New to 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.

Addressing the challenge: Nearpod empowers Leo Academy Trust in advancing personalized learning

When a district strives for excellence, it must continuously evolve. In 2020, Graham Macaulay brought Nearpod into Leo Academy Trust schools’ (then virtual) classrooms to ease the shock and panic brought on by the pandemic and to ensure engagement and inclusion. By year-end, the Trust’s 60 teachers across six schools were consistently using Nearpod to support more than 3,500 pupils in learning at their own pace … and loving it.

Well into the new normal, teaching has changed, and tools have changed. Nearpod is now at the heart of the Leo Academy Trust’s learning ecosystem. While the Trust continues to empower educators and enrich its curriculum, new challenges have arisen in balancing expectations, as Graham explains:

“Nearpod has expanded opportunities for our students and improved collaboration among our staff. Now, we aim to take it a step further, leveraging the platform to provide even more, higher-quality education while remaining considerate of staff workloads.”

Engagement through immersive learning experiences

Nearpod has become an essential element of Leo Academy’s teaching approach, motivating educators as they witness students actively engaging with immersive learning experiences. Graham has been delighted to see how the process of delivering engaging lessons has become more intuitive, and less daunting and demanding for staff.

“It’s a win-win. Teachers save time, and students enjoy even more engaging and enriching lessons. Nearpod bridges the gap between teaching and learning, empowering teachers with the necessary tools to focus on what truly matters.”

Rather than preparing materials, teachers can now quickly share resources through Nearpod, which acts as conduit between teaching and learning, enabling teachers to create and share valuable resources that benefit them, their peers, and ultimately hundreds of students.

Lessons as diverse as their learners

Recognizing that students respond differently to the tools at their disposal, Graham and the educators at Leo Academy Trust value Nearpod’s versatility in offering a wide range of learning experiences. 

“Some students thrive in competitive situations, so they love features like Time to Climb, while others prefer the opportunity to engage repeatedly with the same content on a mini whiteboard,” he explains.

Graham also emphasizes the importance of empowering staff to take risks and embrace a culture of continuous improvement. For him, innovation in education involves risk-taking, self-reflection, and a focus on what truly matters. Rather than replicating traditional practices digitally and doing “what has always been done, but better,” the Trust is now exploring how Nearpod can create truly unique learning experiences, as Graham reflects:

“The minute you change anything in education, there’s an adoption cycle you’ve got to go through. And as you climb that mountain, you make mistakes. As leaders in education, we’ve got to empower our staff to do that, to reflect and even to fail forward.”

Education is asking questions every day

With Nearpod by its side, Leo Academy Trust is more driven than ever to meet the individual needs of its students and teachers today and tomorrow, as Graham concludes: 

“Every day, we ask ourselves how we can empower teachers to support students and deliver the best possible education while fostering innovation. Balancing these goals is a significant challenge, but the rewards are immense.”

Ready to learn more about how to prepare every student for success with Nearpod? Schedule a call with one of our experts and learn how you can empower educators with unlimited access to everything they need to engage learners.

About the trust

The Leo Academy Trust encompasses nine primary schools in South London and Surrey. Forward thinking and fearless, the trust strives to provide outstanding education, while fostering an inclusive environment that ensures the well-being of its 5,000 students. With its sights firmly on innovation, the Trust ensures outstanding teaching and learning experiences while addressing the digital divide through a pioneering one-to-one program, giving each child internet access and a personal Chromebook to support their education—regardless of their background or learning pace. Six years into the program, Leo Trust leads the way in personalized learning in the UK, challenging the notion that education is confined to traditional school hours.

About the educators

Graham Macaulay is director of strategic partnerships at Leo Academy Trust. An edtech leader, Google Certified Innovator, trainer and coach, and seasoned primary school teacher, he spearheads the Trust’s support for edtech through the Department for Education EdTech Demonstrator Schools & Colleges Programme. Graham is relentless in his mission to embrace technology to keep the Trust at the forefront of personalized learning while prioritizing the involvement, inclusion, and well-being of every student and teacher. 

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post Multi-academy trust puts student outcomes first: LEO Academy Trust’s story appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

A significant step for students is a giant leap for educators. Determined to support and not swamp teachers, the Adirondack Central School District in upstate New York is leveraging its long-term partnership with Nearpod to prepare its staff for the standards—and the assessments that will inevitably follow. Together, the district, educators, and Nearpod specialists devised a pioneering plan to align ready-to-teach lessons from Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program with these standards so that by the time they come into force, everyone knows what they’re doing, how they’re doing it, and why.

New to 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’s 21st Century Readiness Program for schools and districts.

Main challenge: Navigating digital literacy standards with purpose

How could an ambitious rural public school district prepare all its teachers and students for incoming digital literacy standards without ramping up the pressure and workloads? 

Determined teachers across the Adirondack Central School District were aware of the criteria set out by the New York State Education Department. For Michael Faustino, the district’s director of curriculum, instruction, and technology, the only way to successfully implement the standards was to transform educators’ apprehension into intention and purpose. 

“The easy way out would be to explain the standards and ask teachers to just do their best. That’s not our philosophy. When you have new standards, there’s going to be an assessment of some sort and there must be an accountability measure,” he explains.

Michael knew the district needed to support all teachers with a solid, structured plan so they didn’t feel overwhelmed or underequipped.

“Anytime you have mandates come down, the tendency is to put more on teachers’ plates without taking anything away. We realized that we can’t put students first if we put teachers last,” he adds.

For Nick Palczak, the district’s STEAM coordinator, it would be crucial to support teachers in leveraging the existing lessons and resources their students enjoyed and engaged with.

“Our educators are already meeting many of the standards—sometimes without even knowing it. So, the question was simple: How do we incorporate these lessons into their classes?” he asks.

The answer was Nearpod. The Adirondack Central School District has been an active Nearpod partner since January 2019. The incoming standards present a prime opportunity to take the partnership to the next level and use Nearpod to align what is being done with what needs to be done. As Michael asserts:

“Our goal for this academic year is to familiarize all our teachers with the alignment documents we are creating. If we roll out the alignment by September 2024, we won’t need implementation. We will just be fine-tuning.”

Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program sets path to meet NYS Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards

Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program is a powerful tool that equips teachers with a singular solution to infuse 21st-century learning into their daily lessons. This program is designed to bridge the gap, ensuring that students not only excel academically but also develop vital life skills.

Adirondack recognized the transformative potential of this program for educators who aspire to ready their students for the complexities of the 21st century while meeting the stringent requirements of the New York State Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards.

To support the district in the demanding task of aligning its curriculum with the new standards, the Nearpod team helped build alignment documents using lessons from the 21st Century Readiness Program, specifically customized for these incoming standards. These documents encompass comprehensive, user-friendly, and adaptable resources.

The district’s forward-thinking approach to education is evident in creating curriculum maps that meticulously identify Nearpod lessons aligning with the New York State Computer Science and Digital Fluency Standards across various grade levels. Significantly, most of these curriculum resources are sourced from the 21st Century Readiness Program. This strategic integration ensures that students are exposed to high-quality, standards-aligned content and underscores the district’s commitment to nurturing digital fluency and 21st-century skills among its learners. By leveraging these curriculum maps, educators can effectively use them to pinpoint which of their lessons fulfill the criteria of any given standard and track their progress toward ticking all the boxes.

So that’s what Adirondack did, and the results were rewarding—and relieving—as Michael explains: 

“We knew we didn’t want a system that provided standard-aligned lessons but was complex to navigate. Nearpod is so easy to use and works so well. Kids love it. Our students’ mental health is one of our primary concerns, so the platform was a win-win.” 

Nick concurs: “It’s not hard to introduce Nearpod to a set of students by day two. They can run lessons at their own pace. Teachers, even those who are tech-wary, lose their fear because they still use tools they’re familiar with, like Google Docs, with Nearpod.”

Teaching with, not at

In anticipation of the 2024 deadline, Michael and Nick are collaborating closely with Nearpod to plan and execute a comprehensive districtwide rollout meticulously. The first step will be training administrators to become instructional leaders who build capacity through workshops and ongoing support from turnkey trainers. They aim to help teachers explore the standards and connect the dots to what they’re already teaching.

“We’re not going to teach at them,” Michael insists. “The beauty of the Nearpod alignment documents is that teachers can see the standards broken down into subjects and the timeline and then link to the lessons they can use in the classroom.”

New York State’s learning standards work by bands. Nick has taken each band and broken it down by grade for K-12. He is progressively feeding the alignment documents in which the standards are listed, with an explanation of the standard, examples of the standard that the state provided, and lessons that align with that standard to give to teachers, encouraging them to add their own lessons to the document.

The aim is for teachers to recognize what they’re doing in class and understand how the district and Nearpod can help them fill in the gaps or try something new. Nick gives an example:

“Part of the digital fluency standards is creating a digital artifact. Every teacher who creates a slide in Google Slides is creating digital artifacts. How can we make that more intentional? Why did you pick Google instead of something else? What are the features of it? How do you save it? Do you have folders? Is it stored in the Cloud? What does that mean? Great. Now you can deliver a lesson on digital citizenship.” 

Here are some examples of the lessons* Adirondack used for instruction: 

• Computer Vocabulary (Grades 2-3): In this 3-5 Nearpod Digital Citizenship and Literacy lesson, students investigate how technology can be used to make their lives simpler, more productive, and more expansive. Students learn the uses of different computer hardware devices.
• Visualizing Data (Grades 4-6): In this 3-5 Digital Citizenship and Technology Drag & Drop activity, students will demonstrate an understanding of how to read various simple data sets.

• Lesson 5: In the Loop (Grades 7-8): In this 3-8 Coding lesson, students will be able to define what a loop is and explain its importance as it relates to writing code. Students will practice their new skills by completing a selection of CodeMonkey challenges.
• Who’s Looking at Your Digital Footprint? (Grades 9-12): In this Common Sense Education lesson on Digital Citizenship, students learn how any information they post online can affect their future. They create a vignette that shows how a positive digital footprint can help take advantage of opportunities.

*These lessons are only available on Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program.

From vision to action

For Adirondack, the key to successfully implementing the standards is to know which skills to teach and how. Even if students nor teachers know what the future holds in store, as Nick concludes: 

“We want our kids to leave Adirondack ready for high tech colleges and high tech jobs. I had a student who graduated last year. He’s now at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). He’s trying to decide which robotics club he is going to join so he can compete in robotics programs. He’s so excited to go to a technical college when he grew up in a town of 100 people. I want more and more students to be able to leave our school to do those kinds of things.”  

Michael believes that educators must understand what is being measured and the outcomes:

“It’s not enough for us to have a vision statement that says we want our students to be college and career ready. We’re preparing them for jobs that don’t even exist right now. We can’t just give them taglines; we need to give them avenues, and the only way is by building professional learning without overwhelming teachers. That’s where Nearpod makes all the difference.”

It seems like the difference is already being made in the district. Far from dreading the incoming standards, Nick is confident they will help Adirondack achieve its goals: 

“In 2024, we want to intentionally meet these standards because we know why they are in place. We want to ensure our staff knows why these standards are in place. What jobs are available in 20 years? I have no idea. What skills do you need to be ready for those jobs? Adirondack’s goal is to have kids college and career ready. These standards are really going to help us to meet that goal.”

To learn about the Adirondack Central School district’s actions, watch the webinar “Preparing for Digital Fluency with Nearpod” where they explain how they’ve been using Nearpod resources!

Take the digital fluency leap with Nearpod

Nearpod created New York State-centric alignment documents to demonstrate to teachers how their existing lessons correspond with incoming standards and help the district implement a strategic plan to meet them well before the 2024 deadline. Adirondack squared up to the challenge and developed curriculum maps, which clearly outlined the standards for each grade level and identified relevant Nearpod lessons that taught the necessary skills for students in each grade band.

By offering comprehensive, standards-aligned lesson plans, interactive activities, and assessment tools, the program simplified the process for educators and ensured that students receive a dynamic and engaging learning experience. It sets a blueprint to help schools across and beyond the state take bold strides and implement new educational standards with confidence, calm, and care.

Ready to learn more about how to prepare every student for success with Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program? Schedule a call with one of our experts and learn how you can empower educators with unlimited access to everything they need to engage learners.

About the district

The Adirondack Central School District in Boonville, NY, is a rural public school district encompassing four schools—two elementary, a middle school, and a high school. The district strives to create a safe, respectful, and accepting environment, and to provide students with the mental and emotional support to thrive and excel. By prioritizing open and transparent communication, and fostering a positive school spirit, Adirondack is committed to uniting the community while nurturing academic growth and achievement. Firmly focused on developing STEAM capacity, the district has invested greatly in building facilities and capacity to prepare students for whatever might await them. Its administrators and educators work for and with students to raise graduation rates, enhance state exam performance, minimize the need for academic intervention services, and increase enrollment in advanced courses to prepare students for their chosen—and changing—life endeavors.

About the educators

Michael Faustino, with three decades of experience in education, including 17 years as a kindergarten teacher before becoming a principal, now serves as the director of curriculum, instruction, and technology for the Adirondack Central School District. He leads the district’s mission to prepare all students for college and career success by emphasizing the importance of curricula and data. Michael collaborates closely with educators throughout the district to ensure they are well prepared to implement the New York State Computer Science and Digital Fluency Learning Standards in 2024, guiding teachers and students through every step of the transition, aligning with and even surpassing the timeline.

Nick Palczak, a seasoned physics teacher at Adirondack Central School since 1996, also serves as the district’s STEAM coordinator. He collaborates closely with the tech director to oversee K-12 STEAM programs, while also teaching STEAM courses at middle and high schools. In 2021, Nick played a pivotal role in establishing the Adirondack STEAM program, including setting up a new laboratory post COVID-19. In the past two-plus years, the Adirondack STEAM program has won several robotics competitions and has received numerous recognitions for its work with students. Alongside district coordinator Michael Faustino, Nick readies students and educators for upcoming standards while integrating STEAM into the curriculum. With a family legacy in education, Nick is passionate about preparing students and their teachers for 21st-century careers.

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post Taking the digital fluency leap with Nearpod: Adirondack Central School District’s story appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

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

The positive impact of digital citizenship instruction in K-12

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

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

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

Overcoming challenges with online behavior

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

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

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

How Julia used Nearpod to teach digital citizenship

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

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

Building a positive community through digital citizenship

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

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

Julia Maynard

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

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

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

Teaching students the importance of digital citizenship

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

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

How I use Nearpod to teach digital citizenship

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

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

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

The impactful results

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

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

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

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

Alex Springer-Post

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Harmony Cano

Efficient lesson prep

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

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

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

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

How I use Nearpod to teach digital citizenship

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

Leveraging student-paced Nearpod digital citizenship lessons

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

Digital Footprint lessons

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

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

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

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

Reducing cyberbullying

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

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

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

Amy Klabunde

Impact on school culture

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

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

Start teaching digital citizenship with Nearpod

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

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

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

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

In response to the post-pandemic challenges, AHIS turned to Nearpod while searching for an all-encompassing solution that could offer interactive resources, real-time progress tracking, and personalized engagement. Nearpod enhanced teaching dynamics but aligned with the school’s focus on digital citizenship and social emotional learning (SEL), propelling Al Hekma on a path of continued educational excellence and growth.

Highlights of Al Hekma’s success with Nearpod

• From August 2022 to present
• 6,800+ lessons edited using Nearpod
• 22% of resources from Nearpod library, in addition to teachers’ own resources
• Around 2,075 activities were completed by students using the platform
• Students joined Nearpod more than 126,000 times across a range of subjects

New to Nearpod? Learn more about international school and district licenses.

Challenges

As students returned to the classroom at Al Hekma International School following the COVID-19 pandemic, a new challenge emerged for its principal and teachers: How could they measure and support every student’s progress without overwhelming teachers after such a fragmented period in everyone’s lives? Teachers needed instant insights in order to improve student engagement, performance, and self-esteem, and they needed a solid, diverse bank of resources they could draw on to make the necessary changes.

Solution

Al Hekma started integrating Nearpod in 2021, and the school had several training sessions with the Nearpod team experts to ensure all their needs were met. Teachers were trained on how to create lessons, summative and formative assessments, and reporting. They valued having a one-stop solution that enabled them to use various resources at the same time from the same place.

The results

• Usage grew steadily, and within a year, over half of the teachers became Nearpod Certified Educators! 
• Nearpod seamlessly integrated into the school’s teaching approach and is now embraced across various subjects.
• Giving teachers tools to track progress and pain points in real time has made decision-making more effective and has ramped up student performance.
• No student or teacher need ever be left behind. Fully engaged students are learning more, learning faster, and making the most of every minute in class.
• Self-paced learning has played a pivotal role in nurturing teachers’ autonomy, self-assurance, and sense of responsibility.
• Teachers feel more empowered to personalize lessons by providing a strong, versatile base of trustworthy resources and templates they can edit and adapt.

How Nearpod empowered a forward-thinking school in Bahrain to redefine excellence in education

Al Hekma’s principal, Maya Harb, had discovered Nearpod prior to the pandemic – when it was recommended as part of a routine school tech audit. In a flash, Nearpod became the school’s one-stop solution during the lockdown, ensuring that staff and students could access the materials and resources they needed and spurring active participation. But that was just the beginning, as the partnership evolved and continued well into the next normal.

Maya believes that Nearpod not only streamlined the transition back to the classroom but also made the teaching and learning experience more meaningful than ever.

Besides empowering teachers to track student attendance and engagement, Adreen Haddad, Al Hekma’s instructional coach and Nearpod PioNear, also highlights how Nearpod provides her with essential insights into progress across various classes and subjects:

“In addition to the instant feedback Nearpod gives us, when I check the session reports, I can see and save teachers’ notes, track which students are engaged, check their answers, and save reports to review and compare at any time and in any format.”

 A small step for teachers, a giant leap for students

Al Hekma International School has always embraced transformation and innovation as integral to its mission of facilitating continuous growth and excellence for both students and teachers. This courage is deeply rooted in the unwavering trust and support that permeates the relationships among teachers, staff, students, and parents.

Adreen vividly describes the initial enthusiasm among teachers and students after Nearpod was implemented in 2022. “Right from the beginning, our teachers were fully on board, and students found it incredibly easy to join using the provided code,” she recalls.

In the first year, the school started with 60 teacher’s licenses across different subjects. Then, in the following year, they elevated their engagement and upgraded to Nearpod Premium, which provided them with 30 accounts to work with.

The implementation process was made seamless through comprehensive step-by-step video tutorials, hands-on training sessions, and dedicated Nearpod workshops on formative assessments. This set the stage for a transformative educational experience that has since become an integral part of their approach.

One of the aspects that resonated most with teachers is the convenience of consolidating all their instructional resources within a single platform. Adreen highlights how Nearpod streamlines this process:

“With Nearpod, we can open all YouTube channels from within the same session, allowing us to seamlessly track everything from attendance to student engagement.” She reflects on the previous practices where teachers would juggle multiple platforms, such as PowerPoint presentations, YouTube, and other resources, causing inefficiencies.

Making the most of every minute in class

For Maya and Adreen, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing engaged students immersed in a learning experience. Adreen explains how Nearpod is helping students stay on task and make the most of each class.

“Our students love the activities, which are the most interesting and interactive parts of the lesson. You see how they come alive with Time to Climb or Draw It, how their creativity and critical thinking shine through.”

And it’s not just students who are experimenting and exploring. The Nearpod library has been a springboard for teachers preparing activities and planning lessons that are vibrant but also vibe with the school’s values and vision, as Maya explains:

“Our teachers love that they can start from scratch using Nearpod as a platform, or that they download presentations from the library and edit them in accordance with our priorities and standards, adjusting them and changing the templates.”

From digital natives to digital citizens

Digital literacy and English proficiency are at the heart of Al Hekma’s mission to give students the best skills, achievements, and opportunities – but teaching these comes with responsibilities. In her commitment to building students’ emotional and social skills, Adreen has found a firm ally in Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program:

“Our computer department promotes Internet safety and digital citizenship, and the emotional and social package that we’ve added to our licenses during the past two years with Nearpod have really helped teachers to search for good resources. We apply common standards and share feedback on how the students are evolving as digital citizens.”

Maya explains how this emotional and social learning package the school added as part of its upgrade to a premium license has nurtured students’ confidence and critical thinking.

“The topics are impressive, inclusive, and really help students reflect on how to collaborate with each other, and the advice Nearpod gave us on how to work with the resources was really helpful.”

Adreen adds that Nearpod also supports Al Hekma’s priorities in giving students autonomy and recognition:

“The self-paced learning, where the teacher gives access to the students, really improves their independence and sense of personal and collective responsibility.”

Real-time solutions and real-life skills

Al Hekma relies on data to make decisions as a school – not just at the administration level but also at the teaching level, as Maya explains: 

“Every single decision that is related to learning in class is taken thanks to the instant feedback that the teacher receives from the students. For example, when the teacher notices that there is a trend where everybody makes the same mistake, he or she can immediately channel this information to revisit the concept.”

For the principal, the transformation is palpable, saving teachers time and enabling them to make changes the day of, and not the day after. It also gives a voice to all students, not just those who “raise their hands and jump to answer.” For Maya, Nearpod has created greater equality in the classroom, giving shyer students the confidence and opportunity to participate.

“Thanks to Nearpod, no student is left behind in class. All our students can take part, all our students can show us what they understand or don’t understand, and we’re right there to help.”

Recognizing and empowering teachers

In addition to recognizing students’ progress, Maya and Adreen create social media posts and videos to celebrate teachers’ accomplishments with the platform.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Al Hekma International School (@ahisbh)

The Nearpod certificates have pride of place on the principal’s office wall and in the school reception, and Maya makes a point of sharing the school’s achievements with the tool with parents and students, and through the school’s handbooks and websites.

Maya emphasizes the significance of Adreen, a dedicated Nearpod PioNear, in the implementation process: “She started a positive domino effect – the happiness, pride, and recognition are contagious: The more teachers we congratulate for using Nearpod, the more want to join, and we’re thrilled to share their success.”

Recognizing and empowering teachers is of paramount importance in cultivating a thriving educational environment. Maya understands that administrators play a pivotal role in acknowledging the dedication, innovation, and hard work that teachers bring to the classroom. By fostering a supportive atmosphere and valuing their unique insights, administrators create a sense of empowerment that translates into enhanced teaching quality and student engagement.

The future of Nearpod at Al Hekma

Moving into Al Hekma’s third year with the platform, Maya and Adreen plan to use Nearpod to help teachers share good practices and to keep admin staff tuned into the progress that’s being made in the classroom.

In addition to academics, AHIS aims to foster in every student a positive attitude toward lifelong learning, a deep value for cultural diversity, and the essential skills of advanced thinking and effective problem-solving, crucial for their future achievements.

New to Nearpod? Learn more about international school and district licenses.

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post Taking learning to the next level: Al Hekma’s Nearpod journey appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Look across the multitude of surveys and studies asking teachers about the obstacles they face in delivering quality instruction, and often the underlying issue is related to the lack of time. Time is such a precious commodity in teaching. Educators don’t have the time to assess and address individuals’ learning needs by having quality content and programming on hand. Too often, they find themselves scrambling to identify high-quality resources or modify a lesson for a student during a new school year. At the same time—or lack thereof—educators are also trying to keep up with the changing landscape of education by staying abreast of the latest and greatest teaching practices themselves, whether it’s new tools, technology, research, or pedagogy.

The power of Nearpod

Since its inception more than 10 years ago, Nearpod has aimed to optimize teachers’ instructional time by promoting student motivation, engagement, and achievement. It supports educators with intuitive tools, real-time data, and a plethora of curated content resulting in effective instruction. Nearpod’s core principles focus on:

• Transforming students’ educational experiences through active learning
• Providing rigorous, scaffolded content that appeals to students while aligning to core standards
• Illustrating real-time data to highlight individual and group insights to guide meaningful instruction and feedback

Nearpod makes it easy for teachers to source high-quality, research-backed, interactive lessons for whole class, small groups, and 1:1 instruction to accelerate learning for every student at a time when math and reading scores are lower than ever. A new LearnPlatform by Instructure research study explores the relationship between Nearpod usage and student outcomes, and shows that Nearpod satisfies ESSA Level III (Promising Evidence) standards.

What are the ESSA Tiers of Evidence?

The ESSA Tiers of Evidence provide districts and schools with a framework for determining which programs, practices, strategies, and interventions work in which contexts and for which students.” This framework helps school leaders and administrators confidently choose evidence-based interventions since the ratings are related to five factors:

• Study design
• Results of the study
• Finding from related studies
• Sample size and setting
• Match

To achieve a rating, the research studies’ methodologies should thus point to interventions bettering student outcomes. With LearnPlatform’s most recent findings, Nearpod earned a Tier III rating of “Promising Evidence.”

Nearpod ESSA Evidence Level III

Background

Nearpod collaborated with LearnPlatform by Instructure, a reputable edtech research company, to conduct the recent 2021-2022 study. LearnPlatform analyzed the top 100 most-used edtech platforms from August 1-December 31, 2022, and found that of the 100 tools, only 26 had published research aligned to ESSA. With the release of this report, Nearpod is one of few tools featured in the LearnPlatform Top 100 to have studies that satisfy ESSA Evidence Level III or better.

Overview

The study focused on an extensive sample size of 28,968 students and 4,020 teachers from various grade levels within a large, urban school district in Texas and sought to answer if Nearpod implementation was associated with better student performance at the end of the year. According to LearnPlatform, researchers used descriptive and correlational analytic approaches, including student-level covariates (including prior achievement when available), to control selection bias.

• Was Nearpod implementation associated with higher student scores on end-of-year ELA and math STAAR (State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness)?
• Did the relationship between the average weekly frequency of Nearpod sessions and student STAAR scores differ by the consistency of usage?
• Did the relationship between the average weekly frequency of Nearpod sessions and student STAAR scores differ for English learner students?

Summary of research findings

Based on the strong results, Nearpod meets ESSA Level III evidence standards. LearnPlatform’s research findings highlight three key takeaways for classrooms that used Nearpod on average 4 times per week for a duration of 10-15 weeks. First, Nearpod positively impacts students’ end-of-year State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR), with students scoring higher in ELA and math. Educators and administrators can rely on Nearpod to deliver on its goal of efficacy when it comes to improving student performance throughout the school year. Second, a direct correlation exists between increased Nearpod sessions and higher student STAAR scores. This positive relationship underscores frequent and consistent usage of Nearpod boosts student performance. Third, Nearpod was able to support English language learners. Nearpod’s interactive digital content and learning activities support language learners in a more personalized approach, and thus, the frequency of Nearpod sessions also impacts English learners’ STAAR scores.

Impact student learning with Nearpod

This latest study from LearnPlatform augments a prior study conducted in 2019 by MBZ Labs in Hendry County, Florida that indicated Nearpod satisfied ESSA Level II requirements. As classroom teachers and school leaders seek to optimize each and every minute of the school day, high-quality and evidence-based tools like Nearpod provide educators with the confidence to identify a quality edtech solution for diverse school communities. They need to rely on edtech platforms that are truly research-based to transform teaching and learning practices. With an evidence standards rating like ESSA Level II and Level III, educators can continue to rely on Nearpod with confidence in its impact on student outcomes (also named the top-ranked Supplemental Platform in the most recent LearnPlatform Top 40 most widely used edtech tools report).

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.

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post Elevate student outcomes: Unveiling the research-backed impact of Nearpod appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Throughout this process, massive deficits and issues were quickly uncovered. Parents and guardians were not necessarily capable or available to help students navigate programs, curriculums, or concepts. Students were not engaged in the online software and struggled to find the motivation necessary for self-directed learning. Also, the critical motor skills of students were stagnant or declining as they were no longer forced to write or use other hands-on skills.

The goal of the virtual program shifted so that teachers could meet with the students virtually to build relationships and help students navigate the software, learn the concepts, and hold them accountable. Teachers began using Nearpod’s free Silver version to present material in a hybrid learning setting. Implementing Nearpod allowed students to show personality and assess their understanding of the material. An uptick in the improvement and virtual attendance proved that students still needed that personal relationship with teachers for a better chance at success despite learning virtually.

Implementing a hybrid learning model

In-person learning

Considering the decline in motor and social skills, the Livingston Parish Public School district shifted the elementary program to become the first hybrid learning program of its kind in the state of Louisiana. This program became the Livingston Parish Literacy and Technology Center Virtual Hybrid 3-5 Program (LPLTC). The LPLTC hybrid learning program removed the third-party curriculum and hired full-time, certified teachers to teach using the district and state curriculums. Students are educated using in-person, asynchronous, and synchronous learning. They also had “Charge Time,” a flexible learning time dictated by the teacher according to need.

For the in-person portion of hybrid learning, students attend campus from 7:00-11:30 am on Mondays and Wednesdays. They engage in hands-on education in Science, Social Studies, English Language Arts, Math, Art, and P.E. with their grade cohorts. In-person hybrid learning includes recess, nature walks, science experiments, monthly visits from the public library bookmobile to check out books, and holiday social gatherings.

Online learning

Online synchronous learning occurs from 8:00-11:30 am on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Students log in with their cohort for live, remote learning. Students must have a “learning guide” present in the home so if issues arise, an adult nearby to assist. A typical synchronous lesson involves students logging into the day’s Zoom meeting. They are greeted with the teacher’s ClassroomScreen, which has an introduction question or problem for students to begin working on. It also includes a list of materials, a countdown to the start of class, and the Nearpod lesson code. Teachers still use the free version of Nearpod weekly (both synchronously and asynchronously), with the paid version being on the school’s wish list with hopes of being funded.

How Nearpod helped our hybrid learning model

At the start of the school year, students and teachers were trained on how to use Nearpod. Teachers were initially required to use the free, Silver version of Nearpod, along with other online programs, in order to get a firm grasp on different ways to deliver content. After using the required programs, teachers were then allowed to choose which program(s) worked best for their teaching methods.

Teachers fell in love with Nearpod and relied heavily on it for lesson delivery. Teachers love that students are forced to remain on-task during presentations and cannot get left behind or skip ahead. They also appreciate that Nearpod offers helpful teacher resources to remind them how to plan, create, or edit a lesson.

The classroom management benefits of Nearpod help with many of the common discipline issues seen in remote learning. The interactive components keep students engaged, and teachers are encouraged to incorporate an interactive activity every slide or two. Our teachers value the option to search for pre-made lessons by standard. Several teachers uploaded and customized their lessons, while others preferred the premade lessons, especially in science. Math teachers appreciated the Draw It tool option. Students could work out an assigned problem by drawing or typing, and the teacher could see their work and thought process. It helped point out which student needed more help in that concept.

Nearpod has also helped build those important student-teacher relationships by allowing students to respond to the teacher without speaking and slowly build that trust. As a result, they now submit their answers and are eager to explain their conclusions to the teacher and to their classmates. This is an entirely different observation experience than at the beginning of the year, where students would submit answers and avoid looking at their teacher or the camera in fear of being called upon.

How to make parents and students comfortable in a hybrid learning environment

While many parents and guardians were apprehensive about the in-person fraction of hybrid learning, they have come to love bringing their children to school. Students are excited to see their teachers and friends and to participate in the activities planned for the day. Several students started the year with severe social anxiety and would avoid social contact. These same students now challenge others in friendly games such as tetherball, foursquare, and target toss. They’re also volunteering answers in class or asking for input from other students. Feedback from the parents regarding social skills has been remarkable. Several parents plan to transition their children back to traditional schooling for their middle school years. They claim this would have never happened had this school not given them the opportunity to “baby-step” their way through social situations utilizing the hybrid learning model.

Asynchronous remote learning gives students and their families the flexibility they crave. Students can complete their required learning tasks throughout the week making use of the afternoons. They can develop their own schedule for success as long as assignments are completed by the specified date.

Nearpod is fantastic for this type of learning using the Student-Paced option which is available on the Silver version. This option allows the student to access the lesson at any time before the due date. It gives the teacher options to require responses and prevent skipping. Because of this autonomy, students develop ownership and self-sufficiency in terms of their education to the point where the teacher no longer has to require student responses. The students will now do the work because they know they are supposed to and want to show their learning.

Supporting students through charge time and intervention

Charge time is used at teacher discretion. It is typically dedicated to assisting students who are struggling and need more one-on-one assistance, virtually or in person. Time can be scheduled with a teacher for assignment assistance, tutor subjects, help with interventions, or help with make-up work. Nearpod is extremely valuable during this charge time. Using Nearpod, teachers can do whole class test reviews, reteach a difficult lesson, or have students deliver their own lessons.

The LPLTC Virtual Hybrid program places emphasis on student academic improvement whether they are at the top or struggling. Nearpod allows for differentiation with the Student-Paced option because students can be assigned lessons based on their skill level. At the end of this school year, 100% of students saw growth in almost every subject. The ability to differentiate the lessons makes huge strides with students of all levels. The best part is – it costs the school nothing by using the Silver version of Nearpod.

The flexibility of hybrid learning using Nearpod

This hybrid learning model lends itself to flexibility: In Louisiana, hurricane season is always a threat. In 2021, Hurricane Ida closed schools for two weeks with many losing power and internet for longer. Some students evacuated to other states and were able to attend school 100% remotely, using student-paced Nearpod lessons until their homes were repaired enough to return. Others attended school 100% in-person until they had power and internet restored. Because of this, students were able to continue with their education seamlessly and successfully.

This flexibility has made the hybrid learning program valuable to many families who prefer a non-traditional educational setting, and the results are encouraging. Improvement can be seen in many aspects: social skills and fine motor skills (such as handwriting and signatures), reading comprehension, math applications, and more! Students are also developing proficiencies in self-management, focus, goal setting, and organization. While the implementation of this hybrid learning program has been monumental, Nearpod has aided in creating an engaging and manageable educational experience. It has been beneficial in developing a remarkable opportunity for those learners who have found their niche and are currently improving their educational and life experience.

Interested in reading more about this topic? Check out this blog post: Actionable steps to address learning loss

Nikki Lavergne

Nikki is a Google Certified Innovator, Educator, and Trainer and works as the Assistant Principal of the pioneer LPLTC Virtual-Hybrid program for grades 3-5. Prior to this position, she was the District Instructional Technology Facilitator and developed a love for helping make teachers’ lives easier through technology training at Nvision Consulting.

NikkiLavergne.com

The post Livingston Parish Public Schools implements hybrid learning with Nearpod Silver appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Lakota language immersion means that our students are completely immersed in the Lakota language while at school. They learn math, social studies, science, reading, and writing all in Lakota.

Nearpod allows Lakota immersion educators the freedom to develop lessons in the language through entertaining activities for all our students. Nearpod also provides a variety of lessons that educators can save and translate into the Lakota language. Students of all ages access our Nearpod lessons almost every day of the week. Each Lakota language immersion educator has created hundreds of Nearpod lessons over a few years, and we continue to make more every day.

The importance of teaching Lakota language

The history of education and Indigenous peoples must be understood to fully grasp the importance of teaching the Lakota language and teaching Lakota language immersion. Indigenous peoples’ first introduction to the education system was boarding schools built in the late 1800s. Colonel Richard H. Pratt stated the mission of these schools and infamously said, “Kill the Indian, save the man.” Such a short and straightforward statement molded the foundation of the education system society continues to use to this day. Indigenous knowledge systems and languages were silenced due to the education system working to industrialize and assimilate Indigenous peoples.

The effects of that era, which ended in the ’80s, are still prominent in tribal communities. There are only a few thousand fluent Lakota language speakers today. This is a small number compared to over 40,000 Lakota enrolled tribal members. Reimagining the education system through language revitalization has proven successful for all students and educators involved. The Lakota language immersion curriculum is entirely a culture-based education implementing culturally sustaining pedagogy. Through this program, we are working towards guiding this young generation and the ones to follow to be fluent in the Lakota language and knowledgeable of cultural teachings.

How Nearpod helped us jumpstart the curriculum

We, the Lakota immersion educators of Red Cloud Indian School, discovered Nearpod around the summer of 2020, the pandemic’s beginning. The only Lakota immersion curriculum we had developed up to that point was not accessible online. At first, educators were told that this would only last some weeks, so we printed out as much work as possible for students to take home. Since it was so early on in the pandemic, society did not yet know how COVID-19 was transmitted, so continuing to pass out workbooks and activities for families to pick up was not an option. We began searching for online-friendly lessons that could be created and manipulated to use Lakota language words with the goal of developing a virtual curriculum solely in the language. Educators could access interactive sites in English, but finding sites that would allow Lakota language immersion educators to manipulate and create lessons proved to be more difficult.

When discovering Nearpod, our school held meetings online for educators to learn more and help each other become familiar with developing lessons on the platform. At the time of March 2020, I was teaching kindergarten, so my biggest concern was keeping my students engaged while successfully teaching them new concepts. I would share videos I made of myself discussing our worksheets and teaching the curriculum. Eventually, the school required that all teachers host video meetings with their students every day. We were slowly improving as a school and adjusting to online learning. However, teaching the Lakota language and teaching within the language remained a huge obstacle for parents as many did not know the language. A radical change quickly became necessary for students to continue learning and staying in the immersion program.

We decided to develop our curriculum from scratch for better accessibility. My colleagues and I have since developed lessons for kindergarten through fifth grade in all subjects, including language arts, math, social studies, and science. We also developed Nearpod lessons for teaching Lakota language oral proficiency for grades K-4.

Red Cloud Indian School remained virtual for most of the school year of 2021-2022. All educators were required to teach during regular school hours, developing multiple interactive lessons five days a week.

As young as five years old, students learned how to access and navigate Nearpod through school tablets safely distributed before school. Nearpod provides a variety of activities, which helped maintain their focus and curiosity. All the activities are child-friendly, so telling them to press “the big blue button” to submit their work was quickly learned.

Interactive slides, videos, and formative assessment activities

Lakota language immersion educators could introduce a new topic through interactive videos and slides and check for understanding using interactive activities. Nearpod serves as formative assessments, sometimes asynchronous lessons, and teacher-led lessons for our students. Here’s how we formatted our lessons:

• We use interactive slides as an introduction by adding essential information.
• Then, throughout the lesson, we use various interactive activities to keep students engaged and learning. Example: Matching Pairs
• To wrap up, we use Nearpod’s formative assessment tools to check for understanding. Example: Quiz or a Time to Climb activity

One activity, in particular, we were grateful for was Draw It. It serves as an open-ended question activity but allows students to write their responses. For example, in the Draw It instructions section, the educator will provide a question about the lesson, and the students will write the answers. Kindergarten students often use the Draw It activity to trace letters and words and then attempt to write the letters and words independently.

Our younger K-2 students, who still needed to practice and learn to write physically, were able to do so through the use of this activity.

Sharing and organizing lessons with colleagues

The students quickly grew to enjoy Nearpod and the various activities it provides. We educators at Red Cloud Indian School also favor it because we can easily share lessons and edit whatever is shared. Before Nearpod, all the work we created was often lost in our files. It was challenging to remember sharing or finding any curriculum we individually created.

With Nearpod, we can share editable links or share entire folders of our lessons using the library, something we all do weekly. It has been great to share editable links to our lessons. We all teach different grades, so we can use similar content and adapt activities to fit appropriate grade levels. We all enjoy it so much that even after our school transitioned to hybrid and eventually entirely in-person, we continue to use Nearpod in everyday lessons.

Modifying lessons for different grade levels and hybrid learning

Finding resources that adhere to younger grades’ needs is difficult. Still, Nearpod provides a variety of activities that can be adapted for all ages. For K-2 specifically, our educators use the Draw It activity every day to increase writing and drawing skills. Drag & Drop, Matching Pairs, Fill in the Blanks, and Time to Climb all serves as a tool to increase Lakota language fluency and master core curriculum skills and knowledge. Lakota language immersion teaches to South Dakota’s content core standards, so the students are learning skills as every other K-2 student is learning but in the Lakota language. In addition, we focus on Lakota teachings and culture throughout the school year. Grades 2-5 also use Nearpod every day and use the activities just mentioned and utilize Open-Ended Questions, Quiz, Poll, and Collaborate Board.

Teaching Lakota Language adult-level courses

My colleagues and I also teach adult Lakota language classes throughout the school year. In 2020 we chose to make the hybrid courses entirely virtual. The students from various states were not receiving the same materials and attention as those previously in person. This transition was well-received due to many of our students being located throughout the country. Also, our classes have grown now that all materials and lessons are accessible online. It allowed everyone to learn from their homes and do so in interactive ways.

Teaching Lakota language to adults is vastly different from task teaching elementary. Still, we chose to use Nearpod, and the feedback from the adults has been very positive. The lessons in Nearpod are just as engaging for adults as they are for younger students. Nearpod has various lesson launch modes, such as Live, Student-Paced, and Front of Class. Student-Paced mode allows students to go back and review lessons in case they missed class. There are currently four levels of adult Lakota language classes being taught virtually, which are all free. All materials and lessons are provided and are sent to students daily due to the self-paced option Nearpod provides.

My colleagues and I began teaching adults because it became clear as we taught elementary that we would need more Lakota language immersion teachers as our program progressed. We also recognized that while our efforts toward reclaiming and revitalizing the Lakota language through our youth were working, we also wanted to achieve the same goal with older generations.

Our adult Lakota language classes have students as young as 16 and in the age range of the ’60s. Teaching immersion is very different from teaching adults because we are teaching in the language for our immersion program, but for our adult classes, we are teaching them the language. Teaching Lakota language to adults has become a fun and exciting experience, and they thoroughly enjoy all Nearpod activities, particularly Time to Climb.

This activity has served as a release of stress after an entire class of studying and learning. The students see it as a friendly competition, and it serves as a good assessment for us educators to see how well they have retained what was taught in class. Students have expressed their joy in learning the language virtually and are continuously excited to see their own progress every year.

We use every activity offered within Nearpod lessons every week for our adult language classes. We specifically use Fill in the Blanks, Matching Pairs, and Drag and Drop for vocabulary lessons. We use Open-Ended Questions, Draw It, Quiz, and Poll for assessments and activities regarding sentence structures and writing fluency. We also use the interactive slides every class to introduce new concepts and vocabulary. It also serves as instructions for “talking time,” when they are required to speak with each other in Lakota based on a prompt we have provided.

The impact of teaching Lakota Language

Students in our K-5 immersion program and our adult Lakota language classes continue to master their skills. Our K-5 students test at and above the national average in standardized testing, and our students in adult Lakota language classes have significantly improved since we decided to use Nearpod. Students in the highest level of adult Lakota language classes are at different levels of fluency now, and thanks to the self-paced option, students can review and study outside of class hours. Nearpod has been an incredible resource in teaching Lakota people of all ages and reclaiming and revitalizing our Lakota language.

Teaching Lakota language to various ages is challenging, but we are grateful to have found a tool to do so in a fun way effectively. Nearpod has been so valuable throughout the pandemic and virtual education. Educators and administrators worldwide were faced with an obstacle no one had ever experienced before. It was and continues to be a difficult time for many these past few years. Still, our students are resilient, and finding resources such as this has helped our students remain academically challenged and encouraged them to master educational standards. Our students continue to enjoy this platform to this day. We will continue to include Nearpod in our lessons as our Lakota language immersion, and adult Lakota language curriculum grows.

Interested in reading more about this topic? Check out this blog post: Experiential Learning for ELL Newcomers

Elyssa Sierra Concha

Sierra is the Project Coordinator of the Lakota Language Literacy Project K-8 at Red Cloud Indian School. She graduated from Black Hills State University in 2018 with a B.S in English and graduated from Arizona State University in 2021 with a M.A. in Indigenous Education. She taught kindergarten Lakota language immersion for two years and first grade Lakota language immersion for one year.

The post My Nearpod Experience: Teaching Lakota Language appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Inevitably, there were bumps in the road to digital transformation, ranging from unexpected technology glitches to internet access issues in rural areas. However, Spain had one aspect in its favor: on average, 7 out of 10 kids aged 10 to 15 already have a smartphone. In this tech-passionate country, smartphone-equipped youth may have mitigated the movement toward teaching online and set new expectations on how students learn moving forward.

Today, students are back in the classroom, forcing schools to continue to manage students learning from home due to frequent covid infections. Through education technology platforms, schools in Spain balance asynchronous/synchronous online learning with synchronous front-of-class learning, introducing a hybrid approach, and it’s working.

Are schools that don’t adapt to hybrid learning doomed to repeat the same errors from our pandemic past? Here is how some schools in Spain are making hybrid learning work for them and the technology resulting in better-engaged students through interactive, practical learning.

Hybrid learning in Spain

Hybrid learning makes sense to combine the technological advantages of remote learning with the social benefits of in-person education. In addition, it’s a solution that appeals to kids and teachers alike. According to a survey by Educo, Spanish kids prefer to go to school instead of staying at home, but they also want to keep the positive aspects of online education. They feel more engaged with new methodologies and enjoy using digital tools in the classroom.

Of course, teachers need to be adequately trained in making the most of classroom technology. Innovative use of technology can make a big difference: According to Quiero and Samsung Electronics, more than 70% of teachers think that technology facilitates teamwork, creativity, and interaction among students.

In Spain, hybrid learning has shown to offer many advantages. For tech-savvy K-12 students, digital tools can make learning more attractive. As kids explore new ways of learning through EdTech, they become more proactive in their education. Interactive lessons and quizzes help to improve retention while allowing students to master new material at their own pace and learning style. Meanwhile, gamification is becoming more common to motivate and engage learners at all levels. In Spain, these high-tech strategies offer a fresh alternative to old-school methods of learning based on memorization and cramming for tests. Hybrid learning brings more flexibility and dynamism to the classroom while helping students to develop digital skills.

Implementing hybrid learning

For these reasons, some schools are already prioritizing technology integration in the classroom. At the Vedruna de L’Espluga de Francolí school in Tarragona, primary education director Cristina Campos says, “The aim is to help our students to develop competency for an increasingly digital world. And for that, we need digitally prepared and critical teachers.” In other words, schools that truly embrace technology are not simply replacing chalkboards with digital boards. Instead, teachers encourage students to interact with the main screen using their own devices and wireless connection, creating a more prosperous and inclusive learning experience.

So what will the future of hybrid learning look like in Spain? The pandemic has accelerated the digitalization of education, but progress still needs to be made in bringing all schools up to today’s technology standards. In Madrid, while 60% of secondary school teachers believe that education has improved since the pandemic, 66% want to see more investments in educational technology to better compete with other European countries.

Nonetheless, according to Eurostat, Spain ranks fifth in the European Union for online learning among citizens aged 16 to 74. In 2021, 43% of Spaniards in this age group reported taking online courses or using online materials to learn, only behind Ireland (46%), Finland, and Sweden (45%), and the Netherlands (44%), while the EU average was 27%. Compared to pre-pandemic levels, the percentage of Spaniards taking online education increased by 15 percentage points. For many, online courses offer a convenient way to improve language skills, boost professional qualifications or learn something new for fun. Online learning has proven especially popular among young adults aged 16 to 24.

Higher education in Spain

Unsurprisingly, digitalization has also transformed higher education in Spain, creating new models for university programs. Many universities are betting on presential and semi-presential learning enriched by online activities. In these models, university students can benefit from in-person discussion and practical activities such as lab work while expanding and reinforcing their knowledge through digital tools inside or outside the classroom.

For hybrid learning to be effective, the technology itself has to be flawless. Reliable connections, user-friendly apps, clear audio, video transmission, and seamless real-time interaction are crucial to providing a positive learning experience with technology. The importance of this is not lost on students – in fact, according to Sony Europe, 79% of European students believe that their university experience would be better with more investments in online and hybrid learning technology.

Collaborative apps, gamification, joint remote learning sessions, and self-paced learning are just some of the features and advantages of hybrid learning models. Ultimately, these innovative tools are designed to facilitate the purpose of education: to better engage students through interactive, practical learning.

Are you an educator interested in bringing the benefits of hybrid learning to your classroom? Nearpod provides a wide range of interactive tools and digital content to help students learn and retain more with every lesson.

Interested in reading more about this topic? Check out this blog post: Singapore’s move towards hybrid home-based learning

Fanny Giuliani

Account Executive and presenter, Fanny helps educators increase student engagement with Nearpod.

The post How Spain is implementing hybrid learning effectively appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

My pen pal program for kids was a way for me to incorporate project-based learning and multidisciplinary studies across several classrooms. I also used some traditional methods while also integrating 21st-century learning and technology.

Pen pals for kids: What was the purpose?

Some generations may recall the days when we received personal letters in the mail. Some students may even remember a special friend who they messaged back and forth with like a pen pal across miles. Most K-12 students were born into a world full of technology. They have the capability to text and type to others internationally in an instant. With our world being heavily influenced by technology, typing, and instant messages, handwriting could easily be swapped out and seem like less of a priority in many occurrences. My pen pal program was inspired by creating opportunities, emphasizing connections, and extending beyond the walls of the classroom using both technology and handwriting. International teachers have a unique opportunity to reach out to their home-based connections for a pen pal international experience.

Safe pen pal programs: How did Nearpod help?

Through project-based learning, international pen pal programs allow students to discover and connect with other students and their experiences from the comfort of their classroom. Learners can read and write about the perspectives of students around the world. You can create safe pen pal programs by hosting the lesson through your Nearpod account and/or by having students use their own student accounts.

With Nearpod, you can oversee and guide what students are doing in real-time, so you can always ensure digital citizenship skills are being practiced in a safe environment. Schools usually have different levels of cyber safety for students, especially to support the new norm of flexing between distance learning, hybrid, and in-person learning. The “new normal” of distance learning and more technology may be daunting to some, but Nearpod is one resource that addresses the needs of teachers across the globe. The foundations for a safe pen pals program for kids should be flexible and safe. Nearpod ensures teachers can alter their lessons at any time while protecting students’ privacy and cyber safety.

Merging standards-aligned content with rigorous instructional strategies for students might seem complex at times with the constant changes in the teaching industry. In my pen pal program for kids, young digital global citizens were asking and answering questions while demonstrating their understanding across subjects. We sometimes wrote out the questions in notebooks, and submitted them on a Draw-It or Collaborate Board. Then, I shared the submitted questions with the students so they could see their peers’ responses. This prompted students to edit and revise their written responses.

Nearpod has premade standards-aligned social studies lessons and activities exploring geography and cultural norms that are useful to share with students for international pen pals. It’s beneficial for visual learners to gain perspective on what the location looks like for places around the world as we encourage them to be global citizens. Providing the context around cultural norms and geography help students to compare and contrast the life of their international pen pals with their own and strengthen real-life connection opportunities to their lessons.

Here are examples of how Nearpod features support the lessons:

• Visual Support: VR Field Trips and a hefty library of interactive videos where kids can safely search for where their pen pal international peers are located and gain visual context to prompt ideas for writing. 
• Learning Different Languages: Matching Pairs also helped to support vocabulary for ESL words that the students found challenging with the letters received by their pen pals.

How were students assessed using Nearpod features?

Teachers can check for understanding and guide the learners through the units with Nearpod activities as formative assessments that can provide informal and formal data in reports to track learning with students. Summative assessments can be considered as well as sharing out and reviewing student responses to Open-Ended questions, Collaborate Boards, and Time to Climb activities. Take a peek at what some of the students added in their share to our wrap-up Collaborate Board:

As students are engaged with the content and features, educators can use Nearpod to acknowledge progress and note opportunities to reflect throughout the writing process as students brainstorm, draft, edit, revise and publish their letters. Nearpod can be used throughout or in specific parts of your classroom experiences.

How Draw It can support your pen pal program:

1. Use the Draw It activity to have students interact with their pen pal’s writing to analyze their vocabulary and grammar. 
2. Add an image of the handwritten note or letter as the Draw It background to model and highlight specific parts of the letter, such as vocabulary words and spelling. 
3. Have students follow along on their own devices and highlight modeling on their own screens.

Nearpod features and tips to keep in mind:

• Google Safe Search: Host safe pen pal programs for students by using the Google Safe Search ability on Nearpod’s Draw It activity. Students can search images and add them to their activity with this functionality. 
• Reuse past resources: Have a trusted resource you’d like to use? Convert existing Google slides, PDFs, PowerPoints, and more into a Nearpod slide.
• Gamification: It’s also fun to create Time to Climb questions based on some of the fun and informational responses shared from pen pals. 
• Wrap-Up: For an online celebration, use Collaborate Board for the pen pals to share program highlights. Students miles away can post in the same Collaborate Board in real-time to reflect on the program. This exercise helps build community amongst students and their pen pal classmates.

Building a community with fellow teachers: How to find pen pals

Participating in Nearpod’s community offers opportunities to collaborate with amazing educators around the world and allowed me to collaborate and enhance this pen pal program for kids. Connecting with other educators in the Nearpod community allowed me to expand the possibilities for their pen pal activities using Nearpod content and features.

Thanks to Nearpod’s Camp Engage professional development sessions, I was able to connect with a fellow Nearpod PioNear who teaches the same grade level. Attending Camp Engage is a great way to hear from and collaborate with teachers who are interested in using Nearpod content and activities in exciting new ways. These teachers were happy to join the program as well and agreed to receive the handwritten notes from my students and have their students respond.

I shared my unit plan ideas and suggestions on how we could use technology and Nearpod to support the learning objectives- hence, my pen pal program for kids came to life! Through handwriting, technology, and Nearpod, a creative synergy was made. The pen pal program was a success!

Meaningful learning experiences for students

Some experiences impact students for years to come. Along with the memories of being thrust online with recent world events, my pen pal for kids program allowed students to use their pencils and notebooks along with their computer screens. The smiles the students had when they completed their writing, sent their letters, and saw their pen pals for kids program buddies is a memory they may have for years to come! It was endearing to hear the administrators of the schools reminisce about these creative writing opportunities.

Not only was their joy and charisma in the speaking and listening efforts for the students, but the reading and writing challenges for the students came along with an additional reward that they used then and can carry with them. Nearpod was an excellent choice to create lessons while providing the flexibility to support instructional strategies.

Teaching writing and grammar to our students using project-based learning ideas like a pen pal program provides an interactive, engaging, and inspiring experience for students that we will always cherish. Striving to fulfill unit requirements and keeping students engaged can be achieved through a pen pal model program for kids. So get those pencils and notebooks back out and plug in your school devices. Use Nearpod for activities and features that support your grade level objectives by creating a pen pal program for kids!

Interested in reading more about this topic? Check out this blog post: 5 Student voice tips for teachers to encourage passive learners

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 My Nearpod Experience: Pen pals for kids appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

For many adults, navigating digital waters is difficult, so trying to teach students about internet and device safety seems impossible. The Digital Citizenship & Literacy lessons within Nearpod move the impossible to POSSIBLE. Everything students need to know about online safety is already organized by grade and topic and I can plan an entire lesson in a couple of clicks that includes interactive slides, videos, and activities. Using the digital citizenship lessons was a time-saver for our teachers. Any time you don’t have to reinvent the wheel is a plus, right? A bonus: lessons are updated frequently, so as new issues arise within the digital realm, lessons are being completed to address those issues.

Although the lessons are for the students, the teachers are learning as well. As I mentioned above, many teachers are not comfortable with the internet. Through Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program, teachers have become more aware and better digital citizens themselves. This has caused an impactful ripple effect for our students: teachers use the digital citizenship lessons and become confident, their confidence is showcased by allowing students on their devices for creation and class activities, then students gain confidence because they can use a tool they know and love to share what they are learning.

Teaching Digital Citizenship: Helping to Mold our 21st Century Learners

Downloading and editing lessons that fit our classrooms

My team was responsible for making teachers aware of the process involved in finding the lessons from Nearpod and downloading them to their library. Initially, we provided support for teachers in the form of modeling, emails, image tutorials, and videos. As time went on, my team went through and modified some lessons by adding, editing, or deleting content to create lessons that were perfect for our students and teachers. This was done from kindergarten all the way to twelfth grade.

Creating a Digital Citizenship Pacing Guide

Next, to connect the importance of teaching digital citizenship to students and to take away as much extra work from teachers as possible, I created a Digital Citizenship Pacing Guide for our elementary teachers. It provides a suggested order in which to complete the lessons. Each lesson has notations for the teachers helping to suggest where to start and stop for each day’s lesson. If there are any materials that the teacher may need, they are included as links in this pacing guide, including resources to send home for parents. I also added an option for our primary teachers to complete the activity as a whole group lesson without individual devices. If they chose this teaching option, they had to fill out a form indicating the lesson and the number of students that participated. Each grade’s pacing guide was linked to their 1st Nine week ELA pacing guide for the district.

Helping to mold our 21st century learners

We received positive feedback from teachers about the lesson modifications and pacing guides. My team saw a commonality in language as teachers reiterated what students were learning in the digital citizenship lessons. Students were transferring what they learned in class to how they should behave online in school and at home.

This year, to help our teachers, my team has been in discussions with school leadership about completing the digital citizenship lessons during the first two weeks of school, rather than waiting until October. We believe teachers should complete these lessons as they are setting and practicing expectations and rules within the classroom. We have received backing from most administrators and will begin the year learning how to be a responsible digital citizen! Additionally, each grade level’s ELA standards were added to the digital citizenship Pacing Guides to help teachers make that connection between their standards and the content of the lessons.

Our district has evolved in its use of Common Sense Media each year and our trend is to continue to improve. My team is proud of what we have created for our students and how we have helped and supported our teachers. 

Digital citizenship is important for students to learn and worth the sweat equity it takes to prepare our students for their futures.

Erin Darnell

Erin Darnell is a Digital Integration Specialist for Anderson School District 5 located in Anderson, SC. She was an early pioneer of Nearpod as a K5 teacher and now shares her love of it with anyone that will listen! Erin loves to be creative and innovative as she collaborates with teachers and works with students. She believes that “Making Magic” for students means leaving your “Comfort Zone” behind.

The post Teaching Digital Citizenship: Helping to Mold our 21st Century Learners appeared first on Nearpod Blog.