Nearpod: A teaching tool

The Nearpod website logo. 

Nearpod is a tool that helps teachers make their classrooms more interactive, whether in the physical classroom or virtual. You can create lessons, activities, and add questions to videos (if you choose to have a lecture video). I decided to create a lesson, and there are many different tools on Nearpod to enhance your lesson. You have a choice of making your own slides on Nearpod, uploading ones you've created on Google Slides, adding pre-made sites and slides, and uploading PDFs, images, and audio! I imported my Google Slides onto Nearpod and added one of each feature that Nearpod offers. They have interactive feature such as videos (from YouTube, Nearpod, etc.), BBC videos, web content, Nearpod 3D, simulation, and a virtual fieldtrip. There are two categories under the "Activities" section: quizzes & games, and discussions. In the "quizzes & games" feature, you can choose a multiple choice quiz, drawing, fill in the blank, memory test, time to climb, and matching. In the "discussions" feature, you can add a collaborate board, Flip videos, a poll, and open-ended questions. When you are ready to present your lesson, make sure to save and exit. When viewing your lesson library, you can hover over your lecture and select either "live participation" or "student paced." So, students can do this lesson on their own as they finish up another assignment while others are still working OR you, as the teacher, can present it and when it comes to the interactive slides, it will show the complete activity on the student's screens so they can all complete it.  

As previously mentioned, Nearpod has lots of tools for teachers to use to make their lectures more interactive. I imported my lecture on Parts of Speech created using Google Slides into Nearpod to add activities. I added the collaborative board, a video that includes 2 open-ended questions, and the time to climb activity. The Nearpod library has so many pre-made games to choose from, created for all grade levels and subjects! I appreciated how many grade levels and subjects were represented on this platform. If you want to take a look at my lesson, click here! 

I had a great experience using Nearpod. I believe that it is a wonderful tool to help with student engagement and participation in the classroom. It is suitable for ALL grade levels and multiple content areas, so I would think any student would have fun using this tool. I will most definitely find ways to incorporate Nearpod in to my future classrooms. There is so much potential for this tool!