in Northern Virginia. She loves supporting teachers in integrating technology in lessons to allow students to authentically engage in mathematics content.

The post 8 Engaging strategies for teaching math in any classroom appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Why do some students lack motivation?

Students may lack motivation due to various factors such as external hardships in their home life, a disconnect between learning and real-world applications, disinterest in the subject matter, potential undiagnosed learning challenges, and the developmental stage affecting their ability to foresee the consequences of disengagement.

Perhaps there are extenuating circumstances in their home, whether it be familial strife or lack of food, that can cause them to lack presence and connection to the classroom or instruction. Too often, we’re unaware of the many layers of a child’s life and the stressors they encounter daily. Lack of motivation can come from not understanding the real-world applicability of skills. Students need to learn the skills alongside the use cases – and that use case can’t just be for a test this coming Friday. Perhaps a student lacks motivation because the subject just doesn’t interest them.

Passion is a critical driver in learning, so many teachers aim to help students make personal connections so that the content sparks interest. Or, a child may be facing an undiagnosed learning disability that is constantly keeping them from feeling successful. Furthermore, developmentally, younger students live more in the moment. They don’t fully comprehend the longer-term ramifications if they don’t engage, since their prefrontal cortex isn’t fully developed – meaning they may lack the foresight for reasoning, judgment, and planning.

What is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in the classroom?

In the classroom, teachers strive to personalize and individualize lessons to reach every child, and the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation is crucial. There are two types of motivation: Intrinsic motivation originates from within, driven by personal satisfaction, leading to increased persistence and enjoyment; extrinsic motivation relies on external rewards or pressures.

Intrinsic motivation speaks internally. In an ideal world, all motivation would be intrinsic. One’s drive and sense of purpose toward accomplishing a task or goal is done for one’s own satisfaction. Research shows that intrinsic motivation can lead to more persistence and more enjoyment. In a classroom, intrinsic motivation can be seen when a child chooses a title on their own because they want to dive into a book or when they keep their head down to solve a problem because they’re up for the challenge. A child who is intrinsically motivated tends to be more attentive, more participatory, and more engaged, and thus can perform better and realize higher achievement (Ryan & Deci, 2020).

When there is a carrot at the end of a stick or a brass ring, so to speak, the motivation becomes extrinsic. Extrinsic motivation comes from the desire for a reward or to avoid negative consequences. So, if a child is trying to earn a goodie from the prize box or please a parent with a good grade, that drive isn’t from within. Now, extrinsic motivation does have its place in the classroom: There are good forms of it when it can provide feedback, encouragement for something outside one’s comfort zone, or reinforcement for completing a task well. Grades are a form of extrinsic motivation, and most teachers use them to applaud students’ work or frame how they can do better. How they do or do not internalize such feedback is up to the students. Often, it can be helpful to look at the Motivation Matrix (internal-positive; external-positive; internal-negative; external-negative). While all the quadrants can lead to change, only internal-positive motivators tend to be associated with personal happiness.

How teachers can boost student motivation for academic excellence

According to Dr. Anders Ericsson, motivation is the most significant predictor of success. Those with motivation can make and manage change, prepare, take action, and persevere toward goals. There are several ways teachers can help encourage student motivation throughout the school year, day in and day out.

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Interactive technology tools like Nearpod can support educators in boosting student motivation.

Teachers can sign up for free below to access the lessons in this post and create their own interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

1. Spark their interest

At the beginning of each school year, take the time through surveys, interviews, and good old conversations to get to know each child. What do they like? What do they shy away from? Use the trick of asking five “whys” to drill down to the root cause of a child’s nascent opinion. Then, lead them to high-interest content to help them dive deeper into a topic or broaden their horizons on another. Such motivational activities for students can yield great results.

Nearpod offers a robust library of standards-aligned content, and you can let students pick their own paths and take an active learning approach when it comes to exploring subjects and working through levels of proficiency.

Additionally, Nearpod gives you the option to integrate high-interest multimedia content, catering to students’ diverse passions and backgrounds. Incorporate dynamic media such as Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trips and Interactive Videos into their lessons. Teachers can tap into students’ interests and connect classroom content to their real-world experiences. This not only captivates their attention but also fosters a deeper connection to the subject matter, ultimately fueling their motivation for academic success.

2. Let them drive

Another way to motivate students in the classroom is to empower them with a sense of agency through student voice and have them make choices based on their own personal interests. Research-based evidence from Edward L. Deci and Richard M. Ryan in the 1970s and 1980s put motivation on a continuum. The self-development theory (SDT) ranges from amotivation, the lack of any motivation to engage students in tasks or activities, through layers of extrinsic motivation, to intrinsic motivation. Their early work highlighted the need for individuals to feel self-determined, self-directed, and autonomous, and to have a sense of control over their lives and destiny.

Curiosity is the engine of achievement.

Sir Ken Robinson

Nearpod supports student choice and voice through interactive features like Collaborate Boards and Open-Ended Questions, enabling students to share their perspectives, collaborate with peers, and engage in meaningful discussions. This fosters a sense of ownership and autonomy in their learning journey, as they can contribute their unique insights and learn from others.

By providing a platform for student voice and choice, Nearpod helps create a student-centered learning environment that values their opinions, promotes active engagement, and encourages student ownership in their learning experiences.

3. Encourage the “pleasantly frustrating” paths

Professor James Paul Gee has written seminal research on learning and video games. He’s known as the godfather of game-based learning (GBL). He touts several good “learning principles” that video game design has exemplified in terms of hooking and incentivizing students. By challenging kids with levels of achievement, you can help motivate students to find an inner drive to keep moving ahead, one step at a time.

Check out Nearpod’s educational game Time to Climb for student motivation by having them push themselves a bit more under gamified conditions. Digital platforms like Nearpod allow for in-the-moment interactivity that is designed to push the child to try and try again.

Nearpod’s Time to Climb and other educational games contribute significantly to the promotion of active learning and student motivation. The competitive element, sense of achievement, and enjoyable experience provided by these games enhance student engagement and encourage active participation in the process of learning the material.

For example, in a science class, a teacher can use Time to Climb to reinforce concepts related to the water cycle. The game can present questions with visuals and scenarios related to the topic, challenging students to apply their knowledge. Students can compete against their peers to climb the leaderboard by answering correctly and quickly. This not only encourages active participation but also creates a sense of achievement and enjoyment as students progress through the game.

4. Show the long-tail effect

Developmentally, many students struggle to think about the long-term future. Jim Taylor, Ph.D., writes that motivation to change often begins with the 3 D’s: direction, decisions, and dedication. So, teachers often become masterful storytellers who weave tales of the real world, future careers, and passions to encourage student motivation. They showcase subjects like math outside of drill-and-kill worksheets and word problems by sharing everyday practices or career-advancing (and enhancing) skill sets that rely on math proficiency. Students need to understand that they are not learning for learning’s sake alone; they are learning to whet their appetite to expand and hone their skills.

Learning isn’t confined to specific subjects; it’s about acquiring a toolkit of skills that empower individuals to analyze problems, make informed decisions, iterate on ideas, and share their insights effectively. By integrating crucial skills known as the 5Cs – critical thinking, computational thinking, collaboration, creativity, and effective communication – educators can show students the real-world relevance of their studies in their lessons. Nearpod’s interactive platform allows teachers to seamlessly weave these essential skills into their lessons, illustrating their long-term value in preparing students for success in any field they choose to pursue.

5. Provide feedback

Everyone likes a gold star once in a while. Extrinsic motivation isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as long as it’s not excessive to the point of having an overjustification effect, where the extrinsic cancels out any intrinsic motivation. Consider ways to give feedback that builds their confidence, encourages them to reach just a bit higher, and rewards them for taking chances. Remember that asking questions and modeling active listening is a way to provide authentic feedback.

Nearpod’s formative assessment tools provide you with real-time data on student responses so that you can plan your instruction not only for the whole group but for individuals as needed, just in time. The best feedback is given immediately.

The true power of feedback lies in its immediacy – addressing questions and misconceptions while they are fresh in students’ minds. Nearpod’s feedback features, such as stickers and writing options for teachers in Draw It and Drag & Drop learning activities, enable educators to respond instantly to each student, tailoring guidance to their specific needs and ensuring that the learning experience remains personalized. By harnessing Nearpod’s capabilities for real-time feedback, teachers can motivate students to thrive and excel academically, creating a supportive learning environment.

6. Talk about procrastination

Procrastination for many is not merely a time management issue, postponing a more important task in favor of a less important one. Often, procrastination is an emotional management conundrum when fear, frustration, anxiety, insecurity, or self-doubt thwart the best of plans. Students and adults alike battle with procrastination. Procrastination can cycle and build into negative thought patterns called procrastinatory cognitions (the Procrastinatory Cognitions Inventory (PCI) has 18 such items). Social and emotional learning (SEL) supports students’ development of self-awareness and self-regulation skills, which can help in such emotional management. SEL promotes a growth mindset and grit, too.

Nearpod offers over 400 SEL lessons, activities, and videos built on CASEL’s five core competencies in the 21st-Century Readiness Program. This program offers a simple method for incorporating SEL practices, such as fostering positive interactions, promoting gratitude, facilitating reflective moments into daily learning routines, and contributing to the establishment of safe, inclusive, and effective classroom environments.

Nearpod also offers free social and emotional learning (SEL) lessons and activities. Features such as Collaborate Board, Draw It, Drag & Drop, Time to Climb, and Interactive Video can be used for emotional check-ins and practices. Here are some examples of motivational activities for students:

• Time to Climb: Social Emotional Learning (Grades 3-5)
• Collaborate Board: Share Your Mood (Grades 6-12)
• Collaborate Board Check-In (Grades 2-12)
• Interactive Video: Mantras (Grades 3-8)
• Interactive Video: What Is Empathy? (Grades 6-8)

7. Show that you’re human, too

So much of what teachers do well is model. And modeling means showing the messy side of life, too. When motivating students to learn, share how you’ve failed forward and pushed through tough times or daunting tasks to inspire them. Talk about lofty goals you had and how you modified or broke them down into smaller goals that build upon one another. Illustrate how strong goals are reframed as SMART goals. Share future goals that you have and the power of “yet” – that you have yet to achieve it all.

Share some of Nearpod’s lessons and activities on goal setting to motivate them forward:

• Time to Climb: Goal Setting (Available for grades 3-6)
• Time to Climb: Time Management (Grades 6-8)
• Interactive Video: Growth Mindset (Grades 4-12)
• Lesson: Goal Planning (Grades 3-5)
• Lesson: Setting Goals (Grades 6-8)

Boost student motivation with Nearpod’s support

Staying motivated is a key goal not only for our students but for teachers, too. We are facing high teacher attrition rates due to factors that are overriding teachers’ intrinsic sense of pride and purpose in their careers. Teachers are lifelong learners who look to inspire the next generation. As Samuel Johnson wrote, “Curiosity is, in great and generous minds, the first passion and the last.” Seek to motivate the curiosity in yourself and those around you! And just remember: “I thought I could, I thought I could, I thought I could!”

Foster a love of learning in every student with Nearpod. Interactive technology tools like Nearpod can support educators in boosting student motivation.

Teachers can sign up for free below to access the lessons in this post and create their own interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Darri Stephens

Darri Stephens is a dedicated LX (learning experience) designer, passionate about creating quality content and programs for kids, families, and educators. With MAs in Education from both Harvard and Stanford, and work experience at best-in-class ed tech organizations including Wonder Workshop, Nickelodeon, and Common Sense Education, she is steeped in the design thinking process and committed to agile and iterative project management, which has resulted in multi-award-winning programs and products.

The post How to boost student motivation in the classroom for academic excellence appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Nearpod offers a range of engaging activities and content that will keep your students focused, learning, and having fun during the break. Whether you’re teaching in-person, online, or hybrid, these resources can be used in your classroom to support and prevent summer learning loss.

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.

Why is summer learning important?

Summer learning provides students an opportunity to review academic content and ensure that previously learned material is not forgotten. Learning loss, or unfinished learning, continues to be a focus for teachers and administrators as we’re two years out from the pandemic and still assessing the impact it had on students and learning. We know educators are coming off another incredibly challenging year where they’ve had to face burnout and tech fatigue. Summer school helps prevent the summer slide, and we have the resources and tools to make the process for you and your students as seamless as possible.

How can I keep students learning in the summer?

It’s crucial to meet students where they’re at during summer learning. After the challenging past few years, now more than ever, we should be prioritizing student and teacher wellness, so summer break should be a time to unwind and relax. This can be accomplished by using appealing lessons for both you and your students. Set realistic expectations for yourself and your class by creating a mix of lesson plans that are relevant, engaging, and meaningful. It’s crucial to find a balance between creating a learning environment where students can focus on what they’re being taught while also giving them opportunities to enjoy their time off. Implement student-driven engagement summer activities and instruction to create a space where students are looking forward to attending.

Summer learning activities to prevent the summer slide

1. Use vetted and quality lessons for summer school programs or to send home

Nearpod has high quality premade lessons and resources to combat the summer slide in targeted subject areas. There’s also a guide to assist with navigating and launching activities with your students for any learning environment. Keep reading to explore these reliable lessons and engaging features you and your students can enjoy during summer break! Sift through this lesson folder, which includes a collection of core-subject lessons, fun summer learning activities, and videos applicable to meet your classroom needs.

Additionally, we handpicked Nearpod lessons that students can use to practice core topics and strengthen their learning for the following school year. This ready-to-use guide provides a 6-week schedule you can use for your summer learning plans. These lessons and activities are perfect for independent work or live front-of-class teaching. Click to add the Nearpod lesson to your library, then share out with students using the lesson code or through your learning management system (LMS), such as Google Classroom.

2. Target social and emotional learning (SEL), math, and English language arts (ELA)

Subject areas where students tend to struggle the most during the summer months are social emotional learning (SEL), math, and English language arts (ELA). Explore Nearpod’s lesson library by using the search bar and filtering by grade level, subjects, activity types, and standards.

Here are a few summer SEL activities and lessons you can use to address these topics:

• Drawing assessments: Students can practice self-awareness and social emotional skills to identify their emotions by completing a Draw It activity to assess their mood.

• ELA: Nouns & Verbs (K-3): Students will identify whether a word is a noun or a verb by completing a Drag & Drop activity to assess their mood.

• Math: Converting Decimals to Fractions (5-6): Students can learn various math skills to express decimals, such as expanded form and converting decimals to fractions.

3. Create a flexible learning environment to meet students’ needs

You can launch a Nearpod lesson by selecting one of three delivery modes and sharing the Nearpod through a code, link, or LMS. Leverage Nearpod codes to promote student choice and support differentiated learning. For example, use our Virtual Reality Student Paced Code Template! Add student-paced codes, set the expiration date to the end of summer, and share the code with students.

Additionally, there are multiple ways you can launch a Nearpod lesson – all to fit your classroom needs:

• Live Participation: This mode allows you to control the pace of the lesson while students participate and follow on their devices. You can view real-time progress and results as you teach.
• Student-Paced: Share asynchronous lessons with students so they can move through lessons at their own pace, any time, from anywhere. You can view progress in real-time to monitor student understanding.
• Front of Class: Project a video when students aren’t joining from their devices. The premade questions in the Interactive Video can be used as discussion prompts, or you can have students record their answers.

Select the launch mode that suits your instruction and share the code or link with students so they can follow along on their devices or complete it at home as individual work.

4. Incorporate educational games to check for student understanding

When teachers bring gamification into the classroom, they provide students with the opportunity to practice life skills and see them in action from their peers. Summer is the perfect time to use educational games!

Time to Climb is an educational game that teachers and students love! Here’s a breakdown explaining why to include in your summer school ideas:

• How it works: Students compete to see who gets to the top of a mountain first by answering a series of questions both correctly and quickly to increase their own points to become one of the top three winners of the game.
• Build social skills: When playing in a live classroom environment, students of all ages can laugh and enjoy the integrated community-building elements of their summer school and learning experience. 
• Gain insight into student learning: View how students understand concepts in real-time and pause between questions to reflect and address misconceptions quickly.
• Students love it: Students can choose their own Time to Climb characters to play along with. There are also tons of themes to choose from, including a beach theme which is perfect for getting into the summer spirit!

4. Use interactive formative assessment activities

Students should feel inspired to show up and persist for summer school to be effective. Since students are in a summer break mindset, it’s important to weave in exciting learning opportunities and make sure they’re enjoying themselves.

Summer reading programs are a fantastic way to maintain literacy skills, while a well-rounded summer program can include various hands-on activities that make learning fun and effective. Pair reading assignments with these engaging activities to include in your summer instruction:

• Drag & Drop allows students to sort or order images and text sequentially or in groups. Add a background of a diagram or graphic organizer for students to fill in.
• Collaborate Board is an interactive discussion board that allows students to post text and images to a shared class board. It’s a great way to spark class discussion and brainstorming.
• Draw It gives students the opportunity to demonstrate what they’ve learned by having them respond to prompts by drawing and adding text or images on top of a background.

In addition to the above activities, you can use traditional assessment tools, such as Open-Ended Questions, Quizzes, and Polls.

Make summer learning simpler with Nearpod

Summer learning programs can be a daunting process to plan and execute, especially after the past challenging years. National Summer Learning initiatives emphasize the importance of keeping young minds engaged through hands-on activities and interactive lessons. Using tech tools, such as Nearpod, will help reduce the stress of summer planning and give you more time to focus on teaching while impacting student growth.

If you’re looking to create your own Nearpod lesson, here are some quick tips you can use to get started:

• Work with what you got: Use an existing resource, such as a worksheet, video, or Google Slides, and upload directly into  Nearpod. Add activities to boost engagement. For example, upload a PDF image onto a Draw It to have students write, draw, and annotate.
• Keep all links in one place: It can be challenging to organize links for your students if you’re teaching virtually. Using the Google Slides Add-On, you can hyperlink text on your Nearpod slides for students to click through.
• Get real-time insight: Immediately see how students are responding and address misconceptions at the moment to prevent the summer slide by leveraging the power of the Teacher Dashboard, which gives you real-time student insights.
• Transform your presentation: Summer vacation is the perfect opportunity for professional development and preparing student learning for the upcoming school year. Whether presenting to teachers or students, make the experience engaging. Explore 5 ideas for summer teacher professional development.

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.

Carol Chinea

Carol Chinea is a Marketing Associate at Nearpod.

The post Summer learning activities to prevent the summer slide appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Student engagement refers to when students actively participate, contribute, question, personalize, and take ownership of their learning. There are usually some telltale hints, such as hands waving in the air, students jumping in their seats, and eyes literally sparkling. Student engagement strategies make a teacher’s job easier and fulfill their goal of developing students into lifelong learners.

Classrooms have changed and will continue to change as times evolve. Methodologies and pedagogies should shift as new philosophies, research, and technology come into play. Gone are the days of a “sage on a stage” preaching to rows of children.

Nearpod’s instructional platform supports both teachers and students in individualizing the learning process so growth and progress are optimized over time. Explore strategies to increase student engagement in your classroom with Nearpod’s support.

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.

6 Strategies to elevate student engagement in the classroom

1. Leverage real-time insights

Formative assessment is the process through which teachers gather real-time feedback and evidence of learning to guide the next steps of their instruction. For instance, let’s say a teacher delivers a math lesson on finding the lowest common denominator. During a quick check for understanding, only half the class can accurately answer a question and correctly find the lowest common denominator. The teacher uses that evidence and most likely reteaches the concept before moving on. Such real-time insights are key to a teacher addressing not only the learning objectives and standards but also ensuring every student’s learning needs are being met, which will support classroom student engagement.

Nearpod was designed to give teachers these powerful real-time insights! Teachers have access to in-the-moment student responses. They can use this evidence of learning to share them with the whole class, address misconceptions in the moment, and modify instruction to support learning through these student engagement strategies. The intuitive Nearpod dashboard provides quantifiable data in a visual format, making it easier for a teacher to determine the next steps with a quick glance and a bit of instructional ingenuity. And it’s not just in-the-moment data: after completing a Nearpod session, teachers can review the post-session reports to inform their data-driven instruction further.

2. Active learning

Active learning quite simply means that the child is physically and mentally engaged in the learning at hand. Teachers use all sorts of traditional and innovative engagement strategies to promote such participation. From hands on heads to think-pair-share, teachers aim to invite each student to make personal or real-world connections to their learning. Teachers want each and every student to know they have a role and a responsibility as they enter the classroom.

When schools reopened for in-person learning after the COVID shutdowns, we saw endearing social media posts of teachers welcoming kids back into the classroom actively, where the kids chose the greeting—such a simple activity can help involve kids in their learning process.

Technology can also foster active learning. When using Nearpod for active engagement strategies, students are more actively involved in their own learning, with features and interactive activities that support many of the principles James Paul Gee highlighted in his 16 Principles of Good Video Game-Based Learning. Students are challenged cognitively and socially; many of Nearpod’s activities act as springboards for meaningful in-person conversations. Nearpod encourages students to have a sense of agency and be the drivers of their own learning.

3. Focus on student motivation

In a world of constant beeps, chirps, and buzzes, it can be hard for students to avoid distractions, stay focused, and be motivated to succeed and learn. Sure, we can use extrinsic motivators to give students a carrot or a brass ring to reach for. But ideally, our tactics lead them to find the internal motivation to accomplish a task at hand and take the next steps without much prodding.

Nearpod’s educational game, Time to Climb, provides friendly competition to incentivize engagement. As they make progress (moving or “climbing” up the mountain), their own intrinsic motivation grows, and their confidence and enjoyment build as they learn. Teachers can create their own version of this gamified multiple-choice quiz on any topic or use one of the hundreds of pre-made Time to Climbs available in Nearpod. These student-centered games motivate students and foster classroom engagement.

4. Student voice

Often, you may hear educators talk about “student voice and choice.” Student voice is when kids are empowered to share their stories, their opinions, and their perspectives. Not only does such dialog promote community, but it helps hone children’s developing sense of self, independence, and individuality. To do so, teachers seek to challenge students’ high-order thinking skills, like evaluating, problem-solving, and creating. Creativity is just one of the “4Cs” for 21st-century education: Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity (Battelle for Kids). Regardless of age, all children need to hold on to their sense of wonder, feed their bubbling curiosity, and bolster their questioning attitude. In doing so, they refine their voices to continue contributing and engaging in the classroom.

Using Nearpod strategies for student engagement encourages all kids to employ high-order thinking skills, especially through interactive activities like Draw It and Collaborate Board. With Draw It, students use a drawing assessment tool to explore new concepts through visually rich approach and hands-on student engagement activities. And as a picture says a thousand words, they also can express themselves creatively in yet another manner. The Collaborate Board invites all students to the virtual table to exchange ideas. Students write their thoughts and ideas into a virtual bulletin board using text or rich media for everyone to see. This activity promotes the best of peer-to-peer learning as well.

5. Student choice

Now, onto the second part of that phrase: student choice. As part of their burgeoning independence, students are more actively engaged in their learning environment when they have a choice in what they are learning, how they are learning, and when they are learning. Such successful child-led learning opportunities help students develop in a safe environment. Student engagement will be at an all-time high as they explore, interact, inquire, and progress toward mastery. Maria Montessori wrote about the importance of this sense of agency and ownership in the 1800s.

The greatest sign of success for a teacher … is to be able to say, ‘The children are now working as if I did not exist

Maria Montessori

Nearpod’s thousands of pre-lessons allow teachers to tap into students’ various interests, as they can share various resources with different kids. A student can take a deeper dive into a topic by embarking on a Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trip or engaging in an Interactive Video. With their eyes on the real-time data, teachers can support students to work independently in the moment and progress at their own pace. This academic and emotional engagement will encourage them to be proud of their independent growth resulting in student success.

6. Differentiation

As part of a teacher’s quest to personalize and individualize instruction for students, they often showcase their artistry by modifying a lesson to meet the various needs within their classroom. Teachers can differentiate instruction through lessons by modifying the steps, amassing a variety of supporting resources, and appealing to various learning styles. Such differentiation will help increase student engagement by hooking their interest and appealing to their strengths in various ways.

With Nearpod, teachers can distribute a variety of resources to various children throughout a lesson. They can encourage students to personalize their Student Notes to help reframe a concept or further illustrate it. Teachers can also take an existing lesson, duplicate it, and modify it in several different ways, thus ending up with a variety of student engagement activities or lessons that take different paths to achieving similar learning objectives. Use Student-Paced mode to have students do independent or small group work.

Boost student engagement with Nearpod

Capturing students’ attention is paramount across all types of engagement strategies. Educators forever grapple with how to increase student engagement—it can be a daily pursuit if not a challenge. Those beloved teachers are often revered because they took the time to invest in students individually. They showed respect to their students by figuring out how to address their learning needs best and make them engaged in their own learning. A teacher’s craft truly is part science and part artistry!

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.

Darri Stephens

Darri Stephens is a dedicated LX (learning experience) designer, passionate about creating quality content and programs for kids, families, and educators. With MAs in Education from both Harvard and Stanford, and work experience at best-in-class ed tech organizations including Wonder Workshop, Nickelodeon, and Common Sense Education, she is steeped in the design thinking process and committed to agile and iterative project management, which has resulted in multi-award-winning programs and products.

The post 6 Strategies to elevate student engagement in the classroom appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Effective instructional strategies go beyond those daily teacher-centric tips and tricks. They are those tried-and-true methodologies that help you, as an educator, reach your teaching and learning goals throughout the school year. When it comes to instructional design, teachers infuse their lesson plans with effective instructional strategies. Many such learning strategies are steeped in research from educational psychologists, philosophers, and researchers such as Piaget, Freire, Dewey, and Papert (just to name a few!).

What are the characteristics of effective and efficient instructional tools?

Meaningful learning experiences motivate students to dive deeper, explore further, and make personal connections. When it comes to personalized or individualized learning, technologies such as Nearpod support teachers in tailoring and targeting learning activities for each and every student. Such experiences put the students in the driver’s seat and give them a sense of agency to become lifelong learners.

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.

7 Essential strategies for designing effective instruction

1. Student engagement

Student engagement is one of those ubiquitous phrases that educators use to speak about their goals for teaching and learning. What is student engagement? It’s that rapt attention that teachers strive for—students leaning forward in their seats, participating with thoughtful questions and meaningful dialogue, eyes bright with those epitomized lightbulb moments, jumping over one another with their curiosity piqued.

Children are naturally curious; just think of a toddler’s persistent question, “Why?” Educators try to nurture this sense of curiosity into a pursuit of lifelong learning by designing effective exploratory or experiential instruction. Often teachers strive to provide hands-on activities to literally let kids get their hands dirty in the process of learning. Such kinesthetic and tactile tasks improve muscle memory, increase energy, and nurture cognitive and emotional development.

Another way to support student engagement is ensuring lessons have clear and authentic real-world connections. By showcasing how skills apply to everyday life or with career goals in mind, students are more likely to embrace instances of practice. Constructivist Bruner lauded the process of student-centered discovery, and Papert celebrated constructionism to provide children with meaningful challenges they’d be excited to tackle.

Nearpod offers a treasure chest of interactive activities specifically designed to champion to engage students. From engaging educational games like Time to Climb to Interactive Videos and immersive Draw It activities, Nearpod transforms learning into an exciting journey, challenging and motivating students along the way. Nearpod effectively brings abstract concepts to life, fostering students’ active participation and turning the traditional classroom into a dynamic, student-centered discovery hub.

2. Active learning

Active learning involves all facilities. It underscores that learners aren’t just consuming but creating, making connections, and building upon prior knowledge. It asks that students do the heavy lifting and thinking in a lesson. Piaget claimed students aren’t just “empty vessels” waiting to be filled. Freire warned against the banking method of education in which students are treated as passive receptors, thus limiting their creative and critical thinking.

Active learning transforms students’ educational experiences and improves academic outcomes. For students of all ages, active learning practices lean quite a bit on activities that pull in kinesthetic movements to encourage students to hone multiple learning styles as they digest and retain new information. Such participatory roles promote active learning across the curriculum.

Nearpod creates active learning environments where every student participates, increasing engagement and challenging students through interactive features that puts them at the center of learning. Interactive features, such as Polls, Open-Ended Questions, and Collaborate Boards, can be one of the most effective instructional practices to spark students’ prior knowledge at the beginning of a lesson or for metacognitive reflections to assess what students learned by the end.

3. Collaborative learning

Collaborative learning brings students together in a joint venture to search for understanding or meaning. This framework of effective instruction is a great way to promote a community of learners as well. Students take a more active and participatory role when they’re engaging in peer-to-peer learning. And today’s technologies allow students to “discuss” while leaning in on their preferred learning styles.

VAK (Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic) is a common way educators begin to address where a child’s strengths lie when it comes to processing and retaining new knowledge. With collaborative learning, students develop and lean on one another’s strengths, benefit from their varied perspectives, and challenge each other for problem solving and deconstructing a problem differently.

Collaborative learning and building connections are of paramount importance in creating active learning experiences. Nearpod provides multiple opportunities for teachers and students to collaborate and build connections. Collaborate Board enables students to work together in a shared digital space and share their thoughts via text, images, audio, video, and ever-so-popular GIFs. Teachers can hear from every student by having them use multiple formats to develop their ideas further. This fosters teamwork and cooperation and builds communication skills among students and teachers, creating a collaborative learning environment.

Our digital world (inside and outside of the classroom) challenges how we need to learn and refine our social and interpersonal skills when communicating and collaborating with one another. Nearpod’s interactive lessons and activities prepare students to use technology effectively, safely, and appropriately, all while building positive and empowering school climates. Nearpod’s social and emotional learning (SEL) activities and lessons highlight these core life skills.

4. School culture

A positive classroom and school culture are crucial to creating a welcoming and supportive environment inclusive for all students and their families. It’s helpful to set and share expectations at the beginning of the school year to emphasize what your goals are for your students. Level setting with such shared routines and procedures can help create a cohesive climate.

Invite all stakeholders to have an active role in your classroom. Encourage all stakeholders to model leadership with positive behavior and a can-do attitude or growth mindset. By focusing on forming authentic and caring relationships, you can motivate students on their learning journeys. And don’t forget to celebrate the daily small and big wins! With such dedication, schools can actualize a student-centered vision for all and implement effective instructional strategies.

Nearpod plays a significant role in connecting and building school and classroom culture through its various features and functionalities. Nearpod allows educators to see every student and create active learning experiences where every student participates through:

• Interactive lessons, videos, activities, and formative assessments 
• Dynamic media and gamification activities like Time to Climb
• Collaborate Boards that build connections through class discussions

5. Formative assessment

Formative assessment can help guide an educator on how best to keep each student on a personalized learning path. Such techniques—whether it is a simple thumbs up/thumbs down, a poll, an exit ticket, or a quiz—provide teachers with a plethora of data, allowing them to take a data-driven approach to designing meaningful learning experiences. Teachers can use this intel to monitor students and modify the next steps in instruction.

Does a lesson need to be revisited? Does the content need to be modeled in a different manner? How can you take students from comprehension to mastery? Data can range from active participation to a test score. Educators can look for patterns to best understand how individuals and small groups are progressing against learning objectives and goals. Formative assessment is a continuous process and bolsters designing elements of effective instruction.

With nine types of formative assessment tools within Nearpod, teachers can design interactive lessons that promote engagement and progress.

6. Real-time insights

Today’s technologies allow us to economize gathering student data across the curriculum so we can analyze and glean insights in real-time. Data can be visualized in many ways, making it easier for teachers to digest and act upon the insights effectively.

Teachers can monitor student progress more readily and provide immediate feedback when the child has a question or meets an obstacle. The value of immediate feedback is immense—students feel more self-aware, motivated, and confident. Such constructive feedback can thwart bad habits or misinformation from being further cemented. This feedback cycle encourages students to reflect more on their learning journey and rely on internal and external feedback.

Nearpod empowers teachers to effectively measure student understanding in real-time, enabling them to make instructional decisions at the moment. Having access to real-time insights, teachers can make more informed instructional decisions and visualize learning in various ways to drive instruction.

Nearpod keeps students and the learning process at the forefront of every class through:

• Formative assessments that provide real-time insights to guide instruction
• Post-session reports informing your next lesson
• Tool and content to scaffold instruction and meet students where they are

7. Differentiation

Meeting a child where they often mean a teacher has to be ready to differentiate instruction for lessons, whether that be to modify a particular activity to support a student better or add a layer of complexity to challenge another further. By understanding your students’ diverse learning needs, you can individualize your lesson plans to ensure immediate feedback, varied instances of practice, and increased engagement.

Similarly, schools often face a challenge of amassing and providing a rich diversity of resources for an equally diverse set of students. Educators seek to deliver high-interest resources so kids can go beyond the old adage of amassing knowledge that is a mile wide and an inch deep. Instead, they grow their depth of knowledge and expand their interests. Such resources encourage teachers to design effective instructional strategies and differentiate learning experiences so students have options and various ways to meet learning objectives through different paths and channels.

Nearpod’s quality content library plays a crucial role in supporting differentiation in the classroom. With over 22,000+ standards-based interactive lessons, activities, and videos, Nearpod gives educators the flexibility to meet students where they are in their learning journey. Teachers can easily tailor their instruction by selecting materials catering to different learning styles, abilities, and interests. Whether it’s providing additional challenges for advanced learners or offering extra support for struggling students, this content library lets teachers create personalized and engaging learning experiences that cater to the unique needs of each student.

Design effective instruction with Nearpod

Having these seven essential strategies as habits of mind when engaging in effective instructional planning will result in more dynamic classroom interactions. When it comes to personalized or individualized learning, technologies such as Nearpod support teachers in tailoring and targeting learning activities for each and every student. Nearpod’s all-in-one platform aids and supports teachers and students alike. From interactive lessons and videos to real-time student data, such experiences put the students in the driver’s seat and give them a sense of agency to become lifelong learners.

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.

Darri Stephens

Darri Stephens is a dedicated LX (learning experience) designer, passionate about creating quality content and programs for kids, families, and educators. With MAs in Education from both Harvard and Stanford, and work experience at best-in-class ed tech organizations including Wonder Workshop, Nickelodeon, and Common Sense Education, she is steeped in the design thinking process and committed to agile and iterative project management, which has resulted in multi-award-winning programs and products.

The post 7 Essential strategies for designing effective instruction 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.

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.

How can I make test prep review fun for students?

Utilizing technology in the classroom can support fun ways to prepare students for state testing to create a sense of excitement in any classroom. We must remember that our students are digital natives, and technology is second nature to them and their educational experiences. For many of our students, technology is expected, not an addition to their work at school. Children regularly use technology to communicate, share pictures and videos, and look up information that is pertinent to them. We must use this connection with technology, not fight it.

While it is vital that test prep activities are designed to engage all students, it is equally important that they also address and target standards for individual state testing assessments such as PARCC and CAASPP. Broad summative assessments only inform educators about one point in time. Students need to engage in a multitude of ongoing formative test prep assessments to ensure progress toward content mastery and confidence. Assessment variety should include gamification, categorizing, real-world connections, collaboration, multiple response type quizzes, and opportunities for students to engage in Social Emotional Learning (SEL) activities and brain breaks. 

5 Fun ways to review for test prep in the classroom

1. Spark excitement with educational games

Gamification in assessments can bring about an increase in student engagement. Friendly competition sparks excitement as well as engages students in an interactive setting. Time to Climb is an educational game appropriate for all ages of students. It can be used for targeted test prep linked to state testing requirements. Create your own review games and questions linked to a specific standard, or use an activity bank tied to specific learning targets.

Time to Climb allows students to receive immediate feedback on their progress through the activity. At the end of each timed question, students see if they got the correct answers or not. This immediate feedback will give them the information they need to be successful when answering the subsequent questions in the activity. Additionally, teachers can instantly see which students are being successful and which students need more support. You can even pause the activity in order to engage in a teachable moment if many students are struggling. Time To Climb is a great exit ticket or culminating checking for understanding activity during test prep season in order for you to be able to link progress or regression on a specific standard to an individual student.

2. Make learning interactive with Drag and Drop activities

Having students categorize information is a high-yield learning strategy. Key terms and vocabulary can be used in these activities to support test prep and content mastery. This type of activity supports learning by having students identify similarities and differences through categorizing, labeling, and matching.

Drag and Drop allows students to move either words and phrases or pictures into categories. One of the most powerful aspects of Drag and Drop is the ability to upload backgrounds. This helps to personalize the activity in order for teachers to target specific standards and learning goals. In using customized or downloaded backgrounds, students can drag and drop the names of capitals into states or countries, odd and even numbers into corresponding buckets, and vowel or consonant blends into words. Drag and Drop is a truly universal tool that can be used in all subject areas.

Matching Pairs activities give students the opportunity to connect vocabulary words with definitions, link together cause and effect properties, and practice math facts for faster memory recall. Take these test review activities for high school, elementary, and middle school students by having them submit their own vocabulary terms and content ideas for their peers to engage with. This creates a greater sense of learning ownership and inclusion.

3. Combine VR and simulations with interactive lessons

By using Nearpod in a test prep environment, students can annotate their thinking through interactive features such as the Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trip and PhET Simulations. By doing this, students are making their thinking visible to teachers and engaging in fun ways to review for a test. Combining these types of elements allows students to utilize higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy and reach the upper levels of Webb’s Depth of Knowledge.

For example, having students explore the tomb of Ramses III using VR Field Trips, noting the hieroglyphics on the walls. The teacher or individual students can take a screenshot of the hieroglyphics from the activity and post the picture on a Draw It slide. Students can then annotate their thinking on the picture by drawing on the slide or using a text box.

You can also take students on a nature walk using Virtual Reality (VR). On their exploration, students can identify certain types of foliage, ground coverings, and tree lines. By using a screenshot of the VR experience, students can then annotate on a Draw It to expand on their thoughts. By conducting this type of activity, students have more control and choice when it comes to their answers. 

The same notion can be applied to PhET Interactive math and science simulations. Students can complete the simulation and then take a screenshot of their work. For example, one of the simulations has students creating a shape with tiles of different areas and perimeters. Once students create these shapes, they can take a screenshot of their work, upload it to a Draw It, and then explain how each shape meets the required criteria.

4. Get real-time insights using multi-format quizzes

Multi-format quizzes are a more standard method of test prep. However, ensuring that data is tracked will help both teachers and students ensure that progress is being made. On Nearpod, Quiz content can be created to align with state testing standards and mirror testing formats of state assessments. Teachers can also monitor student performance data in real time from these formative assessments and address misconceptions at the moment.

Quizzes can be used in multiple ways to stimulate excitement and engagement in the classroom. Use quizzes for bell work as a way to both pre-assess as well as create an exit ticket to ensure that students leave for the day understanding the concepts covered during the instructional day.

One of the most powerful ways to support students while using quizzes is to insert reference media at the moment to give students a way to research the answer. Insert videos, websites, audio clips, pictures, and more alongside quiz questions to stimulate higher-level thinking. Mirror testing protocols from state and national assessments, getting students used to using different types of questions and answers format.

5. Temperature check the room with polls

Polls can be utilized to check the temperature of the room during test prep season. Create a Likert scale poll asking students how they are feeling about their level of knowledge of a certain content standard. This activity will help tests decide if they want to move forward with content delivery or pause to reteach certain elements. By having students self-assess their level of understanding, it helps to put them in the driver’s seat of their own learning journey. Leverage data-driven instruction and use the insights from students’ answers to create small groups for the next classroom review.

6. Make time for brain breaks!

Empirical research indicates that regular brain breaks from seat work help to increase knowledge retention and engagement during an activity. This is especially true in the younger grades, where teachers need to break instruction into small, digestible chunks in order to encourage retention at high levels.

Work in VR Field Trips into lessons that have students explore a beach, gardens, or other calming images to help relieve stress and to allow them to take a brain break. Students can then express their feelings in a Draw It or a Collaborate Board in order to support one another. Time To Climb can be another fun test prep idea to break up the stress of test prep by providing students with an entertaining, competitive outlet.

Another great way to give students a brain break is to bring movement into the classroom. Create a slide that takes students through a physical or breathing exercise, allowing them to disengage from academic work for a short period of time.

It’s time to make test prep review fun for you and your students

Test prep is often thought of as a necessary evil in education. However, Nearpod can make test prep interactive, engaging, and fun for all students, regardless of age or current ability. Access informative data to help inform the next steps with an instructional review or selecting individual students for reteach opportunities or intervention. By increasing engagement, teachers can get 100% of their students involved in test prep activities, leading to more successful learning outcomes 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.

David Franklin

Dr. David Franklin is District Strategy Consultant for Nearpod as well as an award winning school administrator, education professor, curriculum designer, and presenter. He earned a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from California State University, East Bay, a Master’s Degree in Education Technology from National University, and holds a B.A. in Music from the University of California, San Diego. Dr. Franklin is also an Adjunct  Professor of Education for Colorado State University. Dr. Franklin has presented at national and international education conferences and is a sought after presenter in the areas of academic intervention, school leadership, creating a shared vision, creating common assessments, and data analysis.

The post 6 Ways to make test prep review fun for students appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Formative assessments collect student data that provide insights teachers can use to inform the next set of instructional strategies, often making adjustments in real-time. Student assessment outcomes may indicate that teachers need to modify or even scrap their instructional plans in order to revisit or reteach concepts. There are many different types of assessments, from diagnostic assessments to summative assessments to authentic assessments. However, formative assessments are a common method teachers use for monitoring student progress daily.

Formative assessments provide teachers with real-time indicators of progress (or lack thereof) to make data-informed decisions when it comes to individualizing and personalizing instruction. These assessments can be active learning strategies—thumbs up or thumbs down, polls, quizzes, and the ever-popular “exit tickets.” But formative assessments are not just for teachers! They can also empower students using formative assessment to track progress themselves. Based on the frequency of formative assessments, students have more intel to drive their own learning journeys; they can seek out supplemental resources or practice materials depending on whether they are looking for more challenges or further support.

How to monitor student progress during a lesson

Teachers are ever observant and vigilant in monitoring student progress during a lesson. They can make observations about a student’s level and type of participation. They may use strategic questioning to gain evidence of student thinking and when tracking student progress. Many use active learning strategies such as think-pair-share to encourage collaborative learning and allow for peer-to-peer learning and feedback. Through such continuous analysis, teachers also can provide actionable feedback to students on an ongoing basis.

One of the hallmarks of Nearpod is that the comprehensive platform provides educators with real-time formative assessment data to monitor and modify instruction throughout the day. Allowing them to make “in the moment” instructional decisions to support student needs. Nearpod offers nine types of formative assessment:

• Drag & Drop
• Draw It
• Open-Ended Question 
• Quiz
• Poll
• Collaborate Board
• Fill in the Blanks
• Matching Pairs
• Time to Climb

The formative assessment data from these interactive features can be tracked whether a teacher is delivering a Live or Student-Paced Lesson lessons. When launching Live lessons, the content is synced across all student devices, allowing teachers to see every student and identify misconceptions. With Student-Paced lessons, students work at their own pace while teachers keep a finger on the pulse of individual students’ performance on activities, quizzes, and homework assignments. With both delivery methods, teachers can find comprehensive post-session reports via the Teacher Dashboard or downloadable CSV or PDF files.

During a Live lesson, click on Teacher View in the top right corner to see student responses to activities and assessments. You can share answers (anonymously, if you prefer) to highlight exemplars or address misconceptions. During a Student-Paced lesson, you can “View Progress” via a lesson code for any student in real-time.

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.

7 Tips for monitoring student progress with real-time formative assessment data

1. Choose the formative assessments that will provide the right insights

As mentioned above, formative assessments vary in format from strategic questioning and observations to engaging activities and assessments. Teachers employ multiple techniques and strategies depending on the format, content, and cadence of their lesson plans. The key is to pepper formative assessments throughout instruction so that students are actively participating and you are receiving feedback about individuals and the whole group.

Nearpod offers a variety of features that can help teachers use formative assessments when monitoring student progress throughout lessons. Consider how you might use Polls during an anticipatory activity to gauge prior knowledge of a new concept. Then, weave in an activity learning strategy like Collaborate Board throughout a lesson for quick checks of understanding. As an exit ticket, create a short multiple-choice Quiz or ask an Open-Ended Question to evaluate whether student learning objectives were achieved (and by whom!). These insights can help with data-driven instruction methods.

2. Embed formative assessments into lessons or stand-alone activities

Formative assessments can be bite-sized as well as more comprehensive. The trick is to immerse yourself in the many formative assessment strategies (see these active learning best practices to start) so that they become natural touchpoints for you to depend on throughout your daily instruction. Many say that teachers have eyes in the back of their heads, and while this sixth sense can help with classroom management, it can also help progress students toward reaching their goals.

Within a single Nearpod lesson, you can add a slide featuring a quick interactive check for understanding, like Fill in the Blank, or you can use Time to Climb to conclude a lesson with a bit of fun competition. Or, you might design a learning experience around a single activity. For instance, you could use Draw It to kick off a K-W-L chart or a Collaborate Board to capture small group work on a particular concept or problem. On Draw It, teachers can view students’ responses and data in real-time and share responses on students’ screens for discussions.

3. Provide feedback to individual students

Formative assessments provide teachers with rich data; then, the question can be, “Now what?” In addition to leveraging formative assessment data to design the next steps in instruction or even for planning a reteach, you can also intervene in the moment with targeted feedback. A continuous feedback cycle ensures that students stay engaged as you support them and boost motivation to strive toward their goals.

Nearpod’s feedback feature, Live Teacher Feedback, helps you provide such a continuous feedback cycle so that students don’t have to wait for support, encouragement, and praise. You can expand the toolbar on Draw It to add stickers or annotations to students’ work and responses within Nearpod. Screenshots of your feedback will appear in the associated student reports and notes as well. Students will be able to see your feedback in real-time, which helps them learn from errors and misconceptions, ask questions, and try different strategies.

4. Share student work

Many teachers appreciate the notion of “show what you know” when it comes to asking students to demonstrate their understanding, proficiency, and mastery of a new concept or skill by sharing their work. Teachers can use examples of student work to highlight where common missteps can occur. They also can share examples to showcase exemplary work or to applaud innovative thinking or self-expression.

Students can submit their work using the variety of interactive activities found in Nearpod. Tools like Draw It provide students a choice in how they demonstrate their learning based on their ability or preference, through drawing, writing, typing, or images. Teachers can share student work on the devices to encourage them to demonstrate their skills while developing mastery. Collaborate Board encourages peer-to-peer learning as well as peer-to-peer feedback. This feature is used as a digital discussion board where students share responses using text or images while commented on with their peers’ posts. Both tools provide evidence of student thinking that the teacher can monitor and share with other students.

5. Monitor class performance to check understanding

Teachers strive for student engagement, but the reality is that students’ attention can wax and wane throughout a lesson for many reasons—from the commotion outside a school window to the lack of personal interest in a topic. Therefore, teachers are masterful at weaving checks for understanding throughout even an hour of instruction. They may incorporate subtle personalized learning strategies to gauge understanding while also giving students voice and choice about what to pursue so they can take ownership in furthering their learning, whether that be asking for more support or seeking out a new challenge.

Nearpod’s Teacher Dashboard provides a turnkey way for educators to check whether or not students have started an activity or lesson and how they are progressing. Having formative assessment data analysis for progress monitoring student growth means that you can make informed decisions in the moment about how to challenge or modify instruction for a student, a group of students, or the entire class. You may choose to pull one or many together for a quick mini-conference to individualize the learning a bit more.

6. Adjust learning in the moment

In a popular Friends episode, Ross yells out, “Pivot!” at the top of his lungs. Teachers are nimble and applauded for their flexibility in response to classroom needs. By continually weaving formative assessment strategies into monthly, weekly, and daily lesson plans, teachers can rely on real-time data analytics to make informed decisions about what to teach next and how to do so. Additionally, integrating tailored standardized test prep into these strategies empowers educators to effectively address and reinforce key concepts necessary for student success.

Remember, you can duplicate and modify any existing Nearpod lesson. You may choose to add more interactive activities on the fly to boost your formative assessment strategies within a particular lesson. During Live lessons, you can also launch the Whiteboard for a more collaborative and visual discussion. Also, you could use the Live Annotation feature to highlight, draw, or type on content slides in real time to encourage more interactivity and model for students.

7. Use lesson data to differentiate

Teachers know they have a diverse classroom when it comes to varying personalities, ages and stages of development, and ranges of abilities. The first day of school is filled with anticipation as teachers meet their learners often for the very first time. With such a group of individuals in mind, teachers nowadays avoid “teaching to the middle” regarding skills or being a “sage on the stage” preaching to the crowd. Instead, they try to personalize and individualize learning plans, so much of their lesson preparation is thinking of ways to differentiate instruction based on anticipated needs. 

The real-time data collection that Nearpod provides means that teachers can differentiate instruction, targeting support and challenges accordingly. Many teachers plan for such differentiation, yet the data means that they can employ such strategies as needed in the moment, preemptively avoiding frustration or disengagement. Nearpod empowers teachers to recognize and address differentiation and thereby provide a more tailored and targeted approach to instruction. Nearpod supports needs-based decision making in classrooms and schools, and aligns with intervention approaches such as response to intervention (RTI) and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS).

Start using Nearpod for monitoring student progress

Periodically reassessing goals is essential for both teachers and students, as goal setting can evolve or expand over time. Teachers’ and students’ goals can shift or stretch at any time, but it is best to take this moment to reflect on what the data says in order to make informed decisions for the last half of the year. Formative assessment examples can be a teacher’s best friend when it comes to encouraging student participation, connections, and confidence building. Student engagement grows when they make progress and their curiosity is sparked. Explore new ways to use Nearpod’s nine formative assessment tools during the rest of this school year to help you monitor progress and enhance instruction.

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.

Darri Stephens

Darri Stephens is a dedicated LX (learning experience) designer, passionate about creating quality content and programs for kids, families, and educators. With MAs in Education from both Harvard and Stanford, and work experience at best-in-class ed tech organizations including Wonder Workshop, Nickelodeon, and Common Sense Education, she is steeped in the design thinking process and committed to agile and iterative project management, which has resulted in multi-award-winning programs and products.

The post How to monitor student progress with real-time formative assessment data appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

What is personalized learning?

The definition of personalized learning can vary. However, the U.S. Department of Education (2016) describes personalized learning as “instruction in which the pace of learning and the instructional approach are optimized for the needs of each learner. Learning objectives, instructional approaches, and instructional content (and its sequencing) all may vary based on learner needs.” The shift is in making instruction less teacher-centered and more student-driven. Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClaskey outline in their Stages of Personalized Learning Environments (PLE), Version 5 how agency is developed through seven elements: voice, choice, engagement, motivation, ownership, purpose, and self-efficacy.

This notion of agency goes hand in hand with personalized learning. Agency speaks to someone feeling they have control of and influence over their behaviors and actions; they feel they have the capacity or the ability to “get there” on their own. Personalized learning is often indiscriminately exchanged with individualized learning or independent learning, yet the terms vary just a bit in terms of intention. With personalized learning, the goal of instilling a sense of agency is foremost in educators’ minds. Personalized learning starts with the learner.

What are the benefits of personalized learning for students?

Due to the varying approaches to and definitions of personalized learning instruction, the body of research is slowly growing yet promising. However, it is commonly believed that the benefits include improved student outcomes and changes in attitudes, motivations, and behaviors. Early research by RAND Corporation and the Gates Foundation found positive indicators of student achievement. By the end of the 2014-15 school year, students who participated in personalized learning experienced a 3% improvement in both mathematics and reading. Particularly, those who began below the national average made substantial progress, nearing and eventually surpassing the national norms within two years. Regardless of achievement level, all students passed their comparison students in reading and math performance.

The role of technology in personalized learning

Technology plays a key role in personalized learning. One of the benefits of today’s modern technologies is the platforms, products, and tools that remove barriers so teachers can reach each and every individual student. With technological advancement, instruction can follow the learner’s lead and support with more individualized materials. Plus, with a much broader access to content, learning becomes more personalized to address the learner’s interests and curiosities. Technology allows for continuous monitoring and modifications, empowering educators to make more data-informed decisions.

Nearpod, a comprehensive K-12 platform, gives teachers personalized learning technology through its tools to actively engage students across the curriculum through its vast library of lessons and activities and its interactive features.

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.

How to create a personalized learning plan using student agency examples

1. Voice

Often, teachers may talk about giving students “voice and choice” in the classroom when it comes to personalizing learning. The voice aspect speaks (literally!) to allowing students to share opinions and perspectives on what they want to learn about. What do they want to dig into? What do they have questions about? How do they want to learn more? By tapping into a child’s passions and curiosities, educators take an interest-driven approach to education. A turnkey example is found in many elementary classrooms when teachers give their students time for “Free Choice Friday,” a block of time during which students can engage in one of several learning centers or activity options. Students become contributing participants in their own learning journey.

Nearpod is a comprehensive learning platform in part because of the wealth of lessons and activities it provides. You can use Nearpod’s interactive assessment features to gain insight into what students want to learn more about. Use tools like Collaborate Board, Polls, or Open-Ended Questions to ask this question and see student responses in real time.

Next, search the lesson library to find a lesson that aligns with students’ interests. Across the subject areas and grade levels, Nearpod has a robust library of content to support diverse interests. You can use these lessons as they are or use them as inspiration to create your own. Teachers can search by keyword or filter by standard or publisher, making it simple to find content on a particular topic to feed a child’s hunger for more knowledge. This high-interest, quality content can lead to further engagement and a sense of ownership, responsibility, and increased self-efficacy. This can also lead to improved self-regulation behaviors and practices.

2. Choice

Hand in hand with voice comes choice. By positioning students in the driver’s seat of their own academic success, you can further students’ sense of accountability. They become more invested when they can follow their passions and make and determine what they want to consume and when. Such “voice and choice” increases a student’s commitment to and investment in learning. They begin to employ higher-thinking skills to set higher expectations for themselves. With this deeper engagement, students are more likely to face and work through challenges and setbacks more successfully.

In personalized learning, the learner often chooses or even creates the customized learning activity. Through Nearpod, you can share lesson codes on a choice board and encourage the learner to pick one to pursue at a learning center. Through Collaborate Board, you can present open-ended assignments, focus on project-based learning strategies, or weave in authentic assessment strategies for students. Personalized learning can achieve the same learning objectives but in a variety of different ways.

3. Engagement

Ask any teacher, and they will say that student engagement is a daily goal for their instruction. Without it, teachers have an uphill battle to convince, cajole, and persuade students to be interested and involved. Active learning is a key ingredient to a successful recipe for classroom engagement. With student engagement comes intrinsic motivation to commit to becoming a lifelong learner. Such engagement increases when educators embrace the benefits of personalized learning.

Nearpod has features to create engaging quizzes to check for understanding, exit quizzes, or summative tests. These formative assessment techniques can help you take a more personalized approach to providing support and more challenges to those who need it. With Nearpod’s real-time data, you have insights into which concepts and skills students are grasping or still struggling with.

4. Motivation

While we as educators can provide gold stars and other forms of extrinsic motivation, we all aspire to build students’ intrinsic motivation. Personalized learning plans seek to discover and encourage individuals’ personal passions and interests. We try to find ways to let the student lead their own learning by delving into what they are curious about, seeking out answers to their own questions, and finding personal satisfaction by having that “aha” moment on their own. According to Ryan & Deci, 2020, a child who is more intrinsically motivated tends to be more participatory, more attentive, and more engaged. Such involvement can then lead to more enthusiasm as well as better performance.

Not only can teachers find a wide breadth of content, but the interactive content addresses multiple learning styles, encouraging students to consume, connect, and create in a way that speaks to their strengths. Nearpod offers gamification to help motivate students to do their very best. Interactive activities like the Time to Climb quiz game help increase engagement and friendly competition while assessing student understanding. Such interactivity can bolster intrinsic and extrinsic motivation by providing feedback, encouragement, or reinforcement for completing a task well. You can find premade Time to Climb quizzes in the Lesson Library or create your own.

5. Ownership

Student ownership is just as it sounds—it is when students believe that they are in control of their learning and have a say in their own education. A sense of ownership comes from an established relationship between teachers and students that is based on mutual respect and trust. Teachers work diligently to create such a safe and positive classroom culture. According to the American Psychological Association: “When students feel a sense of ownership, they want to engage in academic tasks and persist in learning.” Many teachers build such a culture by having regular check-ins and mini-conferences with the students. This helps them understand where students are in the learning process, what they need to work on, and how best to achieve success. This pride of ownership translates into a sense of autonomy and independence that has benefits far beyond the classroom’s walls.

Nearpod encourages ownership by helping students reflect on their own learning needs at their own pace with the Student-Paced mode. During any Student-Paced lesson, students can take their time completing formative assessments and exploring informational slides, videos, VR Field Trips, or PhET simulations to cement their learning. This flexibility celebrates students’ achievements as they reach them, unencumbered by time constraints or peer pressures. A student’s sense of ownership complements and plays into the other elements of a personalized learning plan.

6. Purpose

All individuals, young and old, aspire to have a sense of purpose. As kids grow developmentally, they want to make sense of the world and find their place in it. Purpose in the classroom can come through understanding how learned skills have applicability to the real world, today’s society, and tomorrow’s professional dreams. Every teacher has probably heard the resounding refrain, “Why do I need to learn this?” By showcasing how activities and projects can build one’s readiness for life outside of school, students will develop a more sound sense of purpose when it comes to learning.

To support students in defining a sense of purpose, Nearpod can support teachers in providing a continuous feedback loop. Nearpod eases the friction of providing diverse content and adaptive interactivity by offering many different assessment tools. Using tools like Polls and Multiple-Choice Questions, students can self-check their understanding of a topic and gauge their progress toward goals. Couple quantitative data with live teacher input, and students receive continuous feedback to help personalize their instruction. Timely feedback means a student can practice and implement the feedback as immediate next steps, with no gap. The new teacher-to-student feedback feature on Draw It permits teachers to intervene immediately, identify misconceptions, or provide additional support to boost student engagement and achievement. Students will begin to develop their own sense of purpose when it comes to learning.

7. Self-efficacy

Name that movie: “If you build it, he will come.” In Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner’s character exhibited great self-efficacy. At its core, self-efficacy is an individual’s belief in or perception of their ability to reach goals based on their own competencies and behaviors. Therefore, self-efficacy is closely tied to one’s sense of aspirations. However, there are many influencing factors such as past experiences, modeling by and feedback from others, and one’s own emotional state. Students need to develop a strong sense of self-efficacy for academic success and personal well-being. Such self-confidence will help them find success not only in the classroom but in life.

Nearpod offers a suite of resources called the 21st Century Readiness Program. Within this program, teachers can take advantage of social and emotional learning (SEL) materials from trusted organizations like Common Sense Education and more. Over 400 SEL lessons, activities, and videos underscore CASEL’s five core competencies. These SEL lessons and activities will encourage students to set lofty goals, build their confidence, and persevere through setbacks.

8. Targeted instruction

When it comes to targeted instruction, teachers align goals to students’ needs and vice versa. It is a continuous process in which educators must rely on data (in conjunction with a teacher’s intuition) through observations and assessments. Such intel then informs shifts and revisions to one’s learning plans. Targeted instruction is nuanced and requires a hefty dose of flexibility.

Nearpod supports targeted instruction because a wide range of content can be delivered to a whole class or individuals, all within the same instructional period. Nearpod’s real-time data and post-session reports give teachers a tangible dashboard of progress—or lack thereof—with a lesson and provide them with options for addressing the most diverse needs. As targeted instruction is a core pillar of personalized learning, do remember to celebrate even the small wins to develop that intrinsic motivation.

Start using Nearpod to create a personalized learning plan

As with most teaching endeavors, a hallmark of good personalized learning is getting to know your students, both academically and personally. Remember to ask a lot of questions and keep copious notes. This will help you hone your approach to reaching each and every child. Share personalized learning examples with your staff regarding voice and choice, engagement, motivation, ownership, purpose, and self-efficacy. Encourage students to become agents in their own learning pursuits. Showcase how such an investment in time and effort can yield exponential results regarding progress and enthusiasm for learning overall.

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.

Darri Stephens

Darri Stephens is a dedicated LX (learning experience) designer, passionate about creating quality content and programs for kids, families, and educators. With MAs in Education from both Harvard and Stanford, and work experience at best-in-class ed tech organizations including Wonder Workshop, Nickelodeon, and Common Sense Education, she is steeped in the design thinking process and committed to agile and iterative project management, which has resulted in multi-award-winning programs and products.

The post How to create a personalized learning plan using student agency examples appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

How to make your own interactive Drag and Drop activity

Nearpod’s Drag and Drop activity allows students to sort, order, or label images or text sequentially or in groups. Educators can choose from an ever-growing collection of premade activities or create customized activities to meet specific classroom needs. To create your own, you can add a content background image and customize draggable items for the activity. When paired with all of Nearpod’s interactive slides-based lessons, interactive videos, and other gamification and activities, this feature gives teachers many tools to meet the needs of diverse learners.

*Drag and Drop is only available with a Gold, Platinum, or School/District account.

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.

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

5 Ways to use Drag and Drop activity maker in the classroom

1. Label diagrams, images, and maps

With seemingly unlimited possibilities, these activities provide a visual and interactive learning opportunity, increase student engagement, and encourage retention. Start off by labeling diagrams, images, maps, patterns, and cycles. Here are some examples you can use in your classroom:

• Geography: Label the continents, oceans, and state flags
• Science: Label the parts of a plant, the parts of the brain, or the parts of an animal cell
• English Language Arts (ELA): Label the parts of speech in a sentence.

Here are some premade activities you can use:

• Locating & Identifying States: Northwestern States (Grades 3-5): In this activity, students identify the location of and label five northwestern states.
• Labeling the Parts of a Plant (Grade 4): Students can practice reading about and identifying the different parts of a plant.
• Labeling Parts of the Brain (Grades 9-12): Have students showcase their understanding of the brain by dragging labels to their correct positions.

2. Sequence events and information

Use a Drag and Drop activity maker to sequence events, steps, procedures, and information. Here are some examples you can use in your classroom:

• Social studies: Sequence the events leading up to the American Revolution
• English Language Arts (ELA): Sequence the order of events in a story: the beginning, middle, and end.
• Math: Sequence a collection of fractions on a number line

Here are some premade activities you can use:

• Representing the Numbers 14, 15, 16 (Grades K-1): In this Math activity, students will engage in practicing various methods of representing numbers using draggable objects.
• A Key Events Timeline: The Formation of the Union (Grades 6-8): Students show their understanding of crucial events that paved the way for the union’s establishment.
• Story Elements (Grades 6-8): Students will read a passage and identify the story elements.

3. Sort concepts and categories

Here are some examples you can use in your classroom to sort concepts, characteristics, properties, and categories:

• Science: Sort animals into groups, the five senses, and elements of the Periodic Table.
• Social studies: Sort the causes and effects of WWII and the powers of the three branches of government.
• Social emotional learning: Sort the steps for goal setting, categorizing emotions, and examples of empathetic and non-empathetic statements.

Here are some premade activities you can use:

• Local, State & National Government (Grades 3-5): Students explore the roles and selection processes of government officials at the local, state, and national levels and identify their services.
• Identifying Congruent Triangles (Grades 9-12): Students can sort triangles based on their characteristics
• Recognizing Emotions (Grades 6-8)*: Students identify how different situations can induce different emotions by ranking how they may feel in different scenarios.

*This lesson is only available on Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program.

4. Gather student responses to assess knowledge and gauge understanding

Providing students with timely feedback and support based on formative assessments is a highly effective way to enhance and improve a student’s learning. When teachers can create opportunities for feedback on a consistent basis, learning can reach a whole new level. Consider gathering feedback beyond the traditional assessment methods.

Create Drag and Drop game as an end-of-lesson or mid-lesson metacognitive check-in, gauge how students feel about learning a specific topic, or check in about the difficulty level of a homework assignment. These activities can aid students in indicating stress or focus levels or whether they find a lesson interesting or challenging.

5. Set expectations for learning and establish routines and procedures

Imagine having a tool that actively engages your students in understanding and establishing routines and procedures to allow your students to participate in building the classroom community. This will help create opportunities for students to become active participants in the classroom. Use interactive activities to sequence classroom procedures, gauge student understanding of classroom rules and policies, and take a snapshot of the level of excitement for a particular topic in the daily class agenda.

Use Nearpod’s interactive activities

As students physically engage with concepts through Drag and Drop elearning games, learning will be transformed into an immersive experience. These activities will prove to be a powerful EdTech tool in the classroom, enhancing learning and building stronger connections between teachers and learners and among classmates. Be sure to make these activities an integral part of instruction this school year and take advantage of our ready-to-launch standards-aligned activities, growing into the hundreds throughout this fall.

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.

Jessica Clarke

Jessica Clarke is the Curriculum Manager at Nearpod.

The post 5 Ways to use Drag and Drop activity maker in the classroom appeared first on Nearpod Blog.