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

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

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

Join us for Camp Engage: Back to School!

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

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

10 ways to use Nearpod in the classroom

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

1. Simple presentation delivery

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

2. Personalized provision and differentiation

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

3. Distributing student resources

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

4. Live formative assessment

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

5. Interactive gamification and activities

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

6. Self-assessment

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

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

7. Modeling

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

8. Open-ended tasks

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

9. Setting homework

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

10. Sharing and using pre-made resources

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

Get started using Nearpod

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

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

Interested in downloading a PDF version of this resource? Download to access at any time and share with colleagues!

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Nearpod Team

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

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When I started using Nearpod, I realized that differentiating my classroom didn’t have to be this complicated or this messy! In my kindergarten classroom, I’ve created digital differentiated literacy centers with Nearpod that are super engaging and easy to use, resulting in an engaging learning experience. Plus, every student can be working on a task at their own level with minimal prep on my part.

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.

Differentiating instruction in kindergarten with Nearpod

Here’s how it works

In Nearpod, I found a few different lessons in the lesson library and also created a few of my own. Each one addressed a different word or work skill that my differentiated kindergarten classroom needed to practice. For example, this week, I prepped a lesson on sight words for my on-level students, a review lesson on letter sounds for my strugglers, and a lesson on digraphs for those who were ready for a challenge. You’ll see the different lessons at the top of my Nearpod library, which is pictured below.

Every lesson from Nearpod’s lesson library is editable. If you find a lesson that is not quite what you need, you can edit it! Then, once I have all my lessons ready in my library, I launch each of them as “Student-Paced” so that they can access it during centers for the entire week and work on it independently. I typically do this on Sunday nights or Monday mornings before the students arrive.

How I differentiate for my students

When doing differentiated kindergarten centers, I first create small group of students by ability and assign an index card for each group for their specific lesson. Then, I write the lesson code for their version of word work on that card as well. That way, during center time, students can quickly find and enter the lesson code that is right for them, and I don’t need to be there to help them. (If you’ve ever taught kindergarten, you know that anything your students can do without you is a dream come true!)

From this point on, everything is smooth sailing! During center time, my Word Work center students grab their iPads, type their own code into Nearpod and are instantly able to work on activities on their own level. You’ll see below that two students are sitting in the same group at that same table, but are doing two totally different activities, each at their own level and pace. I’ve even noticed a huge decrease in off-task behavior since starting these centers because Nearpod lessons are so engaging and fun!

Once students finish the lesson, all their work is saved for me in my Nearpod reports (Goodbye piles of worksheets!) That way, I can use it as accountability for center time AND as a formative assessment for those specific literacy skills. I don’t know about you, but anything that accomplishes multiple tasks at once is a winner in my classroom! I love having those reports available to quickly and easily assess student learning. Whether you’re planning centers for differentiated reading instruction or other core subjects, Nearpod will you accommodate the diverse range of learning styles in every classroom.

Benefits of differentiating instruction for kindergarten using Nearpod

It’s easy to see why Nearpod Centers have quickly become a favorite for both me and my students. But in case you’re still not convinced, here are my top 4 reasons you should give differentiated centers a try!

• Allows for fast, low-prep differentiation – No more waiting in line at the copier!!!
• Nearpod Library has thousands of existing lessons ready to be assigned to your students
• Students are more engaged because they’re working on exciting digital tasks that are just right for them
• Reports are saved in real-time and can be used as formative assessment (and it’s saved in Nearpod for you, so you can’t misplace it!)

In today’s dynamic kindergarten learning environment, educators are constantly seeking innovative tools to engage young learners. Nearpod emerges as a game-changer, seamlessly integrating student interest into lessons aligned with the Common Core standards. Through its interactive platform, the learning process becomes a captivating journey tailored to individual needs, catering even to struggling learners.

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.

Kali Guinn

Kali is a tech-savvy elementary teacher whose passion for all things STEM fuels her innovation in the classroom and inspires other teachers to begin their own #edtech adventures.

elementarygeek.com

The post Differentiating instruction in kindergarten with Nearpod appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

New to Nearpod? Schedule a quick call with one of our experts to learn more about Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program!

The positive impact of digital citizenship instruction in K-12

Julia Maynard: 6th-grade teacher, Willie Brown Middle School, San Francisco Unified School District, San Francisco, CA

Julia Maynard is a sixth-grade teacher at Willie Brown Middle School in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco. She has been teaching middle school for 10 years as an English, history, and humanities teacher. She currently teaches history and a technology class.

Keep reading to learn from Julia how digital citizenship impacted her classroom.

Overcoming challenges with online behavior

“Most adults don’t know how to protect themselves online, and we’re expected to teach the principles of online safety and responsibility to our students. It’s not something most teachers grew up with, and it’s also something that parents oftentimes don’t know how to talk to kids about. My kids posted inappropriate things on Instagram, students made fake accounts, and, unfortunately, students shared inappropriate pictures and texts with each other. They don’t realize that what they send can’t be taken back and can be hurtful to their classmates. It was a big problem in the school last year, and this year the digital citizenship curriculum has helped our students think about these issues in a new way. 

Additionally, as many middle school teachers know, students can sometimes be mean to each other. They’re not sure how to relate to each other, and when they don’t have face-to-face interaction, it’s a lot easier to be mean. Kids don’t really think about their actions online the same way they think about their actions in person, and this curriculum has helped bridge that gap. 

In general, the most challenging part of my job is finding ways to get kids engaged and keep them motivated to learn. Finding things that pique their interest while trying to compete with cell phones and video games is a challenging task. Most of my students come to school with devices that are unlocked and interconnected, yet we (school staff) expect them to do exactly what we want them to do, not what they normally do when they have those devices.”

How Julia used Nearpod to teach digital citizenship

“I’ve used Nearpod for a long time and was excited when we found out that we had access to extra features and curriculum through the SFUSD license. Nearpod is awesome because it delivers the lesson to the student’s hands. I don’t have to worry about the kids who are sitting in the back or kids who are shy, everyone is on the same playing field. There’s instant engagement when kids can share their work, I can share their answers back to the class, and I can poll the class to see how they’re feeling. All of the kids answer all of the questions, and I get to see what they know and how they’re progressing with new information in real-time.

Digital citizenship is such an important topic to cover with students, and with Nearpod, it’s easy to teach. The Nearpod and Common Sense Digital Citizenship lessons that come with the 21st Century Readiness Program are high-quality resources. There are a lot of topics that I wouldn’t have thought to discuss with my students, but the curriculum is comprehensive. On Nearpod, the lessons are great because I can download, review, and teach immediately! There’s minimal prep work, I don’t have to spend a lot of time researching and curating resources, and the lessons are easy to use with students. Additionally, kids have multiple ways to answer questions and demonstrate an understanding of key concepts.”

Building a positive community through digital citizenship

“One of the things that surprised me about this curriculum was the strong community-building aspect. Not simply building a digital community but building community in the classroom, too. We continue to teach even more digital citizenship lessons because it’s a great way to build a positive community. We have a brand-new school, so at the same time, we’re building a curriculum for the year, and we’re building school culture and community, too. Finding ways to facilitate serious conversations has made a noticeable difference in how my kids talk to and interact with each other.”

“We continue to teach even more digital citizenship lessons because it’s a great way to build a positive community.”

Julia Maynard

Alex Springer-Post: K-5 Instructional Technology Coach, Seldens Landing Elementary School, Loudoun County, Virginia

Alex is a K-5 instructional technology coach in Loudoun County Public Schools in Virginia. She previously taught in North Carolina and West Virginia, where she was the first teacher in a computer lab at her school.

Keep reading to learn what Alex has to say about teaching digital citizenship.

Teaching students the importance of digital citizenship

“Our students are on the Internet every day. When I talk to younger students, even my K-2 students, they’re playing games, and a lot of games have the ability to chat. I asked my second graders, “Have you seen anyone write a mean comment to someone else online?” Unfortunately, I’ve started to skip over that question because the answer is nearly 100% yes. Some of them were scared, some of them didn’t know what to do in that situation, and they didn’t want to tell their parents because oftentimes they’d lose their devices.

The concept of a “digital footprint” is great to introduce younger students to because many of them already share their words online and are leaving a footprint behind. It may not be attached to them because they usually don’t share their private information, but they have to know that future employers, colleagues, friends, and loved ones have the ability to find things you said or did when you were younger, and what they do or say now has the ability to impact their future.”

How I use Nearpod to teach digital citizenship

“Before I used the Nearpod Digital Citizenship curriculum, I had students sit in a circle on the floor to complete pencil and paper digital citizenship activities, and a few students raised their hands to add to the discussion. With Nearpod, more kids participate, and more of them feel comfortable contributing to the lesson.

There’s safety in Nearpod, and my class has been impacted in a positive way. I have a student with selective mutism who can now participate and share his thoughts in the lesson! I share student responses, but I keep the responses anonymous so we’re able to stay on topic and keep the discussion focused. Lots of students are excited when I share their answers, so they aren’t afraid to take credit. In my classroom, I set the expectation that students don’t call each other out, and Nearpod helps to encourage that expectation.

When we’re dealing with topics like media literacy, digital drama, self-identity, and cyberbullying, Nearpod is especially helpful because students are more comfortable sharing answers that are personal or scary to them. My students don’t have to raise their hands and broadcast their answers to everybody, but they also don’t have to search for me afterward if they need to explain something. They can share their thoughts and feelings without feeling self-conscious. Some of the topics are especially sensitive because kids don’t want to seem “uncool,” admit that they were hurt, or that someone made fun of them.”

The impactful results

“In my 5th-grade class, we completed a “Power of Words” lesson, and it was interesting to see the way students reacted to cyberbullying and the difference between each class. I had one class last year that was a challenging group. In one of the Digital Citizenship lessons, students were asked to agree or disagree with the statement, “Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt me.” 65% of the class thought that this was a true statement, and many of these kids had no idea the impact their words could have on others!”

“It sparked an interesting and productive conversation and also enlightened the rest of my colleagues about the importance of being attentive and intentional regarding students’ choice of language. Our class discussion about the impact words can have on others hit home with many students, who realized that they have been hurt by the words of others, and then made the connection to what they were saying and posting online. The connections they were making between in-person and online interactions were so productive for how they treated each other moving forward.

No one wanted the lesson to end. When it was over, many questioned, “Class is over already!?” How often does that happen as a teacher? After my students left class, they treated each other with a higher level of respect, and they were more likely to take each other’s feelings into consideration when choosing what to say online or off.”

“No one wanted the lesson to end. When it was over, many questioned “class is over already!?” How often does that happen as a teacher?”

Alex Springer-Post

Harmony Cano: Educational technology coach. Pasadena Unified School District, Pasadena, CA

Harmony is one of two education technology coaches in Pasadena Unified School District, serving 30 school sites and 1000+ teachers across the district. She previously taught middle school social studies and ELA in Pasadena.

Keep reading to learn about the impact digital citizenship instruction had on Harmony’s students.

District-wide benefits of using Nearpod’s 21st Century Program

“I’m one of two education technology coaches in Pasadena Unified School District. My colleague and I help 1000+ teachers at 30 school sites with classroom technology integration. Since we have so many school sites and there are only two of us in the district, it’s challenging to get out to all the sites to create a curriculum and assist with hands-on technology integration. We used the Common Sense Digital Citizenship curriculum before we used the Nearpod & Common Sense curriculum. Before the Nearpod curriculum launched, it was overwhelming for teachers to use the curriculum and challenging for us to coordinate. Common Sense & Nearpod’s partnership has been a huge asset to our district.

The curriculum is delivered in a way that’s student and teacher-friendly. There is minimal prep time for teachers, the lesson plans are easy to follow, teachers can preview the lessons, and there are interactive activities and links to other resources that teachers can use.”

The Nearpod platform has helped our small technology team deploy digital citizenship lessons to teachers around the district, whereas beforehand, distributing the lessons to 1000+ teachers every year was a difficult task! With this curriculum, it was easy to build a library of digital citizenship lessons in our district Nearpod account, where teachers accessed and downloaded the lessons in a ready-to-teach format. Additionally, we now have reports in Nearpod that we can send to the state, and Nearpod has helped tremendously with the paperwork we have to complete for e-rate compliance.

It has made life easier for everyone, and the digital citizenship roll-out in our district has been a success. The way this curriculum is built makes it easy for everyone involved.

Harmony Cano

Efficient lesson prep

“The teachers’ favorite aspect of the lessons is how age-appropriate they are. Teachers don’t have to plan the lessons and consider how to approach the principles of digital citizenship for different age groups. The students are really engaged, and developmentally the lessons catch the students’ attention. They can easily access and interact with the curriculum, and they feel like they’re learning from their peers because there are videos from kids their age, and teachers can easily share responses from their classmates. We love the curriculum, and we’re excited and blessed to have it. I look forward to continuing to use this great resource from Nearpod & Common Sense!”

Amy Klabunde: School technology lead & computer lab teacher, Baltimore City Public Schools

Amy is a 15-year veteran educator in Baltimore City Public Schools. She is currently a school technology leader and a computer lab teacher for a Title 1 school in Baltimore.

Keep reading to learn how Amy used Nearpod to teach digital citizenship.

How I use Nearpod to teach digital citizenship

“With the digital citizenship curriculum, I rarely need to supplement or modify the lessons. Even my eighth graders, who often think they’re “too cool for school,” get excited about the next activity in the lesson. They look forward to learning the key concepts, and they’re excited about how much they get to participate and voice their opinions. Before I found the Nearpod & Common Sense digital citizenship curriculum, it took me at least an hour to plan for each digital citizenship lesson because I had to make sure every website worked, think through the flow and timing of the lesson, and build in procedural time for directing students to online resources. But with the Nearpod and Common Sense curriculum, everything is packaged together, and it’s easy for my kids to understand. The curriculum developers definitely understand how to be age-appropriate and sensitive to the developmental stages of my students.“

Leveraging student-paced Nearpod digital citizenship lessons

A lot of the curriculum in my technology class is related to digital citizenship. My district wants our kids to understand that the Internet can be very helpful, but it’s a place where they have to be thoughtful, careful, and responsible. Nearpod’s student-paced option for teaching digital citizenship lessons is amazing, especially because I teach students who have vastly different reading levels and writing skills. Initially, with the live participation option, it was challenging to keep everyone on the same page. Now students can complete activities at a pace where they feel comfortable. Other students can take extra time and ask clarifying questions, while the rest of the class can progress without frustration or too much idle time. The student-paced option has made this school year so much better because my kids feel more in control of their learning.

Digital Footprint lessons

“With the Nearpod and Common Sense digital citizenship curriculum, I’ve seen a lot of changes in my students. The curriculum itself encourages students to think about their presence on the internet. I recently completed the “Who’s Looking at Your Digital Footprint?” lesson with my 8th graders. We started the lesson with the prompt, “Google your name and see what appears.” Some of the students were very upset about what they found publicly available about themselves. They asked, “Why did my Facebook page pop up? Why did my Twitter profile pop up? Anyone can see this?!” Many were not aware of privacy settings or what data could be accessed by billions of people around the world on the internet.

Before I led the digital footprint lesson, a lot of my students didn’t understand what it meant to have a digital footprint. They didn’t grasp that their comments, posts, and pictures on the Internet could last forever. The curriculum is great because it makes kids think and reflect on their actions online and offline. During the digital footprint lesson, students reflected on the question, “Am I the person I see on the Internet when I Google my name? Is this how I want to present myself to the world?”

After the lesson, my students began to understand that there’s a difference between making themselves look “cool” and purposefully sharing what they post on the internet. That made me happy because a lot of kids think that the purpose of Facebook and Instagram is to show off and put on a facade, but that’s not necessarily the best representation of themselves.

The next step for my class was to create a “digital footprint,” where we each made a physical footprint that doubled as an infographic to hang outside of my classroom. The footprint included how my kids wanted to represent themselves to others online.”

Reducing cyberbullying

“We had cyberbullying occur a lot last year. Kids wrote negative comments about other students online and thought it was private or that teachers and parents wouldn’t discover it. The cyberbullying spilled into the school building, causing fights in the hallway after school. When we investigated what caused the problems, it often stemmed from comments or posts on social media.

Once we discussed the specifics of cyberbullying, digital identity, and digital footprint, my students realized that their words online could have a negative impact on their classmates. They understood the permanence of their comments and built up empathy for what it would be like on the other side of the bullying situation. Having these conversations as a class has made a big difference in how the kids think and act when they’re online.”

“A lot of our social media drama has declined since we made an effort to teach digital citizenship.”

Amy Klabunde

Impact on school culture

“Discussing digital citizenship makes our lives as teachers a lot less complicated as we’re not trying to mediate issues that we don’t even know about. We’re not friends with our kids on Facebook or Snapchat, so we don’t know about problems that start online, and we’re taken by surprise when the problems enter the building.

Since we’re now proactive about these topics, kids can identify and solve problems online before they escalate. Now, it’s impossible to know if all of the students are behaving appropriately online all the time, but online issues have not spilled over into the school building this year, which creates a safer environment for our kids. Teaching digital citizenship on Nearpod makes my students feel like they can express themselves honestly and not feel embarrassed or scared of the reactions of others. That makes Nearpod lessons much more powerful than paper-based lessons because the kids have an added sense of security to be themselves because their answers will be shared anonymously.”

Start teaching digital citizenship with Nearpod

As these educators have highlighted, Nearpod’s interactive curriculum has not only made teaching digital citizenship more effective but has also empowered students to think critically about their online presence and interactions. In a world where technology is an integral part of daily life, nurturing responsible digital citizens is not just an educational imperative but a societal one. Through innovative tools like Nearpod and dedicated teachers, we can pave the way for a safer, more respectful, and ethically sound digital future for our students.

New to Nearpod? Schedule a quick call with one of our experts to learn more about Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program!

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post The positive impact of digital citizenship instruction in K-12 using Nearpod appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Although many are gearing up for graduations and summer break, it’s never too early to start thinking about the next first week of school. Recently I shared about one of my favorite icebreakers to use with Nearpod and why it’s important to incorporate technology into the first week of school, in this post on the Free Technology for Teachers blog.

The “1+1=1” icebreaker involves combining two objects to design and describe a new invention, and inspires creativity and collaboration while familiarizing students with Nearpod for later use throughout the school year. Nearpod’s ‘Draw it’ tool is great for this activity: it gives students a canvas on which to draw and insert images, and enables me to collect and share their work in real-time. Students get a kick out seeing each other’s 1+1=1 inventions projected on the screen. Alongside engaging with the activity, students learn processes for connecting to, interacting with, and submitting work on Nearpod. I also use this time to establish device usage cues and norms (such as “screens up/screens down”).

Here are more back to school icebreaker ideas:

Grades K-5:

• Icebreaker: Getting to Know You: K-5
• Icebreaker: Storytelling: K-5
• Icebreaker: Two Things About Me: K-5
• Template: All About Me
• Back to School Ice Breakers K-5
• SEL: Warm Up: Gratitude Jar
• Social Emotional Temperature Check: Elementary

Grades 6-12:

• Icebreaker: Unique & Common: 6-12
• Icebreaker: Mystery Event: 6-12
• Icebreaker: Two Objects: 6-12
• Back to School Ice Breakers 6-12
• Getting to Know Me
• SEL: Warm Up: Gratitude Board
• Social Emotional Temperature Check: Secondary

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post Icebreakers and First Week of School Activities with Nearpod appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

While the format and content of these courses vary enormously across the US, one strategy that can be useful is modeling beneficial approaches to technology integration. This way, preservice teachers can experience first-hand how technology can be used in their future classrooms to help improve student learning.

Regardless of the structure of these types of courses, odds are, the instructor will need to deliver content, collect feedback, and share resources. Based on these needs, Nearpod can be an excellent tool for both teaching and modeling.

Use Nearpod to deliver instruction and gather feedback data

Nearpod lessons allow teachers to add in a wide variety of content, formative assessment activities, and online resources. Nearpod can handle it all; from website links andYouTube videos, to virtual reality field trips ; which allow instructors to combine and curate a diverse collection of lessons and resources to share with their preservice teachers.

With Nearpod, instructors can easily make their lessons more engaging with Nearpod’s interactive activities, while also gathering formative assessment data to guide further instruction or adjust teaching on the fly. Instructors can pose open-ended discussion questions, send out quizzes, polls,  ask students to collaborate on a question or problem, or do any of Nearpod’s 12+ interactive assessments ; while gathering real-time student feedback.Associate professor Dr. Anne Leftwich of Indiana University explains how her Nearpod lessons benefit from these types of activities:

“What I love most about Nearpod are the interactive activities. These activities force me to think about my lesson and to think about which parts of my lesson can be broken up to give our preservice teachers an opportunity to talk, to discuss, and to collaborate.  I particularly love the drawn response feature, and the Collaborate! feature is just awesome.”

Instructors can also use Nearpod to instantly collect formative assessment feedback from their preservice teachers. Assistant professor Jayme Linton describes how Nearpod is an excellent tool for both teaching and assessing, all without losing a beat:

“Master teachers don’t stop teaching to assess, and stop assessing to teach. Nearpod [lets teachers] seamlessly assess student learning and then use student responses to immediately adjust instruction.”

Dr. Diana Rogers-Adkinson, Dean of the College of Education for Southeast Missouri State University, expands on this idea by discussing how preservice teachers at her university benefit from Nearpod during their first teaching experiences:

“When our preservice teachers are out in the field, they appreciate that they can get just-in-time-feedback.  While they’re teaching, they know if they need to reteach or redo a part of the lesson, because they can see if students didn’t master what they just taught.  We find this to be really beneficial for our first time teachers.”

By allowing instructors to send out polls, start collaboration boards, and ask open-ended questions, Nearpod can provide instant formative assessment feedback on how students are doing with the content at hand. This powerful instructional delivery combination has proven successful for instructors of future educators, as well as current practicing educators in the classroom.

Create a learning environment driven by student feedback data

Nearpod can also be useful in providing transparency in the instructional process. When a course instructor receives formative assessment feedback from their preservice teachers in a Nearpod lesson, they can discuss with their students specifically how they are using that formative assessment data or feedback to make changes to instruction.

By making this process transparent and opening it up to discussion, instructors can model how this type of feedback could be useful in the classroom. Bette Schneiderman and Mike Byrne, who are the Co-Directors of LIU Post’s Educational Technology Program, discuss with their graduate students how data collected through Nearpod’s formative assessments can be used in the classroom:

“Data collection with Nearpod offers extraordinary opportunities to link action and data for evidence with engagement.  We address with our graduate students that data is now being collected everywhere and seemingly on everything (e.g., cars moving through traffic/red lights, purchases online, GPS locations searched, and just about everything able to be collected digitally). We can spend our time and energy looking at useless data or we can create data collection systems that give us the information we find of value. Nearpod lets us do that. We are the designers. We must know what we seek and then create our questions to capture reactions and evidence of learning to the triggers we offer our students. Refining our ability to do that is a skill we think important.”

Instructors can also model the wide variety of interactive features that Nearpod offers. As Laurie Guyon describes, this type of modeling can help spark ideas for how Nearpod can be beneficial for K-12 students:

“[Preservice teachers are] able to see the great ways Nearpod interactive features can encourage engagement and communication of ideas, and then they [get] to jump in by using Collaborate! to share authentically on ways they [feel] Nearpod could be used with students in their future classrooms.”

By modeling these types of practices, preservice teachers can gain a better understanding of the types of instructional approaches they can use in their future classroom.

Make learning active with Nearpod

The US Department of Education suggests that a major focus of preservice teacher education programs should be on “the active use of technology to enable learning and teaching through creation, production, and problem-solving.” Nearpod can be a useful tool for having students create their own lessons and resource collections, making a profound impact on teaching and learning.

When preservice teachers create their own interactive lessons through Nearpod and then deliver those lessons to their peers; this kind of preparation activity can benefit preservice teachers so they experience how things might go in their future classroom.

Nearpod not only offers a way to combine and deliver a variety of digital content; the platform provides instructional power to create interactive and engaging lessons that are perfect for educators and students at all levels..Ready to give Nearpod a try?

Nearpod Team

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

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The post How Nearpod empowers future teachers in schools of education appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

This post was written by Sarah Ray, a teacher at Palm Beach Schools in Florida. In 2018 she was selected as Palm Beach County’s Teacher of the Year. There are 12,500 teachers in her district.

Meet Sarah…

I am lucky enough to be able to follow my passion in the classroom for almost 10 years! I have taught our history’s stories to high schoolers through direct and student-centered instruction models, while always trying to find more effective ways to measure student mastery. Throughout my career I have been through numerous “trends” in education and have sat through countless trainings on how certain strategies were the most effective in student engagement and understanding of complex standards. Nearpod is a great tool to use in the classroom to get direct-specific feedback from the kids in real-time using the latest technologies and district-directed strategies. The platform is amazing for student engagement, teacher guided lessons, and the administrator who observes you!

Why I Switched to Nearpod…

One of the biggest hurdles when it comes to formal observations in my discipline is to prove 100% student monitoring of a specific learning strategy. For instance, one year I chose to show proficiency in having my students identify similarities and differences. Many teachers (and I also did this) would create a graphic organizer for the students to complete comparing 2 qualities and then collect them at the end of the class during an observation. Maybe later that day during your planning you will skim over them for any misunderstandings or gaps in knowledge, then revisit it when you see the class again. Now for the difficult aspect, while my administrator is in the room for 20 minutes I need to prove that 100% of all of my students compared and contrasted the 2 qualities correctly and I fixed any misunderstandings WHILE the administrator is present. How can you do that in 20 minutes when you have 30+ students? Well, Nearpod has a great feature where you can embed a Venn Diagram PDF and students can complete it and submit it to you in real-time under 10 minutes. So, as you are getting submissions you can fix student understanding while your admin is in the room, you went from an “Applying” teacher to an “Innovator”!

During my Observation…

Nearpod is a great way to incorporate any new “trends” in education because of the multitude of tools that you can incorporate with Nearpod. This year I focused on revising knowledge and was able to get an exceptional observation using many of the features in the program. I teach an AP course and the students were revising their knowledge on Free-Response Questions. I created a presentation using Nearpod, broke down the question and embedded the rubrics into the platform. Students were able to revise their writing using the Open-Ended question feature, then I used the Collaboration Boards for the students to identify their corrections and share with the class, students enjoy the anonymity of this activity so you get honest feedback. With both of these features, I was able to achieve 100% monitoring of the desired effect of students revising their own knowledge of a standard.

How my Administrator Participated…

The best part was that I set my administrator up with a laptop with the teacher view on and they saw in real-time students revising their own knowledge and growth of the student’s understanding of the standard every minute during the observation. I was also seeing the same thing so I could correct student errors in understanding as they were happening.

Every student in my class of 28 was on task, engaged, and learning.

Nearpod Team

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

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The post Exemplary Formal Observation: A Teacher’s Testimonial appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Rachel Thomas and Steven Lamb are elementary school teachers in Albuquerque Public Schools and Nearpod PioNears. They regularly connect their classrooms using digital tools and recently spoke about their collaboration at a TEDx event. Their reflection on their TEDx experience was originally posted on their blog here.

TEDx events personify “ideas worth spreading”, and redefining education through the use of technological tools is one of those ideas. As educators, we want to survive in the classroom as much as we want our students to be successful. We crave moments that inspire and reinvigorate why we chose education as a profession. Technology is one of those pieces.

Experiencing the value of the TEDx coaching sessions is a moment where big ideas turn into refined, focused message. Being our second TEDxABQ Education Talk, we felt we had much more to share. Steven and I discussed, considered, bantered, stressed, created, and finally came to the one idea worth spreading. Technology embodies creativity, it fosters engagement, enlightenment, and imagination.

There are a plethora of tools at our disposal and it can become terribly overwhelming when looking for what can change the culture of a classroom. Rather than attempting to implement them all, it is always best to focus on the most impactful resource. One such tool is Nearpod.

When cultivating our message, we knew that this interactive program could demonstrate what we could not accurately communicate. Open-ended questioning, polls, fill-in-the-blanks, drawing, quizzes, and a litany of other features demonstrate how Nearpod IS creativity. But not only for the students, but for the teachers as well. Hence, in a room of 300 individuals, we launched a Nearpod lesson for our audience to interact with a traditionally observation-only event. Interactive technology plus a live TEDx Talk? What could have been complete chaos, became an opportunity to learn from our peers. We first asked what they think of when they hear the term “educational technology”

Secondly, we asked the audience what the TEDxABQ Education event meant to them:

In the end, we asked a few hundred people to use a technology with which they had not had prior training. They were able to express their opinion, individuality, and creativity in seconds for all to experience.

Technology + Interactivity + Creativity + Imagination = Nearpod.

Nearpod is an idea worth spreading.

Until the official publishing of the Talk, please feel free to visit the LIVE STREAM at 1hr2min.

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post TEDxABQ Education 2017 & Nearpod appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

This blog was written by Author and Speaker Monica Burns and originally posted on her blog ClassTechTips.com.

Nearpod is a favorite tool that I used in my classroom as a one-to-one iPad teacher and now use all the time in my professional development workshops. I love how Nearpod makes any lesson interactive and engaging while giving teachers actionable formative assessment data. Since Nearpod is an absolute favorite so I thought I’d take a moment to highlight the ways it has transformed my teaching – both as a classroom teacher and now as a workshop facilitator. I hope you’ll gather some ideas and inspiration to take back to your own learning environment.

5 Ways Nearpod Transformed My Teaching

When I first started using Nearpod in my one-to-one iPad classroom, I was able to update my old routine. Forget PowerPoint presentations with a couple discussion questions. I could now make sure my students weren’t staring at the big screen squinting to see a primary source document or text exemplar. Now I could push content out to the hands of every student. Nearpod lets you upload a slide deck and embed interactive activities. This means I could recycle an old PowerPoint presentation while updating a lesson with more hands-on activities and time for partner discussions.

Nearpod helped me keep everyone on the same page. As I swiped across my teacher screen my students were taken to a new piece of content all at the same time. This means I didn’t have to worry if everyone could see the projection screen in my classroom or if everyone had a sharpened pencil. Instead, I could push content out to every device and give students a space to draw on their screen or answer a quick question. This made mini-lessons and small group instruction more efficient, giving students more time for collaboration with their peers and independent practice.

Getting instant feedback on a lesson is more than scanning the room to see the look on your students faced. As a classroom teacher, the Poll feature in Nearpod let me take a pulse check of students — and the same is true when running professional development sessions with teachers. Instead of asking for a  thumbs up or thumbs down during a lesson, the Poll feature in Nearpod lets me get a read of the room and make decisions for the next steps in a lesson.

The real-time data collection in Nearpod changed the way I thought about formative assessment data collection. Of course I love how easy it is to embed multiple choice questions in Nearpod but by far one of my favorite features is Draw It. When students draw a picture to show what they know you get a deeper idea of student understanding than the results of a multiple choice test.  Working with teachers this school year, we were able to add a coordinate plane to the Draw It tool in Nearpod so students could plot points on a grid. Instantly the classroom teacher could tell who needed extra help, or whether or not the class could benefit from additional examples or more time to practice.

The wow factor of Nearpod comes from more than their amazing virtual reality lessons. Of course it’s pretty exciting to see learners of any age stand up and spin around as they hold a tablet or smartphone and virtually dive in a coral reef. The wow factor I’m talking about happens when I’m working with teachers – the ah-ha moment when they too see how Nearpod can totally the transform the way they’ve taught a lesson in the past. From supporting English Language Learners with visuals to embedding quick checks in a mini-lesson, the possibilities are endless.

Getting Started with Nearpod

It’s easy to get started with Nearpod and there are plenty of resources to help you jump in. Nearpod works as a native app on iOS and Android devices and can be used on the web-browser of a Chrombook or any web-enabled device. From the YouTube video above to the abundance of resources on Nearpod’s site, you’ll be ready in no time to totally transform your lesson. You might decide to head straight to Nearpod’s content library which is full of free and paid lesson that are ready for you to launch right away. You might even decide to customize one of these lessons to better fit the needs of your students. Like me, you might decide to update an old PowerPoint presentation or a Google Slides creation by adding your slide deck to Nearpod and embedding interactive content in between your slides.

Sign up for a free account to download a Nearpod VR lesson today by visiting our store here.

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post 5 Ways Nearpod Transformed My Teaching by Monica Burns appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

My school has a grant to purchase iPads for every child on our campus. This makes using Nearpod incredibly easy and an almost daily activity.

My favorite Nearpod lesson is Rick Meyer’s lesson on Animal Adaptations. It was such a great summary of  everything I taught in our animal adaptations unit. The kids interact and contribute to the lesson, and it’s easy to prep since I don’t have to hunt down all of the resources!

Before I used Nearpod, I searched for resources that showcased each type of adaptation, then added everything to a Powerpoint presentation, which I projected in front of the class. I also printed paper worksheets or quizzes for my students to complete during the lesson. Now, I  have it all in one place!

My students are much more engaged in the lesson since everyone can participate and share their answer for every question, and there’s a variety of ways to convey new information, from images to videos to virtual field trips and draw-it activities. Then, it’s easy for me to assess my students at the end of the lesson to make sure they understand the different types of adaptations. Less time planning for me, and more fun for my kids!

Check out Animal Adaptations and Rick’s other science lessons here.

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post My Favorite Nearpod Lesson – Animal Adaptations appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

This is a guest blog post by Travis Edwards, a Health & PE teacher at Tarneit Senior College in Melbourne, Australia.

Nearpod has a variety of ready-to-teach Health and Virtual Field Trip lessons

to engage your students. Read about how Mr. Edwards engages his health

& PE students with Nearpod.

I am a Health and PE teacher, and one of the subjects I teach is Health and Human Development to Senior High School students. Every student in my class has their own Chromebook, which I take advantage of by building lessons with Nearpod.

My favorite Nearpod Lesson is ‘Determinants of Health’. This lesson looks at the things that impact on our health both positively and negatively, including lifestyle choices, physical environment and social factors.

Each of the determinants is unique, and to effectively deliver the lesson, a wide variety of resources and activities to explain each of the determinants is used.

Using Nearpod allowed me to build a lesson where all of these activities and resources are seamlessly pulled together and built into the Nearpod lesson. This assisted greatly in keeping students on track without constant instructions of ‘where to go or what to do next’ prompts.

The lesson utilizes a number of Nearpod features to explain the content such as video, Nearpod Virtual Field Trips, and links to websites. Using a mixture of media to explain concepts promoted student engagement with the lesson and their understanding of key concepts.

I previously taught this topic by presenting the information to students using a PowerPoint presentation with the use of YouTube clips throughout the lesson to help explain some of the key concepts. I also wrote URLs on my whiteboard and asked students to visit websites to find key information.

Creating this lesson on Nearpod allowed me to pull so many different resources together and deliver a lesson that was free flowing. There was no need to waste time during the lesson pulling up different YouTube videos, instructing students to type in different URLs, or switch back and forth between different applications.

Building in formative assessment activities allowed me to check for understanding after we explored each determinant so I knew the class was ready to move forward.

The learning experience enhanced greatly by the use of the Nearpod VR activity. The students compared and contrasted the determinants of health in the physical environment of a slum in Indonesia and the city of Melbourne, Australia. This gave my students a far more immersive learning experience than when I had previously taught this topic by projecting pictures on my whiteboard.

You, too, can engage your students with virtual field trips.

Check out Nearpod’s ready-to-teach VR lessons in the Nearpod Store.

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post My Favorite Nearpod Lesson – Determinants of Health appeared first on Nearpod Blog.