Nearpod? What’s that? Let me tell you that it is a game changer. My classroom recently went 1:1 with Chromebooks so I’ve been looking for some new ways to teach content utilizing these devices. I’d heard a little bit about Nearpod and decided to check it out.

So Nearpod is hard to describe because you need to see it to believe it. Nearpod has a store of ready made lessons to use with your kiddos or you can make your own. I’ve used a few free ones and they are pretty good but I really like to make my own. You can take task cards, centers, websites, and pretty much anything and embed it into a Nearpod lesson.

So here’s what a Nearpod Presentation looks like on the Teacher Screen.

See how you can embed quizzes and fill in the blanks within the presentation. After you publish your presentation, your students can join a session. You can do two options: a live session or a homework session. In a live session, the teacher is controlling what the students see on the screen so the class moves at the same pace. For a homework session, the student moves at his or her own pace. I mostly use the live presentation mode but I’ve started using the homework mode for projects and independent opportunities.

Your students will need the Pin number to join your session. I usually have my students go to the Nearpod homepage and just enter the pin. You can also embed it in a classroom blog, send a link, email it, or use it through Google Classroom.

Each presentation has a unique pin. Feel free to use the one I created for this presentation to explore the student view through Nearpod.

My favorite part of using Nearpod is how engaged my students are. I have an extremely chatty class and it’s been hard to get them to focus all year. Nearpod has allowed me to save some sanity because they are all involved and working.

At my school, we switch classes for 30 minutes for intervention time. I have a group of high achieving kids. It’s been difficult to keep them challenged and engaged. Nearpod has really helped. We were studying space so I created Nearpod presentations for each of the topics we were covering. The students could advance through the presentation at their own pace. I linked Brainpop videos, books from Trueflix, and presentations from Pebble Go.

My absolute favorite part about Nearpod is the instant feedback from the activities. You can insert quizzes, polls, open-ended questions, and drawing activities. The results come to the teacher immediately. I found out that I needed to keep the Nearpod off the Activboard because students could see each others’ answers. I usually walk around with my iPad, controlling the Nearpod through the app, and getting their responses right in front of me.

For this Nearpod, I uploaded task cards that I purchased from Amy Lemons and had the students put their answers in Nearpod.

If you are ready to try it out, I would love it if you would use my code so I could get more storage space. Teacher accounts are free (with limited storage space) and students don’t even need an account to participate in the Nearpod sessions.

 Click on the picture to head over to Nearpod.

If you are ready to try it out, I created an Nearpod version of my popular, “If the Shoe Fits” inferencing investigation.. I’ve included directions in the pack for how to get a copy. You just need to purchase it on TPT and you will have 2 versions of the activity. If you’ve already purchased this pack, download it again from the “My Purchases” tab on TPT. I’ve also updated the shoe cards to make them easier to cut.

Click on the picture to view this pack on TPT.