For educators and students engaging in racial equity and social justice

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 Our Racial Justice collection features free lessons that aid in antiracist teaching with rich historical content and social and emotional skill-building to ensure safe and productive discussions.

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

What resources do we have for you?

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

In the folder, you’ll find lessons on:

Biographies on the lives and contributions of Black Americans

Media-based activities to build critical thinking and reflection skills

American history & civics topics to give context for today

SEL skills to help students engage in compassionate and productive conversations

Professional development workshops to empower teachers in this challenging work

5 Teaching tips and resources for racial equity and social justice

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

1. Establish classroom norms and common vocabulary

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

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

2. Tie racial justice to core subject areas

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

English Langauge Arts (ELA)

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

Social Studies

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

Science

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

Math

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

Elementary

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

3. Use multimedia for culturally relevant teaching

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

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

Zaretta Hammond in Culturally Responsive Teaching & The Brain

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

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

4. Build community with collaborative activities 

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some prep work for teachers

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

Nearpod and Flocabulary

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

Additional teaching resources

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

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

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

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

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

Let’s learn from one another!

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

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

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

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

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

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

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

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

Digital Learning Day free resources and activities

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

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

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

Engaging Digital Learning Day activities and resources

1. Start simple with a digital interactive activity

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

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

2. Share your digital learning experience!

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

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

3. Practice good digital citizenship

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

4. Try Nearpod’s Whiteboard during a live lesson

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

5. Try a gamified quiz with Time to Climb

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

Continue to use Nearpod in your classroom

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

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

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post Celebrate Digital Learning Day with edtech activities and ideas appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

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

Why is classroom management important?

Effective classroom management is important for both students and teachers throughout the school year, significantly impacting student outcomes and their overall learning experience. A permissive or indulgent classroom management style can hinder the development of a positive relationship between students and educators, potentially disrupting the classroom culture. Conversely, good classroom management involves finding the right balance between levels of control and student involvement, keeping students engaged while accommodating diverse learning needs. It’s essential for teachers to adapt their teaching style to maintain an effective classroom learning environment where students feel supported, respected, and motivated to excel.

What are the 4 classroom management styles and their benefits?

Classroom management typically involves four main styles: authoritarian, authoritative, permissive, and neglectful. The authoritarian style focuses on strict rules, high control, and clear expectations, but it might stifle creativity and discourage independent thinking. In contrast, the authoritative approach combines firm guidelines with a supportive environment, fostering discipline while allowing for student autonomy and creativity. On the other hand, the permissive style offers flexibility and encourages self-expression, yet it may lead to challenges in maintaining order and structure. Finally, the neglectful style lacks involvement and direction, resulting in a chaotic learning atmosphere that hinders both discipline and academic progress. Each style has its strengths and weaknesses, highlighting the importance for educators to strike a balance tailored to their students’ needs and the classroom dynamics.

8 Effective classroom management strategies using Nearpod

1. Visibility to on and off-task behavior

At any point during a Nearpod lesson, teachers have insight into which students are on-task. If a student navigates away from the lesson, the dot next to their name will turn red. Teachers are empowered to choose the classroom management strategy that works best for them to address this.

2. Ensure 100% student participation

In order to ensure 100% participation, every student needs to feel empowered to contribute. Often, some students are quick to participate while others need more time to generate ideas (or courage!) to share.

Nearpod’s formative assessment features, like Polls, Time to Climb, Matching Pairs, and so many more, empower educators to provide multiple ways for students to demonstrate what they know. Since students respond on their own devices, EVERY student can answer every question, and teachers can see in real-time which students have submitted answers and which need more time.

TIP: Don’t have a class with 1:1 devices? Need students to shift their attention to the front of the class? Nearpod’s Front of Class mode allows you to share your video on a screen so students can watch together and prompt discussions with formative assessments woven throughout the lesson. New to Nearpod? Our Interactive Videos are the best way to get started teaching in Front of Class mode!

3. Receive immediate feedback and post-session reports

Teachers can view student responses in real-time, which means they can respond quickly to misconceptions (or situations where students have already mastered the topic!) to create an environment of providing feedback and prevent common classroom management issues that arise from these situations. This empowers teachers to foster classrooms where students feel heard and know that their individual learning is important. Since the teacher can easily see which students are struggling with a certain concept, they can intervene with targeted coaching and small groups immediately.

Teachers can share individual student responses with the whole class anonymously. This allows for a safer space for error analysis or an easy way to celebrate exemplar responses!

After the lesson, student responses and performance data are found in the Nearpod reports section. 

4. Benefit from synchronous devices

Ensuring all students are on the same page can be time-consuming with many print or digital resources. With Nearpod’s device synchronization, you can feel certain that all of your students are on the same screen (remember: check for the red dot to know if a student has navigated away!).

5. Boost accountability for independent work 

Student-paced Nearpod lessons are as impactful as Live lessons, allowing for the same level of engagement when students are working independently. This is especially helpful when in distance learning environments. Just like Live lessons, these lessons collect session reports, so you can review student work during or after the session. Student-Paced mode can also be used to provide make-up work for students who are absent, making it easier to catch up after a day out.

6. Promote ownership of learning with Student Notes

The Student Notes feature on Nearpod empowers students to take ownership of their learning. They can take notes during class and receive their notes, along with all media and the answers they’ve submitted during class, by email, OneDrive, or Google Drive. This allows students to organize their notes and come prepared for assessments or projects.

7. Never sweat a sub day again 

It’s no secret that one of the most stressful classroom management moments is when you’re not there. That’s why Nearpod has made it easy to communicate substitute teacher plans and drive 100% student participation on sub days. Explore tips for using Nearpod’s Sub Plans by clicking below!

8. Weave SEL into every lesson 

Often, the best way to prevent common classroom management issues is by pre-teaching the social and emotional learning skills that support positive student behavior. Nearpod’s social and emotional learning (SEL) lessons make it easy for educators to incorporate SEL into their classroom routines and increase student investment in contributing to a positive, empowering learning environment.

Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness K-12 Program offers resources to embed 21st-century skills like SEL, digital citizenship, and college and career readiness into every classroom. The Social and Emotional Learning collection includes lessons and activities that teach students core competencies, critical thinking, lifelong learning strategies, and growth mindset practices.

Start using these classroom management skills

Mastering effective classroom management skills is imperative for educators to create an optimal learning environment that encourages student engagement and success. Classroom management plans, exemplified by Nearpod’s interactive lessons and formative assessment tools, offer educators practical ways to maintain control while promoting student involvement. Embracing these methodologies not only ensures better student outcomes but also fosters an atmosphere where students feel supported, respected, and motivated.

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

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

The post 8 Effective classroom management strategies using Nearpod appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

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

Digital Citizenship Week free lessons and activities

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

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

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

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

How Adirondack Central School District uses Nearpod for teaching digital literacy

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

Digital Citizenship lessons for Grades K-5

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Digital Citizenship activities for Grades 6-8

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Digital Citizenship lessons for Grades 9-12

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

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

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

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

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

What to do when the week is over:

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

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

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

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

Nearpod Team

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

nearpod.com/

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

How to use technology for student assessment data analysis

Summative assessments—such as standardized tests or class exams—provide teachers with crucial insight into class trends. Analyzing that data gives us a tangible sense of how deeply they have learned a topic. It elucidates their strengths and weaknesses. With Nearpod, teachers can give a Quiz or other assessment activity as a summative assessment of the unit and analyze the data from a Nearpod post-session report for insight into the effectiveness of their teaching.

Formative assessments are crucial tools that offer real-time feedback on students’ learning progress throughout a lesson or unit, unlike summative assessments that evaluate learning at the conclusion of a period. On Nearpod, these ongoing assessments enable educators to gauge student understanding during the learning process. The quickest way to close gaps in your classroom is intentional instruction that responds to what you see here.

Through Nearpod’s interactive features, teachers can deploy various formative and summative assessment activities, such as polls, quizzes, or interactive tasks, to capture insights into comprehension levels. This insight can be used for your reteaching strategies supported by data driven instruction.

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

5 Reteaching strategies that use data to drive instruction

1. Analyze test data effectively

Analyzing test scores and data can seem overwhelming, but it does not have to be. This is crucial when understanding why and how to use data to drive instruction for your reteach. Use these steps year-round to improve student learning, especially when preparing for standardized testing.

To effectively analyze summative data, follow these steps:

1. Calculate the average student performance for each standard on the exam.
2. Analyze the questions aligned to low-performing standards and look for trends in the incorrect responses of your students. Are students selecting the same wrong answers? Is there a conceptual misconception that needs to be cleared up? Are there lagging skills students need to perform this task?
3. Look at individual students’ work to understand misconceptions more deeply. Are there patterns in student errors that you couldn’t see from just the data?
4. Select low-performing, high-priority standards for whole-class reteaches. Try and interpret the standard deeply: what would students have to know or be able to do to show they’ve mastered a standard?
5. Identify the students who lack the background knowledge to master that standard so you can provide extra scaffolding.
6. Identify other standards where smaller pockets of students haven’t shown mastery to plan small-group remediation.

2. Address errors and misconceptions to students

When exploring how to reteach a lesson, bring the analysis from the data collected into your planning. Be sure you explicitly name the error or conceptual misconception you found, and then start interacting! This will help students who struggle with a concept truly understand areas of improvement. The more your kids can explore and attempt similar challenges, the stronger their understanding will be.

Nearpod is an ideal platform to address errors and misconceptions. With numerous formative assessment options, teachers can use assessment data to inform and address any misconceptions in the moment. Even better, teachers can use the live whiteboard to address an error or misconception in a lesson before it’s too late, supporting students better than ever.

3. “Chat the error” problem

One reteaching activity is to use a “chart the error” problem. In this type of lesson, students are shown an incorrect work sample and must analyze the incorrect work. Usually, this incorrect work reflects the most common mistake revealed in the data. This insight will support you when using data to drive instruction to impact student learning and success.

In Nearpod, teachers can use Draw It, an easily accessible drawing assessment activity, for this method. Students interact with the problem by annotating the mistakes made by the incorrect student. Then, they actively mark up and correct the student’s work, further gathering data you can use for future instruction. Nearpod’s Draw It is a perfect way to support student annotation of an error. To give immediate feedback, teachers have the ability to give personalized feedback during a lesson with Live Teacher Feedback using reaction stickers.

4. Ask students to vote for the correct/incorrect work

Another reteaching activity is asking students to vote between two pieces of work. In this strategy, students see two work samples; one sample shows correct work, and the other shows work that reflects a common misconception among your students. Students look at both answers and then answer a Poll where they vote for which student answered the question correctly. With a Poll on Nearpod, you’ll get immediate and personalized information, which will help when using data to drive instruction. You can also cherry-pick students who voted correctly to share their thinking with the class and support students who may be struggling. You can use this activity as an exit ticket for a quick check for understanding at the end of a lesson. For deeper reteaching strategies, use the data collected from the results to divide your students into targeted work groups.

5. Ensure continuous improvement through reassessment

After implementing your lesson, always have a plan to reassess so that you can gauge the effectiveness of your reteach strategies and guide further instruction. Formative assessment tools on Nearpod, like the student-favorite quiz game Time to Climb, allow real-time insight into students’ comprehension. Offer opportunities for retesting or redoing assignments to showcase improved understanding. Conduct one-on-one conferences or peer assessments to personalize guidance and foster collaborative learning. Utilize portfolio reviews, project showcases, and reflection activities to encourage self-assessment and demonstrate mastery. Regular reassessment not only evaluates progress but also guides targeted interventions, enabling teachers to adapt and provide tailored support, fostering a more responsive and successful learning environment.

Start using Nearpod for your data-driven reteach

Merging reteaching strategies and using data to drive instruction is crucial for fostering comprehensive student learning. Recognizing the impossibility of instant mastery, educators must target their teaching methods to accommodate diverse student needs. Nearpod helps teachers facilitate in-depth student performance analysis, offering insights into individual strengths and weaknesses. By utilizing various assessment tools, teachers can adapt instruction dynamically, creating an effective learning environment. From analyzing data to addressing misconceptions, these strategies empower educators to teach, reteach, and foster continuous improvement, nurturing classrooms for student success. With targeted interventions and creative, interactive lessons powered by Nearpod, your students will thrive.

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

Nearpod Team

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

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The post 5 Reteaching strategies that use data to drive instruction appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Tools like Nearpod can be used by teachers to facilitate this process and allow for the quick and easy collection of formative assessment data. In turn, this data can be used to make a variety of improvements and adjustments to their lessons.

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

3 Examples of formative assessments that work

1. Check for student understanding

One of the best ways to get started using formative assessments is to simply check in on how students understand a certain topic.

Teachers can check for understanding with Nearpod by using Polls, Quizzes, Collaborate Board, Time to Climb, Open-ended questions, and Draw It’s. As soon as students submit their responses, teachers will have an instant snapshot of their student’s understanding of a particular topic.

Teachers are able to capture student thinking from all students within their class, and teachers can even share out student responses with the rest of the class in order to promote discussions and correct misconceptions. This can often be more beneficial than simply calling on a few students to share their responses.

Jeff Krapels, an English teacher and technology mentor at Northern Valley Regional High School in New Jersey, explains how he uses Nearpod to check in on student understanding while teaching Romeo and Juliet:

“Usually, I will ask students to write down their answers [to discussion questions], and then call on a couple of them to share. Of course, some students will always be eager to participate, and some are more reticent. With Nearpod, though, you have the ability to see every student’s response to the questions you ask, and then the capability to share an individual student’s responses to every student laptop (this is anonymous, so it is up to the teacher if he or she wants to tell the class whose response it is).”

2. Collect student drawings and annotation screenshots

In addition to checking for student understanding through the use of Quizzes, Polls, and Open-ended questions, teachers can also have students submit annotated photos and screenshots through Draw It.

This can be useful in collecting formative assessment data from activities like science labs, graphic organizers, math problems, exit tickets, design challenges, or even during field trips!

Chris Loat and Janice Novakowski, teachers in Richmond School District, explain how they used this idea to support their colleagues across the district. One formative assessment example for elementary comes from using Nearpod in a math class:

“In this Math lesson, students provided their responses [through Nearpod] in two different ways: 1) Students completed the work in their notebook and took a photograph of their response, often circling the answer to highlight it;  2) Other students took a photograph of the hundredths grid and then annotated it on the iPad before submitting it to their teacher.”

3. Use post-session reports as actionable insights

Finally, teachers can use formative assessment data collected through Nearpod to generate reports and create actionable insights. All formative assessment data collected through Quizzes and Polls in Nearpod will automatically be formatted into graphs so teachers can instantly visualize performance and understanding across their class. This data can also be downloaded or exported so teachers can access it later or share it with others.

Educators can use insights from the reports to determine areas where students excel or struggle, identify patterns in learning gaps, tailor their teaching methods to better suit individual or small group needs, and make informed instructional decisions. Additionally, these insights can aid in adjusting curriculum pacing, providing differentiated instruction, offering personalized support, and fostering a more effective and engaging learning environment when assessing students.

Nick Acton, Primary Apple Specialist Trainer and Apple Curriculum Coordinator at JTRS, explains how this can be beneficial:

“When [students] have finished a quiz, Nearpod will automatically create a report for you. You can access the reports directly through the app and download the data as a PDF overview, a CSV file, as well as reports on individual students. This really helps [teachers] gain a completely comprehensive understanding of [their] class’ ongoing progress.”

Start using these formative assessment examples in your classroom

Nearpod is a beneficial tool to facilitate the collection and use of formative assessment data in the classroom. This use of additional formative assessment activities can also have major classroom benefits and help lead to increased student engagement and achievement.

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

Nearpod Team

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

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The post 3 Examples of formative assessments that work appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

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.

Benefits of adjusting Student-Paced codes expiration date

By adjusting the expiration date of Student-Paced codes in Nearpod, educators can better cater to the diverse learning needs of students, fostering a more inclusive and supportive learning environment. Here are some examples:

1. Customize deadlines: Teachers can tailor the expiration date to align with the learning schedule or deadlines. This helps in keeping students on track with their learning progress and ensures timely completion of assignments.
2. Flexibility for students: Teachers can extend access to accommodate students who might need more time to complete assignments or review material.
3. Accommodation for absences: If students miss class due to absences or other reasons, adjusting the expiration date allows them to catch up on missed content without feeling rushed or falling behind.
4. Differentiation: Teachers can set different expiration dates for individual students or groups based on learning needs and pacing.
5. Revision opportunities: Extending expiration dates provides additional time for students to revisit lessons for revision or review purposes.
6. Increase completion rates: Allowing more time for students to access lessons can potentially lead to higher completion rates and increased engagement with the material, as students can work at their own pace without feeling rushed.

How teachers use the Student-Paced code expiration date feature

For example, let’s say you’re a math teacher and have completed your unit on Linear Functions. Provide your students with a Student-Paced lesson code that they can reference up until their final exam. Perhaps you added your class syllabus to Nearpod. Extend the Student-Paced code until the end of the school year, so your students always know what’s coming next.

Here are some more examples from teachers on how to leverage this feature:

• “Emergency sub plans that have to be turned in at the start of the school year and cover any unplanned absence throughout the year.”
• “Collection of lessons for enrichment that can stay open throughout the quarter/semester/unit/etc.”
• “I am using the extended codes so students can go back to them to review for final exams.”
• “I allow redos and make-up work all semester. This allows me to keep them open till the last day of the semester. No more angry parents when their kids can’t access them.
• “I now use this in a course I teach for college. I have it close at the end of the course. No more going back in and adjusting because a student forgot or was absent. It’s amazing and less time to consume.”

Classroom ideas to use Student-Paced codes on Nearpod

• Self-paced, individual assignments
• Homework
• Skills centers and learning stations
• Review sessions
• Choice boards
• Differentiated instruction
• Make-up work
• Emergency sub plans
• Classroom newsletter
• Self-reflection journals

How to adjust the expiration date of Student-Paced codes

• Step 1: Create or save a Nearpod lesson and launch Student-Paced Mode. (If you’re interested in learning how to create a Student-Paced lesson on Nearpod, click here!)
• Step 2: Hover over the lesson you’re selecting. Click on “Student-Paced.”
  • Here, you will see all active sessions, including the date launched, lesson code, and expiration date.
• Step 3: Under “Expires in,” click on “# days remaining”
• Step 4: Use the calendar to select the new expiration date. You can adjust the length for up to 365 days.
• Step 5: Click “Apply Changes.”
• Your lesson codes are ready!

Start creating lessons on Nearpod

Adjusting Nearpod’s Student-Paced codes provides the ability to customize deadlines, accommodate diverse needs, and promote student autonomy. Start creating interactive lessons for students with Nearpod and witness the enriched educational experience it brings.

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 A Guide: Adjusting the expiration date of Student-Paced codes appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

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.

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

New to Nearpod? Sign up for free to access these activities. Explore interactive activities, standards-aligned lessons, and more!

4 Ways to increase student participation

1. Rich media in interactive lessons

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

VR field trips

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

Simulations

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

2. Engagement around formative assessments

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

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

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

3. Fostering classroom community

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

Gamification

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

Collaborate Boards

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

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

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

Flocabulary

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

4. Interacting via video

Interactive Video

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

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

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

Nearpod with Flip

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

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

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

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

Putting it all together

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

New to Nearpod? Sign up for free to access these activities. Explore interactive activities, standards-aligned lessons, and more!

Nearpod Team

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

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The post 4 Ways to increase student participation 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

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