For educators and students engaging in racial equity and social justice

Our features and content offerings support CRP. Collaborate Boards and Polls invite students to express themselves to their teachers and peers, elevating student voice and fostering connections. Our Racial Justice collection features free lessons that aid in antiracist teaching with rich historical content and social and emotional skill-building to ensure safe and productive discussions.

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free to access standards-aligned resources from this blog post and create their own interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

What resources do we have for you?

Our Racial Equity & Social Justice collection contains 100+ free lessons, activities, and videos to support antiracist teaching and learning from the Nearpod team and our trusted partners like Teaching Tolerance, iCivics, Common Sense Education, and Flocabulary.

In the folder, you’ll find lessons on:

Biographies on the lives and contributions of Black Americans

Media-based activities to build critical thinking and reflection skills

American history & civics topics to give context for today

SEL skills to help students engage in compassionate and productive conversations

Professional development workshops to empower teachers in this challenging work

5 Teaching tips and resources for racial equity and social justice

Teachers are dealing with a lot (as if they weren’t already!). And now, while many schools are prioritizing racial equity in education, there isn’t a designated time in the day to teach it. Here are some implementation guidelines that foster a safe learning environment, no matter your schedule.

1. Establish classroom norms and common vocabulary

For learning to occur, students must feel respected, included, and connected. To establish a welcoming environment, set norms with your students. These will help you approach sensitive and difficult topics together. Examples of norms might include: “First we seek to understand, and then to be understood,” and “We are learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.” Encourage student participation by using a Collaborate Board to crowdsource and vote on classroom norms. You can also use Nearpod’s Developing Empathy, Following Classroom Rules, and Building Class and School Community lessons to establish guidelines and build skills for engaging in discussions. 

A shared language is also important. Develop a common vocabulary and add to it over time. This might mean defining words like “accountability,” “allyship,” and “equity,” as well as acronyms like POC and BIPOC. Add a Matching Pairs activity to provide an opportunity for students to practice and review key vocabulary before engaging in class discussion.

2. Tie racial justice to core subject areas

Racial justice affects all of us. Below are some tips for incorporating racial equity topics and themes into your instruction across academic subjects.

English Langauge Arts (ELA)

As you read fiction and nonfiction, ask students to consider whose story is being told and whose is silenced. What is the historical context for the work, and how does that context play a role in the text? Who is the intended audience for the story, and how does that shape the telling of it? Center texts and voices from diverse cultures and backgrounds. Integrate Black authors into classroom instruction with Nearpod’s lessons on Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou. Lessons on James Weldon Johnson and Rosa Parks provide opportunities for students to practice reading comprehension skills while learning about Black historical figures.

Social Studies

In studying any event or period in history, consider whose perspective is being centered. Are there any racial or ethnic groups that are left out of the story? Use one of our Flocabulary Topic Spark lessons, like Katherine Johnson, to feature diverse perspectives, hidden figures, and leaders and activists in the ongoing fight for racial justice. Use iCivics lessons to help your students understand how political and social systems function and change, which is a key context for learning about Civil Rights struggles.

Science

Teach students about the contributions of Black inventors and scientists. Use our lesson on George Washington Carver as a starting point. Consider the ways in which science and technology have sometimes supported racism, such as the false belief that race is a real genetic difference among humans or facial recognition technology that tends to misidentify people of color. Then, discuss how advances in science, technology, and engineering can help when advancing racial equity. For example, in what ways have cell phones with video capabilities helped advance social causes? What new inventions can students imagine that would help further this progress? 

Math

As your students explore data and statistics, discuss the real-world applications that pertain to racial equity. What data exists or would be needed to quantify the problems that stem from racial inequality today? How can they analyze this data to better understand a situation, and how can they use mathematics to help represent these issues? Use our STEM by the Numbers lesson to analyze racial representation in STEM fields through the lens of data analysis. You can also bring your students’ lived experiences into the classroom. Look to the local news for charts, graphs, and other data and ask students to answer questions based on them.

Elementary

Elementary students are not too young to learn about topics like race, diversity, and respect. Research shows that when parents and teachers avoid these topics, children come to their own conclusions based on the world around them, which often promotes racist ideas in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. We have lessons specifically designed for elementary students, like Discovering My Identity and Different Types of Families, that use vocabulary and examples that are relevant and appropriate but do not oversimplify the central concepts. 

3. Use multimedia for culturally relevant teaching

We process new information by relating it to our own experiences and interests. By including diverse perspectives, cultures, and narratives in your instruction, you help ensure all students have access to the connections needed to process information effectively and meaningfully. You can use Nearpod’s multimedia, such as virtual reality, video, and web content, to integrate culturally relevant content into your classroom instruction.  

“Culture, it turns out, is the way that every brain makes sense of the world.”

Zaretta Hammond in Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain

In Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain, Hammond describes three levels of culture: surface culture, shallow culture, and deep culture. Surface culture is observable and includes elements of culture, such as food, art, and holidays. Using Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trips, you can transport students anywhere around the world to explore surface culture hands-on.

However, it is also important to discuss what aspects of culture are not visible in a VR image. Specifically, analyze whether the media includes shallow culture, which is unspoken rules, like types of non-verbal communication. Does the media include deep culture, which are the assumptions that control our worldview, including ethics and spirituality? To integrate deeper levels of culture, consider using primary source media, like video interviews and podcasts, and including SEL topics, like perspective-taking and appreciating diversity. We recommend exploring our Perspective Analysis lessons. These quick activities are centered around one piece of media designed to build critical thinking and reflection skills.

4. Build community with collaborative activities 

If you have dedicated time each week for homeroom, study hall, or advisory, you can integrate racial equity and social justice discussions and continue the conversation all year. Using Nearpod’s interactive features, you can provide all students with the opportunity to voice their thoughts and discuss difficult topics productively. Encourage participation by hiding student names and share out student responses to keep the conversation going outside of devices. Get creative and design activities that meet your classroom needs.

If you’re looking for inspiration, you can check out the examples below!

Use a poll for a quick temperature check of the room.

Launch a Collaborate Board for students to make their thinking visible.

Share out student responses from a Draw It to promote further discussion.

Add a Time to Climb into your lesson to bring the class together in a gamified learning experience.

Some prep work for teachers

Many teachers will be having difficult conversations about race, racism, and bias for the first time, right alongside their students. And it’s not going to be easy. Many resources are available at the intersection of race, culture, and education. Here are a few tools for self-learning from Nearpod and organizations, authors, and educators we trust as experts in the field. 

Nearpod and Flocabulary

• Access Flocabulary’s Racial Equity & Justice Education Resource Guide, where you’ll find more than 40 lessons and helpful implementation tips to support you in bringing racial equity and social justice themes into your instruction.

Additional teaching resources

• Reflect on your identity with this exercise from Teaching Tolerance and understand your identity and the identity of your students as the lens through which learning takes place. Consider the racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds that make up your classroom. Teaching Tolerance is a great resource for educators, and we recommend exploring the website. 

• Read Zaretta Hammond’s book Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain, an accessible dive into the science of how the brain learns best and how educators can support their students’ achievement.

• Read Chris Emdin’s book For White Folks Who Teach in the Hood… and the Rest of Y’all Too. Dr. Emdin is known for passionate, thoughtful presentations about his research areas, so check out recordings of his speaking engagements, too! 

• Watch the Teach Your Heart Out Town Hall — A Conversation on Racial Justice for an honest discussion among educators on their own experiences of racism in the classroom and concrete examples of how educators can work together to combat racism in their day-to-day work. 

• Use social media to connect with and learn from your peers. Follow the #EduColor hashtag, used to facilitate “intersectional discussions of race and education.”

Let’s learn from one another!

What have you learned on your antiracist teaching journey? What are you eager to learn more about? We want to hear from you. Do you have a new implementation suggestion or a different perspective to share about one of our recommendations? Please contact us at contentalert@nearpod.com and let us know! It’s important that we have dialogues to grow, consider new perspectives, and take action in support of racial equity and teaching social justice so we can ensure the best for students. We also encourage you to engage with peers on these important topics.

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free to access standards-aligned resources from this blog post and create their own interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post 5 Teaching tips and resources for racial equity & social justice appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

While these topics are teaching and influencing our generations to come, the conversations and lesson plans surrounding Black history education should be seamlessly integrated into our regular curriculum and highlighted all year long. There is no need to wait for a designated month to educate our youth on powerful African American figures because they are not just Black heroes; they’re American heroes.

Interactive activities and lessons for Black History Month

Nearpod has free lessons that spotlight Black heroes and historical figures. They’re perfect to use to celebrate Black History Month or year-round. Check out our hundreds of free lessons, and read on for more resources and how to use them!

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free to access standards-aligned Black History Month resources from this blog post and create their own interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Teaching Black History Month activities in February & year-round

While Black history should be integrated throughout the curriculum all year long, it is beneficial to use the month of February to emphasize Black history. We have a dedicated month to acknowledge it. Let’s use this month to build connections and dig deeper into historical events and significant people.

With each of the following points, Nearpod offers a wide variety of classroom resources to help you teach Black history in the most effective, engaging, and unique ways.

1. Teach about important historical figures

Black history is American history and should be taught as that. This history is not limited to the abolition of Slavery or the Civil Rights Movement – there is so much more. We should be teaching students about Black activists, musicians, scientists, and doctors who have shaped the course of history. For example, students should know about Katherine Johnson, a trailblazing NASA mathematician. Johnson was an African American woman who played a vital part in calculating orbital mechanics to launch the success of the first and subsequent U.S. spaceflight.

Here are some lessons we recommend checking out:

• Grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8, & 9-12: In this Social Studies VR lesson, students will explore the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and the impact that his life had on the world.

• Grades 5-12: In this 25-30 minute Nearpod featuring Flocabulary Topic Spark, students are introduced to Katherine Johnson through a hip-hop video and Nearpod’s signature interactive features. This lesson features the Flocabulary video Katherine Johnson & the Human Computers.

• Grades 6-8: In this ELA VR lesson, students will read Langston Hughes’ poem Dreams and explore how context can enrich the meaning of a poem.

• Grades 6-12: In this 25-30 minute Nearpod featuring Flocabulary Topic Spark, students are introduced to John Lewis through a hip-hop video and Nearpod’s signature interactive features. This lesson features the Flocabulary video John Lewis & Nonviolent Action.

• Grades 6-Higher Ed: In this current events lesson, students learn about Supreme Court confirmations and the nomination of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. (Sensitive)

2. Have meaningful conversations and discussions

In any lesson, it is important to sometimes avoid lectures or passage reading and provide students the chance to discuss related topics. This is especially important when we want to honor often underrepresented history when teaching Black history in school. Share stories that make room for student discussion, elevating all students’ voices. You can use Nearpod features like Collaborate Board to create a safe and open space for students to discuss. Take it a step further by reading our Racial Justice Resource Guide, which shares implementation strategies to build community and a safe space for students to discuss these topics.

3. Make connections to the present day

In order to make history resonate with students, there needs to be a valiant effort to make it relevant. Using history to learn, grow, and change perspective. We can make connections with great Black leaders and provide them with an outlet to explore historical challenges as they pertain to us today. Explore our Perspective Analysis Lessons to deepen students’ critical thinking skills by unpacking their own perspectives presented in text and other media.

4. Infuse social and emotional learning

Aside from educating our students about Black history, events, and people – what about molding culturally empathetic students through social and emotional learning (SEL) skills? As teachers, we know that our responsibilities span far beyond academics. We are shaping future generations. With that, we can teach empathy, compassion, tolerance, and respect. What better way to teach these characteristics than through historical events and perspectives using Black History Month classroom activities?

Here are some lessons we recommend checking out:

• Grades K-5: In this 25-30 minute Nearpod featuring Flocabulary Topic Spark, students are introduced to race through a hip-hop video and Nearpod’s signature interactive features. This lesson features the Flocabulary video “What is Race?”

• Grades 3-5: In this Teaching Tolerance lesson, students learn about empathy and identify ways to be more understanding toward others. Students explore how empathy can help them connect with other people and create a better community.

• Grades 3-5: Listening is more than just hearing! In this Just a Minute Nearpod video, students learn about active listening. A host explains what active listening looks like, and students consider the steps they can take to show speakers they are listening.

• Grades 3-5: In this Teaching Tolerance lesson, students consider identity and culture in stories and evaluate the diversity in characters in a book. Students consider ways to get their school to use books that represent a diversity in characters.

• Grades 9-12: In this Teaching Tolerance lesson, students read an article by Clarence Page discussing the changing demographics of the United States. They consider actions they can take to promote respect and strive for equality for all people living in the U.S.

5. Participate in Flocabulary’s rap contest

Amplify student voice with Flocabulary’s Black History Month Student Rap Contest! Flocabulary’s high-quality video-based lessons captivate students and create an impactful and memorable learning experience by harnessing the power of hip-hop music, visual art, storytelling, humor, drama, and poetry. In honor of Black History Month, they have an annual contest where students submit a rap about an unrecognized or famous Black historical figure, and the winner will have their work turned into a Flocabulary video! If you’re looking for a unique project or assignment to have your class complete, consider entering students in this contest.

Teachers can submit on behalf of students and don’t need a Flocabulary account to enter. The contest opens on February 1st, and submissions close on February 29th. Click below to learn more!

Start teaching Black history with Nearpod

As we enter February, highlight Black History Month activities. Use the resources provided, and have those conversations. My challenge for you is as February blows by, like any other month, continue the discussions, topics, and lessons. Don’t stop because it’s March 1st. We can bridge the gap between academics and humanity, and that will create a generation of great change.

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free to access standards-aligned resources from this blog post and create their own interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

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 Teaching Black History Month activities in February & year-round appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

With Nearpod, you can explore premade Valentine’s Day activities and lessons fit for your classroom. Download SEL activities to teach strategies like mantras and growth mindset, plus other freebies to use with your students!

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for a free Nearpod account below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Fun Valentine’s Day activities for students in your classroom

1. Practice self-love and kindness through social and emotional learning

Nearpod’s social and emotional learning activities are easy to implement into your class routines all year, especially on Valentine’s Day. Integrate social and emotional learning activities to practice skills like positive interactions, gratitude, and reflective moments into daily learning to help create safe, inclusive, and effective classroom environments. When SEL practices are thoughtfully selected and used authentically, they have greater power to be effective. Download these Valentine’s Day activities for schools to use on February 14th or year-round.

Here are activities you can use:

• Use the How to Spread Kindness activity for grades K-2 to draw or write one way they can spread kindness.
• Watch the Mantras Just a Minute video for grades 3-8 to teach students how to be confident.
• Practice self-love with an Art Therapy Activity video for grades 6-8.
• Watch Abby Caddaby’s Sesame Street video for grades K-2 to learn how to self-hug.
• Use this virtual reality (VR) lesson for grades 6-8 to teach students self-assertion and practice techniques for advocating for themselves.

2. Write to someone special using Time to Climb Valentine’s Day cards

We’ve created printable Valentine’s cards with characters from students’ favorite educational game, Time to Climb! Share them with your students or your colleagues, or give them to students to share with each other (and they’re also cute in black and white!). You can print them out, share them digitally, or post them on social media!

3. Play educational games with the Time to Climb Valentine’s Day Theme

Use gamified assessment tools, like Time to Climb, for Valentine’s Day games and activities for students. Every February, we release a seasonal Valentine’s Day classroom game theme with a lovely new background, animation, and music. Students love choosing new themes and characters whenever they play! Build community, excitement, and healthy competition in your classroom by making Time to Climb a routine in your classroom for reviews, bell ringers, and exit tickets.

4. Teach about the history of Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day has special traditions we practice every year to celebrate love. But why does this holiday exist, and what does Cupid have to do with it? Give students the background and history of this holiday with our lessons.

In this Valentine’s Day lesson, students learn about the origins of the holiday and how it is celebrated in the United States. They also learn about Valentine’s Day symbols. Click here to download the lesson for Grades K-2 and Grades 3-5.

5. Teach core subjects with a Valentine’s Day twist

Using Valentine’s Day lessons shouldn’t limit you from your day-to-day instruction. With Nearpod’s lessons, you can still teach about your common core subjects such as math, science, English language arts, and social studies.

Use these lessons:

• Multiplication – Valentine’s Edition: In this lesson for grade 3, students will use arrays, repeated addition, skip counting, and equal groups to solve multiplication word problems with a heart-shaped theme for celebrating Valentine’s Day.
• Romeo and Juliet: In this Crash Course Literature video for grades 8-12, students learn about Romeo and Juliet, including the Aristotelian definition of tragedy and Shakespeare’s decision to set the play in Italy. They also learn and identify iambic pentameter. (Mature references)
• How Do I Love Thee?: In this lesson for grades 9-10, students learn about Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s poem “How Do I Love Thee?” They make connections with the text in order to identify key details and understand the text more deeply.
• The Ladybug Love-In: In this video from Deep Look for grades 4-8, students learn about the huge gatherings of ladybugs where they do more than hibernate, and it’s their best chance to find a mate.
• An Introduction to Valentine’s Day: In this EL Content Companion lesson for grades 3-5, students use scaffolds to learn about Valentine’s Day. The lesson contains language, social-emotional learning, and content objectives, along with targeted vocabulary instruction.

Start using these Valentine’s Day activities for school

We hope you found these Valentine’s Day ideas for schools helpful! We’re so excited to see you use these activities and resources in your classroom to celebrate with your students. You can access these activities and lessons through a Nearpod account.

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.

Carol Chinea

Carol Chinea is a Marketing Associate at Nearpod.

The post Fun Valentine’s Day activities for students in your 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.

How can I make test prep review fun for students?

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

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

5 Fun ways to review for test prep in the classroom

1. Spark excitement with educational games

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

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

2. Make learning interactive with Drag and Drop activities

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

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

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

3. Combine VR and simulations with interactive lessons

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

5. Temperature check the room with polls

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

6. Make time for brain breaks!

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

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

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

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

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

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for a free Nearpod account below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

David Franklin

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

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

Digital Learning Day is the last Thursday of every February. This year, it will be on Thursday, February 15, 2024.

Digital learning is the practice of using technology to enhance learning experiences. Teachers regularly employ technology to transform learning in their classrooms. Digital Learning Day is an excellent opportunity to share how you utilize tech in your classroom, encourage colleagues to explore your favorite educational technology tools, or even try something new!

We want to acknowledge the incredible dedication of teachers who continually strive to master digital instruction, empowering their students across various settings. Digital instruction has evolved significantly in the past three years. Our mindsets and tools have undergone substantial changes. Teachers swiftly adapted to virtual instruction, engaging with students in new and meaningful ways despite numerous challenges. This year and beyond, let’s celebrate our teachers above all else!

Keep reading to explore digital learning materials and educational resources teachers and students can access.

Digital Learning Day free resources and activities

Nearpod is the perfect edtech platform to use with your students. Get real-time insights into student understanding through interactive lessons and formative assessment activities.

We’ve compiled a list of Digital Learning Day activities and ideas you can use in your classroom with Nearpod to celebrate. Click here to download our one-pager to explore tech tools such as interactive activities, formative assessments, digital citizenship lessons, and more.

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for a free Nearpod account below to access the resources and activities shared in this article! Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Engaging Digital Learning Day activities and resources

1. Start simple with a digital interactive activity

Even one activity can bring excitement. Nearpod’s tools and resources help teachers access and create high-quality lessons. If you’re looking for a simple way to participate in Digital Learning Day, here are some ideas:

• Place a Matching Pairs activity at the very beginning of your lesson. It’ll be the first thing your students see when they join the lesson, giving them something to work on immediately. This way, you can focus on getting all your students where they need to be, and the rest of the class gets a little game-based reward for punctuality.
• Create a classroom discussion with a Collaborate Board activity. Students can share ideas with a larger audience as they discover selected topics.
• Have students show their creativity with Draw It. Let them express their thoughts using text, images, annotation, and highlighting.

2. Share your digital learning experience!

We want to hear about how digital learning has impacted you! Use one of our social media templates to share with your community and empower other teachers by sharing what you wish you had known before, what you know now, and a tip to help a fellow teacher related to digital instruction. Whether you teach in-person, hybrid, or online learning, this template is for you.

Tag @nearpod and use the hashtag #DLDay to share your experience with other educators and us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

3. Practice good digital citizenship

Nearpod opens the door for digital instruction beyond the walls of the classroom. Nearpod allows students to practice future-ready 21st-century skills. Teachers can empower students to reflect on their digital learning environment using our digital citizenship lessons. Teaching digital citizenship and literacy enables students to think critically and participate safely, appropriately, and responsibly in the digital world.

4. Try Nearpod’s Whiteboard during a live lesson

Nearpod’s Whiteboard can be used during a live lesson to launch a virtual whiteboard at any time in a lesson. This is one simple way to make your digital lessons and activities more interactive! Teachers can model for students or address a misconception on-the-fly, while students follow along. Anything you draw, write, or type on the whiteboard will show up on a student’s device in real-time. For Digital Learning Day activities, consider using the Whiteboard to model math problems or create a Venn Diagram live during a lesson.

5. Try a gamified quiz with Time to Climb

Ready to get your game on? Time to Climb is Nearpod’s gamified quiz that takes student engagement to the next level. With Time to Climb, students’ characters race to the top of a mountain, and teachers surface formative assessment data at the same time. You can up the competition and engagement while you access and measure student understanding. Try a premade Time to Climb quiz from our standards-aligned content library, or create one of your own within minutes! Use Nearpod’s digital tools to create engaging lessons to help students reach their learning goals.

Continue to use Nearpod in your classroom

Technology is becoming an essential resource for classroom learning. There are many benefits to using digital technology in the classroom, such as streamlining workflows, elevating student engagement and participation, and more. With Nearpod, the possibilities are endless. You can create your own interactive lessons and activities while getting insight into student learning in real-time. To continue to use Nearpod beyond Digital Learning Day, sign up below for a free account.

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for a free Nearpod account below to access the resources and activities shared in this article! 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 Celebrate Digital Learning Day with edtech activities and ideas appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Every year, the third week of October is coined Digital Citizenship Week. Teachers use this time to teach about digital citizenship and support students in developing the skills they need to use devices safely, ethically, and effectively. Now more than ever, it’s important to empower students to think critically and participate responsibly in the digital world through media literacy and social and emotional learning skills.

Digital Citizenship Week free lessons and activities

Nearpod has curated free lessons for Digital Citizenship Week you can use to teach about online safety, cyberbullying, digital literacy, and more. We compiled our most popular and recommended lessons to help you plan your Digital Citizenship Month or Week.

New to Nearpod? Make sure you’re signed up to access these digital citizenship activities and lessons!

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.

The Nearpod Library and 21st Century Readiness Program include interactive digital citizenship activities, lessons, assessments, and videos covering topics like digital literacy, cyberbullying, media balance, news, and media literacy, communication, digital footprint identity, and online privacy. Check out our curated list of the most popular and staff favorite lessons from each library!

How Adirondack Central School District uses Nearpod for teaching digital literacy

Discover how the Adirondack Central School District, a rural public school district in upstate New York, embraced the challenge of aligning with New York State’s Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards. Leveraging Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program, educators navigated these standards with purpose, empowering both teachers and students for a digitally fluent future.

Digital Citizenship lessons for Grades K-5

• Safe Online Behavior (Grades K-5) Most Used
  • In this Nearpod Time to Climb, students demonstrate their understanding of safe online behavior and examples of digital citizenship.

• Digital Trails (Grade 2) Staff Favorite
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students learn what their digital footprint is and how it is created.

• We the Digital Citizens (Grade 2) Most Used
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students learn how to be a good digital citizen.

• Computer Vocabulary (Grades 3-5) Most Used 
  • In this Nearpod digital literacy lesson, students investigate how technology can be used to make their lives simpler, more productive, and more expansive.

• Rings of Responsibility (Grade 3) Most Used
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students examine their in-person and online responsibilities.

• The Power of Words (Grade 3) Most Used
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students decide what kinds of statements are OK to say online and which are not.

• My Media Choices (Grade 4) Most Used 
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students learn the “What? When? How Much?” framework for describing their media choices.

• Private and Personal Information (Grade 4) Most Used 
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students identify why people share information about themselves online and investigate the difference between private and personal information.

• Super Digital Citizen (Grade 4) Most Used 
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students will be able to reflect on the characteristics that make someone an upstanding digital citizen, recognize what cyberbullying is, and show ways to be an upstander.

• Finding My Media Balance (Grade 5) Most Used 
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students reflect on how balanced they are in their daily lives.

• What’s Cyberbullying? (Grade 5) Most Used 
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students learn how to recognize similarities and differences between in-person bullying, cyberbullying, and being mean.

Digital Citizenship activities for Grades 6-8

• Digital Life 101 (Grade 6) Most Used 
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students are introduced to the 24/7, socially progressive nature of digital media and technologies.

• Digital Citizenship & Responsibility (Grade 6-8) Staff Favorite 
  • In this 6-8 activity, students will review what it means to be a good digital citizen and how to take responsibility on social media with Nearpod’s interactive quiz game, Time to Climb.

• Don’t Feed the Phish (Grade 6) Most Used 
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students learn about how they can protect themselves from identity theft using examples of digital citizenship.

• Finding Balance in a Digital World (Grade 6-8) Most Used 
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students learn about the benefits of balancing digital media use in their lives.

• Sourcing Your Information (Grades 6-8) Staff Favorite 
  • In this Nearpod digital literacy lesson, students identify strategies for determining who creates information online. Students learn about credibility, conflict of interest, and native advertising.

• Tik Tok (Grades 6-12) Staff Favorite 
  • In this Nearpod lesson, students investigate Tik Tok and its user base. Students consider how certain aspects can affect users’ behavior.

• Tik Tok Bans (Grade 6-12) Staff Favorite  
  • In this Current Events lesson, students learn about the recent wave of restrictions on TikTok in the US. They learn about the platform in general and analyze the arguments for banning or restricting TikTok.

• Tik Tok Challenges (Grade 6-12) Most Used  
  • In this Nearpod Current Events lesson, students will explore the potential impact of Tik Tok challenges in schools and communities.

• How Retailers Stalk You Online (Grade 6-12) Staff Favorite  
  • In this Two Cents video, students learn about how retailers track their activity online to personalize ads and convince them to make purchases. They also receive some tips about how to be more mindful and deliberate with online shopping.

• Upstanders and Allies: Taking Action Against Cyberbullying (Grade 7) Most Used 
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students learn about cyberbullying and how they should respond to it. Students reflect on the importance of showing empathy before commenting online.

• The Power of Digital Footprints (Grade 7) Staff Favorite 
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students learn what a digital footprint is and what it conveys.

• Digital Media and Your Brain (Grade 8) Most Used  
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students learn how digital media is designed to hook users and what can be done about it.

• Social Media Behaviors and Cyberbullying (Grade 8) Most Used 
  •  In this Classroom Complete Press lesson, students learn the importance of responsible use of online platforms and how to spot and stop cyberbullying.

Digital Citizenship lessons for Grades 9-12

• Challenging Confirmation Bias (Grades 9-12) Staff Favorite 
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students learn to change their own confirmation bias to help them leverage technology safely, responsibly, and ethically.

• Sourcing Your Information (Grades 9-12) Staff Favorite 
  • In this Nearpod lesson, students explore why it is important to know where information online comes from by analyzing websites and articles using examples of digital citizenship.

• Teen Voces: Hate Speech Online (Grades 9-12) Staff Favorite 
  • In this interactive video from Common Sense Education, students listen to other teens’ thoughts about online hate speech.

• Teen Voices: Who Are You on Social Media? (Grade 9-12) Staff Favorite 
  • In this interactive video from Common Sense Education, students listen to teens reflect on how they curate their social media lives.

• Who’s Looking at Your Digital Footprint? (Grade 11) Most Used 
  • In this Common Sense Education lesson, students learn how any information they post online can help or hurt their future opportunities.

What to do when the week is over:

Digital Citizenship is becoming a fundamental literacy that shouldn’t be confined to exploring for just one week. Continue the conversation about digital citizenship throughout the entire year Nearpod has a Digital Citizenship and Literacy supplemental curriculum available in the 21st Century Readiness Program. Our lessons support instruction in digital citizenship, computer science,  coding, applications of technology, and media literacy.

New to Nearpod? Make sure you’re signed up to access these lessons and activities!

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.

Explore Nearpod’s free digital citizenship week activities and lessons here!

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post Digital Citizenship Week: Free lessons and activities for K-12 appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

How to create interactive goal setting activities for students

Any activity or lesson can be made interactive with Nearpod for free. For example, you can select activities and lessons from our Goal Setting lesson folder. Filter by grade level, subject, or standards to find an activity fit for you and your students. If you’re searching for New Year resolution templates, you can search the lesson folder for an activity that aligns with your students’ grade level. Additionally, you can create your own interactive activities to make any Nearpod lesson fun and engaging for students. With Nearpod, you can access interactive formative assessments that include gamification, drag and drop, drawing, matching, and collaborative discussion, which will enhance classroom learning for all students.

New to Nearpod? Make sure you’re signed up to access these lessons and activities!

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.

5 Engaging goal setting activities for any classroom

1. Establish resolutions and reflections

January is the perfect time of year for students to reflect on the first half of the school year and set specific goals for the new year. These activities and lessons are perfect for teaching your students about setting SMART goals. Do this as a class activity or in Student-Paced mode for independent reflection.

Use these goals setting activities for resolutions and reflections:

• Reflections and Resolutions (Activity: Grades K-12): In this SEL activity, students practice self-management by reflecting on past experiences to create SMART resolutions for the new school year. This lesson can be used to infuse social and emotional learning into classroom schedules easily. There are 3 versions of this activity for the following set of grade levels: Grades K-2, 3-5, and 6-12.

• Goal Setting (Activity: Grades 3-8): In this life skills activity, students will review their understanding of goal setting using Nearpod’s interactive quiz game, Time to Climb. There are 2 versions of this activity for the following set of grade levels: Grades 3-5 and 6-8.

• Smart Goals (Video: Grades 3-6): In this fun and educational video from Lynn Hefele, students learn how to create SMART goals using specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely language.

• SEL: Growth Mindset (Activity: Grades 6-8): In this life skills activity, students will review their understanding of growth mindset using Nearpod’s interactive quiz game, Time to Climb.

• New Year’s Resolutions for Students (Video: Grades 9-12, Higher Ed): In this video from Socratica, students learn how to make achievable new year’s resolutions and complete them.

2. Practice a growth mindset

There is no successful goal setting without a growth mindset. Encourage students to adopt a growth mindset for the new school year to motivate themselves to accomplish their personal and academic goals. You can also use these activities during different times of the year when they need a little extra courage. Use these effective goal setting activities for the new year, test prep season, or before they go on holiday or summer break to reinforce these teachings.

Motivate students with these growth mindset lessons and activities:

• Growth Mindset (Lesson: Grade 3-8): In this Life Skills lesson, students will learn about the opportunity to learn from failure. Your students will be able to acknowledge failure as a positive process and learning opportunity.

• Growth Mindset (Video: Grades 4-12): What if we thought of failure as an opportunity for growth? In this video, students learn about growth mindset. A host explains how a growth mindset reframes mistakes as a sign of potential. Students consider how this can impact their own lives.

• SEL: Growth Mindset (Activity: Grades 6-8): In this 6-8 life skills activity, students will review their understanding of growth mindset using Nearpod’s interactive quiz game, Time to Climb.

• Survey: Growth Mindset (Activity: Grades 6-12): Want to learn more about your students? Use this survey to get to know your students and learn more about how they feel about your subject area!

3. Inspire students with social and emotional habits

Are your students not sure what type of goals they want to set for themselves? Give them some realistic goals they can accomplish in the new year. Whether it’s reading more, exercising frequently, managing their time better, or cultivating healthy social and emotional habits, you can provide your students with the resources they need to kick off a new goal they’re passionate about.

Before kicking off goal setting activities, share some of these lessons with your students to inspire them:

• Mantras (Video: Grades 3-8): Want to feel calmer or more confident? In this one-minute video, students will learn about mantras. A host will explain how mantras can help you focus and manage stress, and students will consider how they can use mantras in their own lives.

• Let’s Breathe Out (Lesson: Grades 6-8): In this Social Emotional Learning lesson, middle school students students will learn about the concept of mindfulness and how to cultivate it within themselves.

• Exercise and Fitness (Lesson: Grades 6-8): In this CCP Life Skills lesson, students will learn how to maintain an active and healthy lifestyle. They will examine how to calculate BMI, calorie intake, and the physical benefits of exercise.

• Daily Routines and Time Management (Lesson: Grades 6-12): Students learn to organize their daily schedules and manage their time to achieve their goals, specifically long term and short term goals.

• How to Love Reading (Video: Grades 9-12, Higher Ed): In this interactive video from Socratica, high school students learn about how to love reading.

4. Encourage healthy technology and media habits

Now more than ever, it’s important to empower students to think critically and participate responsibly in the digital world through digital citizenship skills. Use the beginning of the year to reinforce digital literacy skills students use daily. These habits can also serve as goal setting ideas they can use in the new year. For example, they can set a goal not to check social media in the first 15 minutes they wake up or to shut off their phones one hour before they go to sleep.

Use these lessons to encourage healthy digital citizenship habits in the new year:

• Digital Citizenship & Responsibility (Activity: Grades 6-8): In this 6-8 activity, students will review what it means to be a good digital citizen and how to take responsibility on social media with Nearpod’s interactive quiz game, Time to Climb.

• Social Media Addiction (Video: Grades 6-12): Is social media designed to be addicting? In this one-minute video, students learn about social media addiction. A host explains how social media is designed to be addicting, and students consider whether social media should be regulated.

• Social Media Behaviors and Cyber Bullying (Lesson: Grades 6-12): Students learn the importance of responsible use of online platforms and how to spot and stop cyberbullying.

5. Celebrate with themed slide templates for your lessons!

This January, use one of our two seasonal templates for Google Slides! With a Nearpod Gold, Platinum, or School account, you can access our Google-Slides Add On to embed interactive Nearpod slides and activities within Google Slides. Perfect for creating January or back to school activities for your classroom!

Learn more about our Google Slides integration here. However, please note these slide templates can still be accessed for free.

Uploading PowerPoint or Google Slides into Nearpod to create your lessons? Download the slide templates as a .ppt, make a copy in Google Slides, and upload your festive lesson to Nearpod.

Click the links below to download your favorite New Year template! If you’re interested in slides for back to school, explore all of our slide templates here.

Start using these interactive activities and lessons

These goal setting activities will help you and your students ring in the year smoothly and confidently! You can reinforce the skills taught in these activities year-round with your students. If you’re new to Nearpod, ensure you’re signed up for a free account. You can access all of the lessons, activities, and videos in this blog post by clicking below to sign up!

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.

Carol Chinea

Carol Chinea is a Marketing Associate at Nearpod.

The post 5 Engaging goal setting activities for any classroom appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

How to make your own interactive Drag and Drop activity

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

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.

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

1. Label diagrams, images, and maps

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

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

Here are some premade activities you can use:

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

2. Sequence events and information

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

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

Here are some premade activities you can use:

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

3. Sort concepts and categories

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

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

Here are some premade activities you can use:

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

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

4. Gather student responses to assess knowledge and gauge understanding

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

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

5. Set expectations for learning and establish routines and procedures

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

Use Nearpod’s interactive activities

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

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Jessica Clarke

Jessica Clarke is the Curriculum Manager at Nearpod.

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

The 4Cs in education are collaboration, communication, creation, and critical thinking, which represent the knowledge, skills, and expertise students need today to prepare for tomorrow’s workforce. The Partnership for 21st Century Learning (P21) claims that with the influx of technology and trends in our global economy, students need more interpersonal and intrapersonal skills to achieve professional and personal success. In its Frameworks for 21st Century Learning, P21 describes how the 4Cs of 21st-century skills are foundational for learning and innovation and are skills that everyone needs to practice and hone throughout schooling. These skills are not independent — they are entwined with one another when promoting progress in the classroom.

What is the importance of 4Cs in education?

The 4Cs approach to teaching and learning focuses on whole child education and makes it easier for a school to establish a positive school culture and build a common community among its stakeholders: students, families, and teachers. Most educators will not be surprised by this perspective, as whole child education has been a constant thread in schools for decades. In whole child education, teachers seek to support not just the academic but also the emotional and social skills of individual children. Since the days of Dewey, educators have sought to support children’s overall well-being while inciting their curiosity to become lifelong learners. In addition to a mastery of key subjects, P21 wove in interdisciplinary themes such as global awareness and civic literacy as part of their framework. But it was their learning and innovation skills that have taken hold. Many educators now lean on this idea of the 4Cs in constructing their curriculum and daily activities. Many have even personalized the 4Cs in education by adding a fifth, sixth, or seventh C—whether that C stands for Community, Citizenship, or Character.

Teaching the 4Cs with technology tools: Nearpod

When it comes to technology, nowadays, students can find an answer with a click of a button. The clout of memorization has lost its hold, as students are now challenged to apply their newfound knowledge and expand upon it—not just recite it. Educational trends have shifted, especially with the influx of digital technologies, and classrooms must step up to prepare students to be effective and engaging contributors. Start teaching the 4Cs with technology using Nearpod. Platforms like Nearpod support educators in providing rich content while also challenging students to analyze, apply, evaluate, and create through active learning strategies and formative assessment, all to drive student engagement. Nearpod encourages students and teachers alike to take a personalized approach to education by leveraging the 4Cs in education through working with the whole class, small groups, and individuals. Students are more actively engaged in learning when presented with media-rich content and interactive functionality. Plus, educators receive real-time assessment data from their classrooms, enabling them to pivot and be more responsive in their teaching methods.

New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons.

Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Curriculum Program

Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program includes over 400 SEL lessons, activities, and videos built on CASEL’s five core competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.

Provide educators with 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. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to explore Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program and unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

How to implement the 4Cs in education to teach 21st-century skills

1. Collaboration

From the early days of kindergarten, kids learn the importance of cooperation, which is fundamental to the notion of collaboration, which is when two or more people work together towards a common goal. Good collaboration takes trust and respect to work together, be heard, and make decisions. Traditionally, educators promote collaboration with active learning strategies such as think-pair-share or jigsaw. They build small group work into lesson activities so that students learn and practice such participation and team-building skills.

Nearpod’s Collaborate Board makes it easy for students to share their thinking, comment on their posts, and build upon each other’s ideas in real time. Whether in person or working remotely, students can connect with one another via the interactive board, and teachers can monitor and review all perspectives. Nearpod provides a safe space for such collaboration to occur, and educators can foster such an exchange of ideas in a productive manner.

See Collaborate Board in action through these science lessons about infectious diseases. Use this lesson in high school classrooms to deconstruct sophisticated ideas about transmission and outbreaks of communicable diseases to share in their own words via a Collaborate Board.

Here are some tips from this blog post sharing ways to create collaborative learning experiences in the classroom:

• Make collaborative classroom discussions part of every lesson
• Keep feedback at the center of classroom discussions
• Make collaborative learning visible
• Collaborate and contribute in multiple formats
• Build community and social emotional skills

2. Communication

Part and parcel of collaboration are strong communication skills. Today’s communication skills are more nuanced depending on whether communication is happening in person, in writing, or virtually online. There has been more of a focus on the 21st-century literacy skills of speaking and listening since we have more dynamic communication channels these days. From the science of reading to digital literacy and media literacy, students are schooled in ways to be not only effective but respectful communicators. Teachers strive to promote creative expression so students can find their own voice while appreciating others’. 

Nearpod promotes class discussions within the pre-made lessons to spark meaningful conversations. Polls can be used to initiate discussions. Open-ended questions invite diverse perspective taking for 4Cs education. Students can practice articulating and conveying their ideas, whether they seek to inform, instruct, motivate, or persuade others. Nearpod’s formative interactive assessments, which can be embedded into videos and slides, open up avenues of exchanges, whether in person or through written responses. Students can practice listening effectively and exercise flexibility to promote dialogue, which can occur 24/7 and not just within the hours of a school day.

3. Creativity

Creativity has finally clawed its way to the top of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The apex of higher-order thinking now culminates in creating something new via self-expression. Many teachers strive to take a cross-curricular approach to designing their learning objectives so that students can better digest and make connections with new knowledge; they can then find application in their real world and build upon their own skill sets. Improv and design thinking have long embraced the notion of “Yes, and …” to encourage risk-taking and innovation.

Regarding creativity, Nearpod celebrates all learning styles and provides various ways for students to read, watch, and interact with content. Teachers can add multimedia to their lessons, and in turn, students can use interactive tools like Collaborate Board to brainstorm ideas and respond to or build upon the lesson content. The Draw It tool provides a digital whiteboard for students to draw, type, and add images to communicate and refine their ideas and responses. For instance, when learning about Ancient Greece, students can dive into an article, watch a video, or take a Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trip related to architecture and then be challenged to map out a blueprint, or to draw their own interpretation of or enhance a famous relic. Students are able to “show what they know” in original ways in real time.

“Designing a City Zoo,” a 3-lesson experience built in partnership with Freckle, teaches elementary students about whole-number quotients through problem-solving. The lessons for grade 3 invite students to ask their own questions and to answer them creatively with tools such as Drag and Drop and Draw It:

• Designing a City Zoo: Part 1 
• Designing a City Zoo: Part 2 
• Designing a City Zoo: Part 3 

4. Critical thinking

Lastly, but underlining all tasks, is the importance of critical thinking skills. This focus on decision making and problem solving goes beyond mere mathematics by promoting high-order thinking across key subject areas. Critical thinking requires the ability to interpret, analyze, and evaluate information (facts and otherwise!) to refute arguments, make judgments, and think through solutions. Such logic skills also include developing a true willingness to listen to and consider others’ ideas. This iterative mindset is crucial in an ever-changing world that negates one-and-done solutions. Critical thinking skills are key to the other Cs in helping students become thoughtful questioners (communication), helpful participants (collaboration), and transformational contributors (creativity).

Nearpod lessons are built with scaffolded interactive activities designed to help students build toward higher-order critical thinking. Learning objectives are designed to have students analyze, evaluate, explain, problem-solve, and more, which are all components of critical thinking. Teachers can add reflective questions into their lessons, as such systematic thinking behooves us all regarding future personal and professional challenges.

Additionally, specific Nearpod features and content types are designed to encourage critical thinking, such as PhET simulations for math and science instruction.

5. Combining all 4Cs

Teachers and educators alike have common goals for preparing students today for success tomorrow. The 4Cs in education—collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking—have played a vital role over the last two decades and will continue to do so. Nearpod continues to prepare students for the 21st century by providing an all-in-one platform with interactive lessons, gamified learning, and formative assessments to challenge students’ 4Cs education. Our Corinth high school science lessons incorporate the 4Cs. In the Integumentary System lesson, students can individually explore a 3D model of this system before synthesizing complex information in order to answer a series of questions collaboratively.

Start teaching the 4Cs with Nearpod

We challenge educators daily to design learning experiences that build students into confident and curious learners (two other valuable Cs!). 21st-century learning should look and feel different than a more traditional classroom we might be familiar with and the landscape will continue to evolve so that students develop the knowledge and skills they need. Plus, Nearpod provides professional development to continue improving educators’ skills regarding the 4Cs. These real-world skills of collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking are ever-important as we all seek to be lifelong learners.

New to Nearpod? Make sure you’re signed up to access these lessons and activities!

Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to explore Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program and 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.

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Pick and choose from these holiday themed classroom activities to keep your students learning, laughing, creating, and exploring! If you’re interested in accessing these lessons, activities, and digital tools, teachers can sign up for a free Nearpod account. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

5 Fun winter themed and holiday classroom activities for students

1. Teach core subjects with winter and holiday lessons

There is never a better time to learn about the changing seasons and rhythms of the year than when students can actually see and feel the changes occurring. Winter often brings a dramatic seasonal change that can support learning and curiosity. The learning doesn’t have to be limited to just the seasons. Make everyday learning relevant and engaging through winter holiday lessons and spark creativity through activities and games to play with students. Teach math word problems, vocabulary, historical figures, figurative languages, and creative writing with these classroom holiday activities and lessons.

• Word Problems: Winter Edition: (Math Kindergarten): In this lesson, students will use key words and the part-part-whole model to solve addition and subtraction word problems within 10.
• Education.com: Winter Hyperbole (ELA Grade 4): In this skill builder, students will explain what hyperbole is and its effect. The students will also practice writing their own hyperboles for winter.
• Origin of Everything: How Did Edison Invent Christmas Lights? (Social Studies: Grades 6-12): In this video, students learn about Thomas Edison and the legacy of science demonstrators, including how Edison invented Christmas lights and used his talent and the media for self-promotion.
• Exploring Poetry in Nature (ELA Grades 6-8): Strengthen students’ poetry skills by teaching them how authors use sensation and emotion in poems. Students will explore nature through virtual reality experiences as inspiration for writing their own poetry.

2. Explore with students the history and culture of various holidays

Take a deep dive into all the holidays that occur during this season with our holiday collection. We have a collection of lessons about various holidays: Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. And don’t forget our New Year lessons that are designed to support goal setting and reflection!

Here are some of our popular holiday lessons and fun activities before winter break! Click below to see more lessons across K-12 grade levels.

• Christmas Around the World (Available for grades K-5)
• Hanukkah (Available for grades K-5)
• Kwanzaa (Available for grades K-5)

3. Gamified and interactive holiday activities for students

Ready to bring some holiday cheer and fun into the classroom? Explore our interactive winter activities for kids to keep your students creating and exploring all season long.

Our educational game, Time to Climb, has a seasonal winter theme available during the month of December. Bring some holiday cheers to your exit tickets and mid-lesson reviews! Time to Climb is a perfect academic and fun game if you’re searching for holiday classroom party ideas. Use it with any Time to Climb quiz you create, or with one of our free pre-made Time to Climb activities. 

We also have more interactive fun activities to use before winter break in your classroom, such as:

• Winter Holidays Around the World (Grades K-2): In this world cultures activity, students will show their understanding of winter holidays with Nearpod’s interactive quiz game, Time to Climb.
• Hibernation (Science Grades 1-3): In this activity, students watch a video about hibernation after reviewing key vocabulary. Then, they practice identifying hibernating animals by completing a drawing assessment called Draw It.
• Holidays: Matching Pictures (Grade 1): In this Matching Pairs activity, students show their understanding of holidays by matching the holiday name with a pictorial representation of the holiday.

4. Build a (virtual) snowman from inside the classroom

Do you want to build a snowman? Bring your favorite snowman to life or create a new take on the icon winter character with this activity. Our Drag and Drop interactive activity is one of Nearpod’s most flexible holiday activities for students and is the perfect way to build those winter characters without getting your hands cold! Create digital winter crafts and invite students to create their own snowmen. Provide creative writing prompts to keep the story going on their winter wonderland.

5. Winter-fy your slide presentations

Get into the holiday spirit by creating your own lessons and activities with our Winter Templates for Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint. You can even save the template and add it onto Nearpod to create your own presentations. With a Nearpod Gold, Platinum, or School account, you can access our Google-Slides Add On to embed interactive Nearpod slides and activities within Google Slides. Learn more about our Google Slides integration here. However, please note these slide templates can still be accessed for free. Click the links below to download your favorite!

Download winter themed template

Download Time to Climb template

Spread holiday cheer with Nearpod!

We hope you found these holiday and winter resources helpful! We’re so excited to see you use these indoor activities and resources in your classroom to celebrate the holiday season and the last few weeks of school with your students. You can access these winter holiday activities and lessons through a Nearpod account. If you’re interested in accessing these lessons, activities, and digital tools, teachers can sign up for a free Nearpod account. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Brisa Ayub

The post 5 Fun winter themed and holiday classroom activities for students appeared first on Nearpod Blog.