How can summer learning loss be prevented?

When preventing summer learning loss, building an effective summer learning program for both teachers and students is essential. This requires school leaders to provide teachers with a comprehensive instructional platform and an intentional focus on accelerating learning and supporting the whole child. Simply extending instruction into the summer months won’t be enough to recoup learning loss and get students back on track. Teacher burnout and staffing shortages make this summer’s school year a bigger challenge than ever. School leaders must anticipate having summer school teachers working in grades and subject areas outside of normal experience. Summer school teachers might also be less experienced than in previous years or even brand new to the profession.

No matter how you and your fellow educators decide to tackle summer learning for students, know that Nearpod is here to support you through planning, execution, and providing a space for educators to learn from one another. Teachers can make any lesson interactive within one platform that has real-time student insights through interactive lessons, interactive videos, and gamified learning. When exploring how to prevent summer learning loss, Nearpod’s interactive lessons can keep teachers ahead of the curve and ensure you return to school in the fall ready to take on the challenges of the new academic year.

Unlock the full instructional power of Nearpod with the unlimited access, collaboration, integrations, and support your teachers need.

Effective summer strategies to accelerate learning and prevent learning loss

As you and your colleagues are refining plans for summer programming and preparing to welcome students enrolled, here are a few strategies to consider to help drive student success:

1. Get a baseline of student understanding with formative assessments

Utilizing formative assessments tied to state standards at the start of your summer program gives the teacher insight into student comprehension, knowledge, and skill levels, without the intimidation of formal tests. Continued use throughout the program allows students to control their learning path by providing immediate feedback to the student and teacher. In turn, with information on how the student interprets the material, teachers can support the student with targeted and focused instruction.

Nearpod has nine formative assessment tools and interactive activities teachers can use to get real-time insight into student understanding to prevent learning loss over the summer:

• Time to Climb
• Drag and Drop
• Draw It
• Collaborate Board
• Matching Pairs
• Open-ended Questions
• Quiz
• Polls
• Fill-in-the-blanks

2. Engage students with interactive activities, lessons, and videos across core subject areas

Summer school teachers need broad support as they prepare their classes for instruction. Remember, many summer school teachers will be teaching out of the grade level and subject area and are unsure of the academic content they will be responsible for delivering, so it’s essential to equip them with the proper materials.

Data released by NWEA focused on students in grades three through eight and compared their progress in the 2020-2021 school year to similar students from before the pandemic. Education researchers reveal data that indicates students, on average, were between three and six percentile points behind in reading skills and eight to 12 percentile points in math compared to previous years. Younger students struggled more than older students, as remote/hybrid learning proved to be a more significant challenge for young scholars.

Administrators can help teachers accelerate learning by providing access to premade standards-aligned lessons across core content areas through Nearpod. These quality lessons made by content experts are turnkey, interactive, and engaging for students. This is especially important for essential content areas and standards in Math and English Language Arts (ELA), as students are often recommended for intervention based on assessment and test scores for these two content areas.

Prevent the summer slide and use the following lesson guides to teach science, social studies, reading, and math skills to students in middle and elementary school.

3. Support students’ social emotional learning and academic development

In addition to opportunities to accelerate learning and summer learning loss prevention, educators are still supporting students to adjust to the current environment following the social and educational barriers that were in place during and after the pandemic. A vital goal of any effective summer program is to continue addressing those needs and supporting students’ development. Summer school leaders must ensure that social and emotional learning (SEL) is essential to their summer program, as it will benefit both students and teachers.

By incorporating lessons on social emotional learning activities into core instruction, educators help students access their feelings and emotions, develop healthy identities, and build positive relationships while giving them the tools they need to succeed academically. Doing so can be a simple 5-minute activity where students practice self-management by sharing some of their most helpful habits. Using activities where students can self-identify their feelings anonymously to their teacher and engage with their peers will help them navigate their reality. Having brain breaks will also be a vital element in summer programs, as students will need time to disengage from academics and explore other avenues. Working on SEL initiatives is something all teachers can do regardless of their experience level to prevent summer learning loss.

4. Provide opportunities for extracurricular activities and summer enrichment

Students missed out on more than the instructional time during distance and hybrid learning. And as such, summer programming shouldn’t be limited to academics to accelerate learning. Ideally, your district can partner with local organizations and parks and recreation departments to provide students with various opportunities to get outside of the classroom and reconnect with their peers while learning a new hobby or skill. Though if that’s not possible, don’t discount virtual reality (VR) experiences. Providing equitable, virtual reality experiences allows students from all backgrounds to travel the world, try on various careers, and more!

5. Stay organized and prepared with multiple solutions in one streamlined platform

Remember teachers’ challenges and devise innovative solutions to support them and their students during summer break. Maximizing the edtech tools your school and district can access can help, but what’s most important is choosing the right tools to set teachers for success. Nearpod’s mission is to make teaching easier with the interactive tools, resources, and content teachers need, all in one place. Whether you’re experiencing staffing shortages, onboarding new teachers, or simply trying to support your teachers and students, having a core tech toolkit is crucial. It will save teachers time in training and planning and give them more time to do what they do best: teach, connect with students, and help accelerate learning. Teachers can have the ability to create slides, embed interactive assessments, get real-time student insight, and have a library of standard-aligned resources, all in one place.

Unlock the full instructional power of Nearpod with the unlimited access, collaboration, integrations, and support your teachers need.

Nearpod Team

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

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While the sentiment of the traditional rhyme, “No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher’s dirty looks,” can be traced back to the late 1800s, I’m guessing that kids have been rejoicing about the end of the school year since schooling began!

Yet, it’s not a fault of “dirty looks” from the educators, but rather that this is the time of year that earmarks an opportunity for all to celebrate kids’ accomplishments, milestones, and growth over the past 10 months. What are the ways that you can earmark the occasion with end of year celebrations or activities?

10 End of year celebration ideas and activities for students

While your students may lament the end of one school year, they also eagerly anticipate the advancement to a new grade. So, how best to host an end of year celebration across your school community?

Consider recognizing individuals’ progress as well as the group’s overall progress. How can you revisit the start of the year to underscore the growth at the year’s end? Take some time to reflect back on the start of the year and the expectations and goals you set forth for the class—were those goals met?

Below are 10 ways to celebrate the end of this school year with your students, their families, and the school community.

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.

1. Reflect on the past school year

Does your school have a yearbook? If not, there are many free digital solutions for you to capture students’ thoughts while compiling reflections and stories from the past school year. Even if your school does have a yearbook, you can create your own fun end of year activities for your class specifically.

Use a Nearpod presentation and Open-Ended Questions to have students write their contributions and post multimedia; they can include everything from images and videos to playlists. Alternatively, engage your students in one of these end of the school year activities to share their favorite memories:

Memory wheel

Use a Memory wheel template so each student can jot down 6-8 poignant memories from the past school year. You could use the Draw It Tool to capture words and illustrations. Students can curate their own list, or you can provide prompts like special events, student activities, new friends, etc.

Skittles end of year writing activity

Give each child a fun-size bag of Skittles to sort by color. Then, ask them to write a specific number of memories or stories based on the color-coded prompts. For a drawing alternative, create a template background with the color-coded prompts and upload it to a Draw It activity. Students then respond by drawing about the memory or story. Compile these stories together to create a digital memory book and share it with students!

End of school year Jenga

Use colored Jenga (or other multi-colored) blocks to play an engaging game of swapping memories. Have kids share a memory related to a color-coded reflection prompt.

3-word summary

Use Nearpod’s Collaborate Board to give each child three descriptive words to summarize this past school year. Ask students to explain their word choice to draw out specific memories. Create columns to make different categories and have students submit their responses using text, images, videos, or GIFs.

2. Have a social emotional learning (SEL) check-in

The end of the school year can be a mix of emotions, which can be confusing for kids and adults alike. Gauge how your students are feeling and any emotions they might have as a result of school winding down. 
Support their self-awareness and self-management skills by checking in on students’ social and emotional wellness with these SEL activities:

• Share Your Mood (Grades K-2, 3-5, and 6-12): In this Collaborate Board activity, students “like” a color based on their feelings and share how they feel. They can comment on posts as well.
• *Words of Encouragement (Grades 2-12): Students practice social awareness, and more specifically empathy, by completing a Collaborate Board activity to encourage one another.
• *Share Your Worries (Grades 2-12): Students practice self-awareness, and more specifically, identifying emotions, by completing an Open-Ended Question activity to share some of their worries with an educator.
• *Thinking Positive (Grades 2-12): Students practice social awareness, and more specifically perspective-taking, by completing a Collaborate activity to identify positive events in their lives.

*This lesson is only available on Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program. This program provides an easy way to integrate SEL practices like positive interactions, gratitude, and reflective moments into daily learning to help create safe, inclusive, and effective classroom environments. Schedule a call to learn more.

3. Pass out end of year awards for students

Everyone likes to be recognized, and your school may already hand out end of year awards for students. But what can you do at the classroom level that is inclusive of everyone, yet takes a personalized approach? Can you riff off of the old-school superlatives idea and laude those traits and skills that are less typically praised? Best laugh … Most inquisitive … Most resourceful … Most creative chops … Try to think of accolades your classroom and school promote beyond the more typical academic and athletic accolades.

Kick off the end of year celebration and make the voting process easy by digitizing it! Use Nearpod’s Open-Ended Questions, Collaborate Board, Polls, or a combination of these activities, to have students submit and vote for their picks for student awards. Teachers can hide voters’ names so that these end of the year activities are done anonymously.

4. Create end of year certificates

Piggybacking on the idea above, if you’re looking for the last day of school activities, use Nearpod to create a template to personalize certificates for each student. Add copy, design elements, and even a class photo. Once printed, customize each with a handwritten note and signature. While it is “just” a piece of paper, I bet you all can remember holding onto a similar piece of recognition of your own as a child!

Download these customizable Nearpod and Flocabulary certificates to celebrate the work everyone has been so resilient with the past school year!

5. Go on an end of year Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trip

While logistically, it may be hard to arrange an end of the year field trip, with Nearpod’s Virtual Reality Field Trips, you and your class can take one last memorable trip together. Use Nearpod to poll your students about which global destination they want to visit. Have them compile a list of questions they can search for answers to while “traveling.” You could even send out digital invitations and encourage the kids to dress for the big last hurrah. Then, share these virtual reality student choice boards for students to continue their “globe-trotting” over the summer break months.

6. Throw a themed party as an end of year celebration

As you look towards the last day of school, brainstorm with your students and parent volunteers to come up with a thematic end of year party. Here are a few clever ideas to help tie together the activities, decorations, and even food choices:

• This Year was a Ball, or Have a Ball This Summer!: Embrace anything round, from beach balls to balloons, for decor. Consider “round” food like a sundae bar with scoops of ice cream. You could also go all out on the beach theme, with decor and activities like Frisbee, limbo stick, cornhole, badminton, or spike ball.
• The Future is Bright!: Order a class set of sunglasses and bring out the neon decorations like glow sticks. Recommend that students come in crazy, bright attire to the party. Kids love these themes!
• That’s a Wrap!: Check with your school on your food policy, but you could choose a burrito bar, a candy bar, or individually wrapped snacks for a bit of a surprise.
• This Year was Poppin’!: Host an afternoon or after-school movie party with a backyard screen and streaming device for an end of the year party. Arrange for popcorn as an extra treat.
• What a Cool Year!: Go with a “stay cool!” theme and bring in ice cream or popsicles. Arrange for end of year class party games like pass-the-water relay races or water balloons/sponge tosses for some friendly summer fun.

7. Host a book party

Wrap up the school year with a book party as an end of year celebration. All ages can benefit from a good read-aloud of a children’s book. Choose one of the following titles to share:

• Oh, The Places You’ll Go by Dr. Seuss
• Letter From Your Teacher: On the Last Day of School by Shannon Olsen 
• When It’s the Last Day of School by Maribeth Boelts
• Our Class is a Family by Shannon Olsen
• Last Day Blues by Julie Danneberg 
• Wherever You Go by Pat Zietlow Miller 
• Thank You, Mr. Falker by Patricia Polacco
• Lizzie and the Last Day of School by Trinka Hakes Noble
• Mrs. Spitzer’s Garden by Edith Pattou

Then check out the following activities to capture your students’ hopes, dreams, and memories. You may also want to encourage your students to bring a book to the party for a book swap. Such recommended titles are a great way to encourage the start of tackling summer reading lists.

8. Say “Thank You”

While the art of letter writing isn’t as prevalent today as it used to be, writing thank-you notes is always a good skill (and habit!) to develop. Use Nearpod to create a presentation of individualized thank-you slides. Have students individually contribute by deciding who within the school community they’d like to acknowledge. The recognition may be for an office staff member, the school nurse, the lunchroom staff, or a classroom aide. Share this compilation schoolwide to encourage a culture of gratitude throughout these end of school year activities.

9. Create summer bucket lists

Summer is a time for students to continue growing in their personal development. Have students create personalized bucket lists about what they’d like to accomplish within the next two months or so. Encourage them to think about how such short-term goals can ladder up to longer-term goals and dreams. For instance, maybe they want to practice their photography skills with the hopes of becoming a journalist one day. Or perhaps they want to improve their volleyball skills with the goal of making the school team next year.

Remind students that strong goals are SMART* goals (*Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound). Capture these summer bucket lists so kids can reflect on their progress at summer’s end. In this Flocabulary video lesson, teachers introduce setting and reaching goals using the SMART acronym. Learn how to combine the power of Nearpod and Flocabulary with these tips.

10. Avoid the summer slide and summer slump

Research shows students can lose some ground over the summer months when it comes to academic achievement. Check out these helpful summer learning activities to prevent the summer slide during summer school. Also, consider sharing these resources with students and their families as ways to keep their minds active during the summer months.

Host an end of year celebration with Nearpod!

Don’t forget to pat yourself on the back, too, for another year of teaching and supporting students. Use the next couple of months to bask in the sun and some self-care so you can recharge and start the next school year off well. Enjoy these next few weeks and find time to have more than one end of the year celebration with your high school, middle school, and elementary students. Congratulations to all!

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 10 End of year celebration ideas and activities for students appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Learning gaps are pitfalls that affect students making progress toward achieving their goals. When you say the word gap in conjunction with the word education, most likely people will cringe with worry about who doesn’t know or have access to what. More formally, learning gaps are discrepancies between a child’s performance and grade-level expectations denoting a lack of mastery. Learning gaps can be narrow or wide; children can have learning gaps in one particular subject area or across many areas. Some liken learning gaps to building blocks; you can picture how, if one of the foundational blocks is missing, the whole structure might be at risk. Often, learning gaps are described as “the way things are” versus “the way things should be.”

What are the different types of learning gaps?

Learning gaps can be defined in the five following ways:

1. Knowledge gap: A student does not know or hasn’t been exposed to particular background information, which prevents a true understanding of new content. 
2. Skills gap: A student lacks practice or mastery in a particular skill or skill set. In short, they don’t know how to apply the knowledge that they have.
3. Motivation gap: A student does not have the desire or motivation to learn. This lack of engagement may not necessarily indicate indifference, but rather could be attributed to other external factors.
4. Environmental gap: A student does not have access to a suitable and supportive learning environment. We saw many instances of this gap during COVID remote learning. 
5. Communication gap: A student lacks clear communication about particular knowledge and/or expectations. This gap may be language or culturally based, but sometimes may be due to a learning difference such as an auditory processing disorder.

Why are there student learning gaps in education?

Learning gaps can occur due to many reasons: poor instruction, lack of resources, absenteeism, moving between schools, or learning disabilities, to name a few. And sadly, learning gaps can snowball if not addressed immediately or effectively.

Achievement gaps speak to the inequities in education opportunities, while learning gaps refer to individuals’ lack of progress.

Post pandemic, there was much in the press about learning loss or unfinished learning, with McKinsey finding that K-12 students were an average of five months behind in math and four months behind in reading, and students of color were disproportionately affected. Couple the pandemic effects with the all-too-common achievement gaps, throw in increasing class sizes and the qualified teacher shortages, and we as a country are still trying to climb out of our own gaping hole.

How does Nearpod help shrink learning gaps?

Nearpod is a comprehensive solution for schools—it not only assists in identifying learning gaps through formative assessment tools but also provides access to standards-aligned lessons, activities, and real-time assessment data to help close such learning gaps. The Nearpod platform provides a cyclical process for educators and students to pick high-interest and top-quality content, engage in active learning strategies, and then reflect on timely performance data and feedback; rinse and repeat. Many other edtech tools might provide pieces of the pie, but Nearpod promises a robust solution of centralized content, transformative instruction, active learning experiences instruction, and real-time insights.

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

How to identify and address learning gaps in education

1. Embrace a rigorous curriculum

Too often, students lose interest and motivation to learn because there is a disconnect with the real world, a disinterest in the topic at hand, an undiagnosed learning disability, or a disparity in developmental appropriateness. Curiosity and passion for lifelong learning can be stoked with a rigorous curriculum that offers variety, intrigue, and challenge. Curricula that support students’ 21st-century learning skills of communication, collaboration, creativity, and critical thinking will not only engage them but prepare them for future careers.

All students deserve to be engaged in materials that are immersive and relevant. Nearpod rises to that challenge by providing standards-aligned lessons in ways that promote authentic connections and applications to the real world. The multimedia-rich design optimizes the best of technology with features like the Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trips. With Nearpod’s interactive learning experiences, you can make learning much more participatory and engaging by adding such dynamic activities as Draw It, Drag and Drop, Collaborate Board, Time to Climb, and more.

Additionally, Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program addresses vital topics such as digital citizenship, social and emotional learning, college and career readiness, and financial literacy, ensuring that students are equipped with the skills they need for success in today’s rapidly evolving world. 

2. Enhance your evidence-based instruction

To help close learning gaps, educators should lean on the lessons learned by their predecessors and rely on research-backed pedagogy. Often, decades’ worth of research with recommended methodology can help individualize and personalize instruction to best meet the needs of the individual. Schools can commit to providing quality professional development (PD) to reinforce those pedagogies that best support their mission and philosophical approach to education.

Nearpod was created for teachers by teachers. Back in 2012, the founders, Guido Kovalskys, Felipe Sommer, and Emiliano Abramzon, crafted the idea of Nearpod as part of a Stanford school design thinking fellowship. Steeped in the best educational practices and research, Nearpod promotes not only dissemination but also collaboration and active participation in learning. Nearpod has a suite of formative assessment strategies through its interactive features. As students interact, you can see the real-time data around usage and progress. These student reports are useful for identifying insights for the gap learning method. They can highlight not only students’ advances but also possible missteps and gaps in understanding.

3. Play your part in creating a data-driven school

You can be data rich yet insight poor. Teachers pull in a wealth of data on a daily basis through quantifiable assessments and qualitative observations. Teachers have their finger on the pulse of the classroom when it comes to progress monitoring, and they are consistently evaluating the group progress as well as the individual achievements.

Nearpod provides comprehensive student data reports for data-driven instruction. These real-time summaries provide snapshots of how well the students are or aren’t meeting expectations. You can take a quick glance at a group’s interaction within a lesson by activity type, as well as dive more into the depths of a single student’s every click. Marry these insights with what you’ve observed during the lesson, and schools can take a data-driven approach to extrapolating insights to guide their next steps in instruction, whether in the moment or when planning for the next day. You also can share these reports with the administrators to illustrate overall progress or share them with a student’s family to better underscore steps gained or traction lost.

4. Differentiate. Full stop.

Armed with such data, educators can then modify their instruction as needed to meet individual needs. On a daily basis, teachers often need to modify instruction by adding in extra supports or challenges. They personalize their instructional approach to promote student voice and choice to build a better sense of learner agency and purpose.

You can search by topic of interest and by state standard in Nearpod’s library of 22,000+ ready-to-teach lessons. You can pull students into small groups and share self-paced lessons for the collaborative group to tackle. These resources make learning engaging, challenging, and interactive to help deepen understanding. Differentiated instruction and personalization will help build lifelong learners.

Indeed, Nearpod’s impact on instruction is significant, with 75% of customers attesting to its effectiveness in differentiating instruction and 79% affirming its role in personalizing the learning experience.

5. Design your own lesson plans

Teachers are known for re-creating the wheel. They are renowned for being part scientists and part artists. Yet in a recent Gallup poll, only 47% of students reported being engaged in learning. Consider how your school’s approach to instructional design might address learning gaps and increase student engagement, and then work with your colleagues to weave in some best practices across the curriculum to meet your students’ needs: 

• How does the lesson connect to prior knowledge? 
• Is the instruction applicable to varied learning styles? 
• Are there multiple opportunities for group and individual practice? 
• What are the checks for understanding?
• What types of assessments do we require?

Nearpod not only provides a library of standards-based lessons from its internal team and well-respected partners like Common Sense, iCivics, Smithsonian, and many more, but it also provides authoring tools so that you can create your own lessons. Alternatively, you can start with one of Nearpod’s many lessons and then modify it based on your students’ needs. You can achieve 100% student participation and promote meaningful discussion by leveraging Nearpod’s interactive slide design, gamified activities like Time to Climb, high-order thinking features like Collaborate Board, and dynamic media like Nearpod 3D.

6. Connect home and school

Education is a team effort. It takes coordination across the district and school leadership with classroom teachers and staff and the students’ homes. No longer is learning limited to  8 a.m.-3 p.m. Advances in technology blur the lines between formal and informal learning, enabling learning to occur “on the go” and “just in time” with access to the right tools and internet connectivity. Supplemental learning tools are essential complementary elements of a robust learning program.

Nearpod promotes home-to-school connections in several ways. Teachers can share student reports with parents to better illustrate student needs on an ongoing basis instead of just at the end of a semester. Teachers can address learning gaps by providing feedback to students about their work through the Live Teacher Feedback feature. Also, you can assign Nearpod lessons to small groups or individual students via Student-Paced mode to encourage them to dive deeper and explore further topics of interest.

7. Take a MTSS approach

In addressing the whole child, most schools nowadays consider the student’s academic, social, and emotional needs. Many schools take a multi-tiered system of supports (MTSS) approach to proactively leverage data and instruction to optimize a student’s strengths. MTSS promotes three tiers of instruction to best support individuals.

Nearpod supports a MTSS approach in several ways, specifically for Tier 1 instruction. From universal instruction to targeted instruction to customized instruction, Nearpod’s vast library of content and robust feature set empowers educators and students alike to take control of the learning and make it as meaningful as possible. With such resources, Nearpod can promote inclusiveness, engagement, and effectiveness for all.

Additionally, Star Assessments now has a Nearpod connection that enables educators to seamlessly access a vast array of interactive and standards-aligned lessons that tailor instruction to students’ needs. This helps save time on planning, maintains student engagement, and provides real-time insights into student understanding.

Take the necessary steps to close students’ learning gaps

Whether you teach elementary, middle, or high school, teachers are masters of evaluation and maestros of instruction. Their hour-to-hour strategies help paint that comprehensive picture of individual and group progress toward state standards. When it comes to learning gaps, the key is to identify them early and put a plan of action into effect immediately. Collaboration will be your best tactic when trying to tackle the learning gap from all angles. All students deserve learning experiences that celebrate their growth, so that we talk about learning leaps instead of education gaps.

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 How to identify and address learning gaps in education appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

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.

What is the great debate around the Science of Reading?

Let’s start with the basics: what is literacy? Literacy is the ability to read, write, speak, and listen. Over the decades, schools have shifted to adopt new theories and philosophies. Phonics, whole language, or balanced literacy are all monikers for how educators can teach students how to read. The Science of Reading (or SOR) is not a program. It’s the culmination of decades of research supporting a return to a highly structured set of approaches rooted in decoding skills and language comprehension. It is grounded in efficacy-based research, deconstructing how and why particular models of instruction work.

Balanced Literacy Vs. Science of Reading

For years, balanced literacy sought to find a middle ground between the pendulum extremes of phonics-first and whole-language advocates. Teachers shared their toolbox of strategies with students, from decoding to “three-cueing” to leveled readers. Yet such programs have been hard to evaluate in terms of efficacy. SOR education practices shies away from the popular guided-reading approach touted by Lucy Calkins and Jan Richardson in favor of an explicit focus on decoding and language comprehension.

Research shows that reading, unlike talking, is not a natural process for children. It takes more intentional instruction to achieve desired results and goals. Proponents of the Balanced Literacy vs Science of Reading point to the recent decline in reading scores as evidence that the prevalent methods of reading instruction over the past decade have failed. The Science of Reading emphasizes the importance of mastering foundational skills through a structured literacy approach to ensure effective strategies for learning to read.

Why is the Science of Reading important right now?

It’s hard to argue that we’re not in a reading crisis. Reading skills have declined in districts and states nationwide to historic lows. The learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic widened reading and math achievement gaps. It spotlighted the increasing discrepancy for Black, Hispanic, and other students impacted by educational inequalities. EdWeek reported that student results from the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) showcased that a third of 4th and 8th graders can’t read at the “basic” achievement level, which is the lowest. 70% of teachers of those 4th-grade students reported using remedial measures a couple of times a week. According to the results, even top readers have made little progress over the past three years. This lack of growth and widening gaps have turned educators and parents’ attention to what can be done differently regarding the SOR.

This map shows students from grade 4 scoring below basic in reading, by state:

What is the Science of Reading?

Many states have now adopted a much more rigorous approach to reading. The SOR approach zeros in on developing five core skill sets for emergent and beginner readers: fluency, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, phonics, and comprehension. It harkens back to 1986’s The Simple View of Reading research by Philip Gough and William Tunmer, which underscores the importance of two components: decoding and language comprehension. Think of it as an equation—reading comprehension is a product of decoding and language comprehension:

The algorithm’s simplicity belies the intricate and sophisticated sensemaking of letter sounds, words, and sentences. Dr. Hollis Scarborough’s 2021 Scarborough’s Rope Reading further details how the two intertwine, scaffolding skills and building toward automaticity.

With the SOR, instruction involves dedicated time and a systematic and intentional method of seeking out teachable moments for literacy across the curriculum. This evidence-based approach encourages educators to lean on what matters and what works. Turning research into practice, however, is not without time, effort, and money.

Here are the 10 components of the SOR:

• Print concepts
• Phonological awareness
• Phonemic awareness
• Phonics
• Spelling
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Oral language skills
• Reading comprehension skills
•  Background knowledge

To better understand Science of Reading strategies, look at this downloadable to refresh your understanding of key concepts and terms. Remember, there is no specific curriculum or program, so you’ll want to work with your school community to determine how to fold in these demonstrated methods.

How are states implementing the SOR?

States are falling victim to the age-old problem of education stumbling over change management. Many are pushing this newer school of thought with little explanation. Such harried rollouts breed confusion, suspicion, and defensiveness. Teachers are told to change their “best” practices and beliefs without time to make connections to the new methodologies. Timelines, incentives, and compensation are not being offered equitably. This push-and-pull pits educators against one another, and against change in general.

Tennessee, Florida, North Carolina, Colorado, and Mississippi have passed laws requiring a SOR approach. Others are going in with intensive training and Science of Reading professional development, overwhelming an already taxed and deflated teacher population. North Carolina is spending $54 million on a two-year training (LETRS) for all K-5 teachers. A common refrain is, “When you know better, you do better.” Many other states, such as Utah and Virginia, are leveraging ESSER funds to adopt such practices via instruction and training. However, the integration and implementation nationwide are uneven at best.

What are the benefits of the Science of Reading?

Time will tell; the benefits are to be seen. On the positive side, such a common and structured approach based on research should be easier to track and see results. According to a study by Amplify, many students in 43 states are seeing an uptick in the number of students on track to read at grade level by the end of the year.

The Science of Reading curriculum takes a scaffolded approach, promotes reading across the curriculum, and supports English language learners. While school leaders need to think systematically around benchmark assessments, resource allocation, and professional development, they also need to remember that teaching is both a science and an art.

Edtech implementation

Nearpod

According to an ESSA Level II study, 5th and 8th-grade students who used Nearpod had higher ELA achievement compared to similar students in their grade level who did not use it. This makes it an ideal tool when implementing SOR strategies. To explore some related Nearpod Science of Reading activities and lessons, visit the Nearpod library and search by standard. You can zero in on the English Language Arts (ELA) strands of Conventions of Standard English, Vocabulary Acquisition and Use, Knowledge of Language, Phonics, Word Recognition, Fluency, Key Ideas and Details, Craft and Structure, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas, or Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity to start. Consider duplicating a lesson and making modifications to meet the reading needs of your students. 

You can also create your own lesson or activity to target any of the 10 components of SOR instruction. Interactive activities such as Drag and Drop, Matching Pairs, Draw It, Immersive Reader, and audio responses can be used to teach your students fluency, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, phonics, and comprehension.

Here are some examples of lessons teachers can use:

Early Elementary Lessons (K-2)

• CVC Words (K-1): In this lesson on CVC words, students will learn to idenifty the beginning, middle and ending sounds of CVC words.
• Nonfiction Text Features (1-2): In this lesson on nonfiction text features, students will learn about features that help readers make sense of what they are reading.
• Retelling Key Details (1-2): In this lesson on retelling key details, students learn to identify and retell key details in a fiction story.

Grades 3-5

• Parts of Speech (3): In this lesson on parts of speech, students will identify nouns, verbs, adverbs and adjectives.
• Complex Sentences (3-4): In this lesson on complex sentences, the students will review simple and compound sentences and learn about complex sentences.
• Eight Parts of Speech (5-6): In this lesson on the eight parts of speech, students will define, identify, and use nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, and articles.

Grade 8-12

• Summarizing Texts (6-8): In this lesson on summarizing texts, students how to write a summary by identifying the main idea and key details.
• Annotation and Close Reading Strategies (11-12): In this English lesson, students learn annotation and close reading strategies. By the end of this lesson, students will be able to explain tips and tricks for effective close reading, and will practice annotating excerpts.
• The Paragraph: Concrete Details & Textual Evidence (9-10): In this lesson, students will explore the components of a good paragraph. They will learn to identify appropriate concrete details and practice using them with common transitions to strengthen an argument in a logical way.

Flocabulary

Flocabulary accelerates student learning by building academic vocabulary and comprehension through rigorous and authentically engaging instructional experiences. These K-12 standard-aligned video-based lessons and activities leverage the power of hip-hop, storytelling, and emotional connections to cultivate literacy across the curriculum.

Academic vocabulary is a leading indicator of student comprehension. Flocabulary strategically uses hip-hop as the foundational medium to teach vocabulary and provide the necessary in-context word exposure. While it starts in the video, Flocabulary infuses aspects of hip-hop throughout the lesson sequence. For example, students unlock components of a hip-hop beat while completing the Vocab Game and are tasked with writing a rhyme of their own in Lyric Lab.

The Art & Science of Reading

While we continue to research and seek improved methods for teaching SOR reading strategies — and all subjects—we also need to remember that educators are tasked with molding lifelong learners. In part, when it comes to literacy instruction, they need to promote a love of reading, extol the beauty of wordplay, and develop an appreciation for storytelling in children. We know that one size does not fit all in education. So we need to rely on quantitative and qualitative data and make time for continuous feedback and reflection inside and outside the classrooms to create skilled readers and masterful literacy educators.

Nearpod believes teaching is the most important job in the world. That’s why we’ve created a platform to help teachers engage every student. Nearpod offers 22,000+ rigorous lessons, videos, and activities used by 75% of school districts in the United States alone. If you’re ready to unlock the full instructional power of Nearpod at your school or district, we’re ready to talk!

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 decode the Science of Reading appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

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.

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.

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.

4 Ways to increase student participation

1. Rich media in interactive lessons

Experiences like labs, discussions, and even field trips open up the door for hands-on, minds-on learning. These engaging experiences are often students’ favorite part of a unit and drive participation even after the activity is over. With Nearpod, you can move from passive to active learning by adding Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trips, Interactive Videos, and simulations to drive connections and encourage participation through exploration while embedding questions that spark critical thinking and creativity. 

VR field trips

Our 350,000 VR field trips bring the world into the classroom, and now they are bringing the world into the homes of students. Our immersive VR experiences can be used on any device with or without VR goggles.

Simulations

Simulations can also be part of making those real-world connections. They interest students and enrich the learning process. Simulations allow students opportunities for exploration and hands-on, minds-on learning. With Nearpod’s integrations with PhET, you can easily embed math and science simulations into any lesson!

2. Formative assessment activities

Checking for understanding throughout your lesson not only keeps students focused but also gives teachers real-time insights into student learning. When classrooms aren’t physically together, it’s even more important for students to be able to show what they know and for teachers to get a pulse on what their students have learned. On the other hand, during regular in-person learning, not all students raise their hands. Nearpod provides the opportunity to hear from all students.

Formative assessment is a hallmark feature of Nearpod and student participation. You can choose from a variety of question types that give students multiple ways to demonstrate learning (and have fun!). Examples include Poll, Time to Climb, Draw It, and more. These activities are engaging for your students and provide you with reliable data on their level of understanding.

Add Nearpod’s formative assessment features to any point of your lesson or video for pre-determined checks for understanding, and hear from every student for every activity!

3. Fostering classroom community

Class community is an important part of increasing participation and student motivation. With Nearpod, you can build classroom routines and foster class community, even from a distance.

Gamification

One way to create a class community is through routines that bring joy (and sometimes even a little competition) to your classroom. Try using our Time to Climb quiz game as a way to assess students’ prior knowledge or as a summative assessment at the end of the week. This can be built in a moment of structure that the whole class will look forward to, and the competition and excitement will engage your students, no matter where they are. You can create your own or use our premade Time to Climb quizzes from our Lesson Library.

Collaborate Boards

Our interactive virtual discussion board, the Collaborate Board, is a great way to encourage student interaction. Students contribute responses by posting them to the prompt on a message board. Responses can be text, images, or both, meaning that student participation can happen at anytime, and you can hide student names for anonymity. Collaborate Boards are great for:

• Priming class discussion
• Brainstorming ideas
• Reflecting on a skill or concept
• Sharing experiences
• Quick SEL check-ins

You can also add any of your favorite collaboration tools to your Nearpod lesson with a weblink.

Flocabulary

Another routine way to build community for class participation is by incorporating Flocabulary hip-hop videos to reflect student interest and identity during instruction. Flocabulary is a great way to introduce a new topic and teach vocabulary. You can leverage the supporting activities, like Vocab Cards, to reinforce what students have learned and provide opportunities to express creativity. At the end of a unit, students could use Lyric Lab to write their own rap about the topic they’ve learned. Flocabulary videos can be added inside Nearpod lessons or used on their own. 

4. Interacting via video

Interactive Video

The interactivity teachers and students value in Nearpod slides-based lessons is now available for videos! Video instruction is such a powerful tool for teachers. However, video on its own can be passive; students sit and watch rather than interact with the information.

In the classroom, you’d pause and ask questions at key moments during a video. With Nearpod, you can pre-determine these checks for understanding, even during asynchronous instruction, and every student has the opportunity to respond on their device.

Upload a video of yourself teaching, find the perfect video on YouTube, or check out our library of over 1,000+ videos with questions already built in!

Nearpod with Flip

Nearpod now has integrated with Flip, taking video-based conversations to a new level. Flip is like a discussion board that uses video rather than text. You can use it for:

• Book reports
• Reflections
• Teacher-student conferencing
• Class debates

Students can also record themselves answering your questions. Then, you might have their classmates like and share the videos. Using Nearpod with Flipgrid can help students feel more connected with each other.

By embedding Flipgrid into your Nearpod lesson, students have a seamless experience. Easily include Flipgrid after a media source to capture student reactions and add in other question types. Students access, all with one link!

Putting it all together

Ensuring student participation and interest is even more of a challenge than ever. With these four ways to increase student participation, your students (and you!) will be eager to log in for the next lesson.

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.

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post 4 Ways to increase student participation appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

We have evolved from a place of expecting learners to reach understanding through mere repetition and are replacing it with student-centered connections to create critical thinking skills. PBL is an educational approach to consider, and you could use project-based learning technology like Nearpod to help!

What is project-based learning (PBL)?

Encouraged by early educator and theorist John Dewey, project-based learning is a pedagogical approach that covers more than one discipline or subject area and is a student-led inquiry with the teacher in a guide or coach role. This kind of teaching and learning actively answers the “Why are we learning this?” question that many students of the past may have had. Students work through critical thinking steps in PBL to research ideas and discover solutions for real-world problems and issues.

Why is PBL important?

Project-based learning benefits are impactful to teachers and students, especially in today’s times of global connections and world issues reaching inside homes from afar. It was Albert Einstein who said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” Well, PBL is not merely about finding answers. The thoughtful journey learners take using their own thoughts and expressions of creativity resonates to encourage different ways of thinking and different ways to demonstrate understanding as they explore personal and shared connections.

Lesson content turns into their own content to be shared with the world around them. PBL concentrates on students being more closely connected with why they are learning something and how they can make an impact using what they understand, discover, and feel about the topics. Personal connections, emotions, and interests are key components of PBL. Being able to communicate ideas and questions is critical to developing interpersonal skills essential for teamwork.

What are examples of project-based learning technology?

Teachers can use technology for PBL lessons by using Nearpod. With the interactive activities and dynamic media available on Nearpod, learners have the opportunity to collaborate and communicate with their peers while also practicing critical thinking and comprehension skills, which is necessary for successful PBL. Additionally, teachers can access the lesson library for content across subject areas, standards, and grade levels for PBL ideas.

Nearpod is a great educational tech resource that can support every step! Keep reading to explore project-based learning activities you can implement using technology.

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 to use technology for project-based learning (PBL) activities

1. Gain real-time insights for in-the-moment discussions or to make adjustments

Share impromptu text and images using the Nearpod Whiteboard feature or Quick Launch activities during live sessions as ideas flow from student conversations noting student engagement and interactions. During PBL discussions, teachers can toggle from Live to Student-Paced mode sessions for communication to move from whole group to individual work or collaborative teams.

Here are some project based learning activities to use for different subjects:

• Math: Create a checklist for students to break down tasks and convert it into a Draw It slide for them to fill out.
• Science: Create an Open-Ended Question in Quick Launch to check in on students’ understanding and inquire along the way while they work in groups.

2. Use Collaborate Board

Collaborate Board is a virtual bulletin board where students can have shared discussions and ideas using media or text. Learners can express their thoughts and ideas about the activity on this virtual board. Use it for whole groups, small groups, or teams in Live or Student-Paced mode sessions. This is an excellent tool that can be revisited during any period of time, whether it’s throughout the project or after it concludes. Students and teachers can easily post images and text in one place to capture a visual board of thoughts and ideas throughout the process.

Here are some project based learning ideas to use for different subjects:

• English Language Art (ELA): Have students use Google Safe Search on a Collaborate Board activity to find images of relevant vocabulary to the project.
• Social Studies: Have students use Google Safe Search on a Collaborate Board activity to find images of important historical figures, places, and objects to share on the board related to the topic.

3. Incorporate current events and diverse perspectives

Incorporate current events and diverse voices using engaging lessons and educational videos. With Interactive Video, students can learn about current event topics and unique perspectives and gain insightful context. Teachers can explore our standards-aligned video lessons and find one that fits their project based learning activities. Videos have assessment questions embedded within the video. Students can answer the questions as a class, individually or in groups, using their devices.

Additionally, Nearpod has a growing library of current event lessons covering various global news and social issues. These lessons are a perfect starting point when connecting to real-world problems.

Compare and contrast viewpoints by exploring the world using Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trips. Teachers can encourage students to use VR explorations to select topics, explore locations, conduct research, and make real-world connections.

Here are some ideas to use for different subject lesson plans:

• English Language Art (ELA): Have students watch a nonfiction Interactive Video and ask them to list facts and details on an Open-Ended Question.
• Social Studies: Consider having students see examples of videos for them to use as demonstrations of how they might create their own.
• Science: Have students take a virtual field trip to a habitat.

4. Reflect on ideas and discoveries

Communication is an important part of project-based learning. Students share their voices and get to explore their choices through the learning process. Have students participate in a gamified activity, such as Nearpod’s Time to Climb, for information review. Using a Poll activity to consider their thoughts about essential questions that they have discovered answers to or new ideas they’ve gained is an easy win for teachers and students! Coach your students through PBL using project benchmarks that complement the educational journey.

Design PBL instruction with Nearpod

Motivate your students through project-based learning to plan a vacation, create a business or change the world one project at a time. Use Nearpod as an educational technology tool resource for flexible, suitable, and accessible PBL 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.

Shavonne Morgan

Tech-savvy international educator, Nearpod PioNear, and lover of literacy encouraged by sharing ideas and strategy for the profession that teaches all other professions.

The post How to use technology for project-based learning (PBL) activities appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

What is the importance of student teacher relationships?

Teachers who support their students in their learning environment can positively impact their social and academic outcomes, which is important for the long-term trajectory of school and eventually employment. Research consistently underscores the pivotal role of building strong relationships in the classroom. As the teacher in your classroom, you have the capability to set the precedence with expectations. If you form a positive teacher student relationship and have high expectations, your classroom will follow suit and become a positive and supportive space with motivational learners.

The association between academic improvement and a positive teacher student relationship is students’ motivation and desire to learn. When students demonstrate a genuine connection with their teachers, it paves the way for a positive learning environment where growth flourishes effortlessly. Students who perceive their relationship with their teacher as positive, warm, and close are motivated to be more engaged in school and to improve their academic achievement. Whether you teach elementary, middle, or high school, fostering meaningful connections between teachers and students goes beyond mere academic progress—it’s a cornerstone for student achievement.

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 Ways to build a positive student teacher relationship

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all when it comes to building relationships with our students. Every student has a unique story. Therefore, every student deserves a unique relationship with you. Let’s look at how you can begin to build those unique relationships.

1. Say hello and goodbye every single day

This may seem like common sense, but it’s easy to forget how far a simple greeting can go for students. Make this a special part of the day. Consider making this unique for each student or class period with handshakes, dances, and gestures.

2. Call home for good behavior more often than bad

Set a goal aside every week to pick a handful of students, record their names in a notebook or digitally with a kind memo, and call home on Fridays to tell their parents It will take 10 minutes, but the impact is everlasting. Those students will come to school on Monday filled with contagious giddiness and gratitude!

3. Student letters and questionnaires

Allow students to complete a first day of class questionnaire to get to know them better. Read through the responses and save them to reference later. Surprise them with a sweet treat or spark a conversation about their interests! This will also help teachers better understand their students’ interests outside of academics, which is key to building meaningful relationships with them.

Build your own survey on Nearpod by including different types of activities and assessments into a lesson and assigning it to students. Use a Collaborate Board to have all students participate in a discussion together. You can also use Open-Ended Questions and Polls to dive deeper into questions. Additionally, Nearpod has premade icebreaker activities and surveys you can share to boost student teacher relationships.

4. Let students inside your world

When exploring how to build positive relationships with students, consider taking students on a Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trip to anywhere in the world. One idea is to visit places you’ve been or where you’re from. Provide them with content about your culture and your interests. Who knows!? Maybe you have a few things in common!

5. Believe they will do great things

Give them content with high academic student engagement and rigor and when they need your support, be there – genuinely and wholeheartedly believe they can do it. Use Nearpod Post-Session Reports to keep track of student progress. This is essential to maintaining a strong relationship with your students.

6. Be authentic and have fun!

Students will LOVE to see the fun side of you and laugh with you. Make time for fun learning moments in your classroom that you and your students will truly enjoy.

You can teach with a Flocabulary lesson. Want to sing along? Dance? Do it! Also, Nearpod’s Time to Climb gamified learning activity is a student favorite. I’m sure it will be a lesson they won’t forget!

7. Listen and validate their feelings

Take moments to discuss their issues and emotions, which helps students feel safe in your classroom. Check in with their social and emotional wellness, frequently – who knows, you may be the only one that has. Prioritize social emotional learning activities and discussions when planning for class time. Share Nearpod’s SEL premade lessons and activities with students or use it as inspiration to create your own.

Positive teacher student relationship matter

Each of these suggestions can be small actions that create a tremendously large and effective bridge to bond your student relationships. Consider creating goals for yourself quarterly or weekly to ensure you are making a conscious effort to reach all your students. Not only does it enhance student academic performance, but it also cultivates a sense of belonging wherein students feel valued and supported.

When students feel their teacher is a caring person, then the classroom becomes a supportive and happier place for everyone. Building positive relationships with students is an all-around winning plan that creates an environment where real learning can take place. Challenge yourself to be authentic with your students and genuinely create meaningful relationships with them. I guarantee you won’t regret it!

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.

Interested in reading more about this topic? Check out this blog post: 7 Social Emotional Learning (SEL) activities to use in your classroom

Katie Micallef

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

The post 7 Ways to build a positive student teacher relationship appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Can drawing be used as a formative assessment?

Classroom drawings assess students formatively while adding engagement and fun. The interactive nature of drawing lets students expand and reflect on their learning, and drawing gives students another way to express their knowledge and show what they know. Drawing allows students to conceptualize topics and ideas and create visual representations of their thinking (Balunuz, 2019). Formatively assessing a student’s drawing helps get a picture of their knowledge and identifies misconceptions and gaps in knowledge. Based on the drawing assessment feedback, instruction can be adjusted to meet student needs.

Nearpod’s Draw It is a digital whiteboard for students that combines formative drawing assessments with creative interactive activities. This activity enables students to make visual representations of their knowledge. You can use a premade standards-aligned lesson from the Nearpod Lesson Library, upload a background image for the students to annotate, or have the students create their own classroom drawing using a blank background. Results can be analyzed through real-time progress in a Student-Paced or Live Participation lesson or Nearpod’s post-session reports to help form data-driven instructional decisions.

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 student creativity important in the classroom?

In addition to providing formative assessment data, drawing assessments bring creativity and energy into the classroom. Drawing can create memorable learning experiences for students, which helps foster motivation and engagement in any classroom. Creativity helps students synthesize information and build new knowledge. Plus, creativity weaves fun into the classroom. Through creativity, students make new connections and form fresh approaches and solutions (Fisher et al., 2004). These new connections and approaches increase motivation while helping prepare students for future careers.

5 ways to use drawing assessments

1. Conceptualize with graphic organizers

Graphic organizers provide creative activities for students to organize knowledge and demonstrate relationships. As a result, students can express complex ideas and relationships, and teachers can formatively assess understanding while identifying areas that need remediation. Research suggests that in addition to being a tool to determine and analyze student thinking and learning, graphic organizers provide a “good alternative to longer, written assessments” (Struble, 2007).

Do you need to assess your students before a summative assessment formatively? An elementary science teacher can review the phases of matter with their students through Venn diagrams. Students can compare and contrast each phase, allowing them to determine which students need additional instruction.

Formative assessment examples can also occur at the beginning of a learning unit. A middle school civics teacher teaching the three branches of government activates students’ prior knowledge through a KWL chart. Through the KWL, teachers can identify what their students already know and address any misconceptions.

Ready to formatively assess your students with graphic organizers? Click below to preview Nearpod’s drawing templates for:

• Cause and effect
• Brainstorming
• Timelines
• KWL
• Venn Diagrams
• Pros and cons

If you already have a graphic organizer you like to use with your students, use Draw It to upload the resource as a background image, and then students can use the quick draw tools to annotate the organizer. Alternatively, adding a blank background to your Draw It slides lets students create their own graphic organizer. As an extra benefit, add the timer to the activity to help set realistic expectations for student completion.

2. Encourage collaboration and discussion among students

As a 21st-century skill, collaboration benefits students by building communication and problem-solving skills. A Harvard research study noted that students learn more when discussing ideas and elaborating on them with their peers (Shen). Through collaboration, students can assess their knowledge, and teachers can monitor student progress. Think-Pair-Share combined with Draw It’s digital whiteboards for students provides a creative formative assessment with collaboration.

To combine Think-Pair-Share with Draw It, provide students with a prompt from the Nearpod Library or upload a resource. Use the timer to allow 1-2 minutes of student reflection time. Then, have students collaborate with a partner to discuss the prompt and possible answers. After partner discussion, have students compose their individual answers on the activity slide. Finally, teachers can share the student responses from the teacher’s view to facilitate class discussion.

3. Reveal and evaluate students’ Depth of Knowledge with multipart questions

Multipart questions provide teachers with formative assessment data to reveal and evaluate a student’s Depth of Knowledge. Providing opportunities for students to respond to various question levels, from recall to extended thinking, multipart responses give teachers formative assessment data. Drawing offers an engaging way to give students multipart and multistep questions.

For example, math students solve a problem using the Draw It tools, and then they add a text box to describe how they solved the problem. Formative assessment examples can also involve students studying animal and plant cells. Students can use this tool to label an uploaded cell template and then add text boxes to explain the function of each part.

To prepare a multipart question, teachers can add a premade lesson from the Lesson Library or upload a background image of a template. Students can use this drawing tool to label the template, and then they can complete their drawing assessment by adding a text box to explain their answers.

4. Combine with dynamic learning experiences such as VR and simulation models

According to research, visual analysis can be used to formatively assess learners (Stanja et al., 2022). By providing students the opportunity to analyze and explain, teachers can formatively assess and guide instructional decisions. Pairing content and activities in Nearpod are a great way to have students make connections and formatively assess student knowledge.

For example, world history students can go on a Nearpod VR Field Trip to the Great Pyramid of Giza. While on the VR Field Trip, students must identify something they learned in class and take a screenshot of that image. On the next slide, the students will upload their screenshots to a Draw It and use the tools to explain why they chose that image. Some formative assessment examples include elementary, middle, and high school students participating in a math or science PhET Interactive Simulation. During the activity, they need to take a screenshot of a solution. On the next slide, the students will upload their screenshots to the blank drawing activity and use the drawing tools to explain how they solved the problem.

To pair content and knowledge in Nearpod, add a VR Field Trip, a PHeT simulation, or a Nearpod 3D to your lesson. During the experience, have the students visually analyze the content. Instructions could include identifying a problem they incorrectly answered during a PHeT simulation or identifying something they learned in class in the VR Field Trip or 3D simulation. On the next slide, have the students upload the screenshot to a blank Draw It and then use the drawing tools to annotate the screenshot explaining their analysis.

5. Use formative assessment examples to do periodic checks for understanding

Fisher and Frey noted it is difficult to know exactly what students are getting out of the lesson without checking for understanding. Checking for understanding also helps students become aware of how to monitor their own knowledge (Fisher & Frey, 2014). Periodic assessment checks allow students to summarize key points, review essential questions, reflect on learning, and synthesize information.

Drawing assessments can also be used for periodic checks for understanding. For example, at the end of class, exit tickets formatively assess what students learned during the lesson, what they will continue to work on, and what questions they still have. At the beginning of class, entry tickets describe what the students learned the day before. This drawing assessment activity allows exit and entry tickets to be easily added to any Nearpod lesson.

One quick way to find premade exit tickets is to search the Nearpod Library. Blank Draw It slides enable students to create their own exit and entry tickets. For in-the-moment checks for understanding, a drawing activity can be added during a Live Participation lesson by clicking the Add Activity button from the Teacher dashboard.

Don’t forget to use Nearpod,an oldie but a goodie! So simple to upload any slideshow, add a few bells and whistles, and engagement increases ten-fold! The bulletin board and draw it features were the favorites! @NISDWernli @NISDElemSS pic.twitter.com/opElNQhFgW

— Stephanie G. (@MsTexasTeacher) October 8, 2022

Get started with drawing assessments using Nearpod

This list of formative assessment examples using Draw It is just the beginning! Whether using premade standards-aligned resources from the Nearpod Library, uploading your own resources, or using a blank slide, Nearpod gives teachers a variety of engaging and fun assessment activities.

With Nearpod, you can create interactive lessons and activities in one place. You can also use our premade standards-aligned resources across all subjects and grade levels.

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.

References and Further Reading

Bulunuz, N. (2019). Introduction and assessment of a formative assessment strategy applied in middle school science classes: Annotated student drawings. International Journal of Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology (IJEMST), 7(2), 186-196. DOI:10.18404/ijemst.552460

Fisher, D., & Frey, N. (2014). Checking for understanding: Formative assessment techniques for your classroom. ASCD. 

Fisher, R., & Williams, M. (2004). Chapter 1. In Unlocking creativity: Teaching across the Curriculum. essay, David Fulton. 

Shen, D. (n.d.). Pair and share. ablconnect. Retrieved November 30, 2022, from https://ablconnect.harvard.edu/pair-and-share-research 

Stanja, J., Gritz, W., Krugel, J., Hoppe, A., & Dannemann, S. (2022). Formative assessment strategies for students’ conceptions—The potential of learning analytics. British Journal of Educational Technology, 00, 1– 18. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13288

Struble, J. (2007). Using graphic organizers as formative assessment. Science Scope, 30(5), 69. https://doi.org/https://www.proquest.com/openview/cc423816f32d8ae9c93c3e26089f83f0/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=36017

Liz Pearce

Liz is a District Strategy Consultant for Nearpod. A former educator with 33 years as an elementary and middle school teacher and district technology coach. Liz loves the engaging and interactive abilities of Nearpod.

The post How to use drawing as a formative assessment tool appeared first on Nearpod Blog.