Item # 11 :: Nearpod Integration Reflection

I would most definitely use Nearpod to deliver instruction in the future!  I was very hesitant at first to create my own and always sought out already created Nearpod lessons. But it was much easier/faster than I would have ever thought!   Being fully virtual until March, one might think I used it all the time like my colleagues but at third grade it's hard to explain how to get into a piece of technology like Nearpod over a Meet.  It is much easier to support the technology in person.  I'm glad I offered to explore with this course to push myself to dive into Nearpod more.  

As the kids explored through the Nearpod, the formative assessment piece was prevalent on almost every slide and I'm so grateful.  It was so simple to complete for myself and my students. This type of lesson is helpful to get honest and quick feedback to know where to go next with this topic. 

The activities that I think were most beneficial for my students were the Time to Climb (interactive/assessment), draw it, and poll.  These activities support all the different types of learners in my room so well and kept all learners truly engaged. 

I learned that through this experience, my students along with myself might need a different style of instruction and need to learn new things.  It keeps the engagement alive and the fun for learning to keep flowing!

1)  Nearpod has it's place in this year's classroom more than any other for me.  I will continue to use it to offer a variety of tools to keep students engaged.  
2)  Formative assessment is easily attained with nearpod---if I see a common mistake and I'm playing live, I can address it right away.  I can then spend more time on the weaker areas.  It also allows me to see which students may benefit from some extra review/support.  
3)  I use a lot of technology in the classroom.  According to the poll I took at the end of my nearpod, the kids prefer Blooket and Kahoot over nearpod.  But nearpod was more popular than Quizlet live, edpuzzle, and conjuguemos.  I think they all have their place in my classroom.  When it comes to vocabulary. I let the students pick what they'd like to play.  As long as they are engaged, why not?
4)  According to my poll, students'  favorite type of activity was Time to Climb which essentially is Kahoot or Quizizz.  Maybe I missed out on some of the better activities??  I would have liked to have  had a badge that had us look at other nearpods that were exemplars.  The ready made ones for World Languages aren't anything I would use in class.  But I know a French colleague has come up with some great nearpods that if I had the time, I would steal, edit, and use.  :)

Yes, I am a Nearpod Junkie.  I have been using Nearpod faithfully this year, and I have developed an extensive library of lessons.  I love using Nearpod for class read alouds and I have made them for The Lemonade War, Stone Fox, and Holes.  I use them for Social Studies, Math, and Science as well.  I am beginning to create more ELA lessons such as story elements and character traits and I find that although Nearpod has some pre-made lessons, I am more successful when I edit those and tailor them to my students and their needs.  

The biggest advantage of Nearpod is the guarantee of student engagement.  The survey I conducted of the students showed results that didn't surprise me - they love Nearpod too.  I would like to take a deeper dive into the assessment results available on Nearpod and consider ways to use the information to further enhance my instruction.  My students love Time to Climb and Collaborate Board but honestly have never balked at any of the activities I incorporate.  My only feedback is that the Draw It can be tricky for students with underdeveloped motor skills.  I know the Chromebooks have a stylus and I may have to speak to those students individually to see if the stylus helps or not.  

I think my biggest takeaway is that time spent developing Nearpods is worth it, and I have become quite adept at creating lessons.  I also believe having grade-level colleagues who are also enthusiastic about Nearpod helps because you can share your lessons, which is a huge benefit.  I am looking forward to expanding my library even further.

1) I would definitely continue to use Nearpod in my instruction. Incorporating technology is important and this is an effective tool to do that. 

2) Nearpod provided feedback immediately and this was a benefit for students. They stated that they liked finding out right away if they got the answer correct. Seeing what students answered allowed me to easily identify what skills the majority of students are understanding and what they need more support with. However, I was not able to identify individual students who were struggling right away. I found this data when I looked at the Nearpod report.

3) I think the collaborative board was a great way for everyone to see each others ideas. It allows everyone to be able to participate and share their thinking. My students really enjoyed the Time to Climb activity and this could be beneficial for future quick checks or assessments since they viewed it as a game, not a quiz.

4) From this experience, I learned a new way to keep students engaged... use Nearpod! This experience provided me the time to practice and learn how to use many of the different activities included in Nearpod to create an engaging lesson. 

I would definitely use Nearpod again. The students were engaged throughout and seemed to be having fun, while learning. They also helped each other, which was fine with me. As I mentioned, I could help students as they went along and give them real time feedback, unlike a paper and pencil assignment. I will try this as a student-paced lesson to compare it to teacher timed lesson. I think the fact that I could give them real-time feedback was most beneficial for my classroom. Everyone had to step up in order to keep us moving.

I learned that cooperative learning is more beneficial, sometimes, and that while they like to be competitive, the students also wanted to help each other.

I thoroughly enjoyed this experience!

1.  Absolutely.  I love Nearpod.  

2.  The benefits are you can easily see what students are understanding the skill and what students may be struggling.  

3.  I can see using Nearpod for all subjects.  I have used it the most for math and ELA.  

4.  I learned that the more engaging an activity the more excited and positive students are. 

1) I think Nearpod is a very effective tool for instruction. It can be useful whether students are completing at home learning or attending school in person each day. I will definitely continue using this platform.
2) I honestly have not had the opportunity to use Nearpod as a formative assessment as I did not conduct the session myself. I could see how it would be really easy to see who needs continued support with content based on their responses and level of engagement.
3) I think the post it notes are really great. A quick question with a quick response. It's a great way to check in on student understanding as a lesson is moving forward.
4) I learned that fifth graders are hard to please and also very honest when asked for their opinion. Moving forward, I think we will need to adapt the 5th grade lesson to be more "big kid" like...or maybe do this in September when the fifth graders are not as cool as they at this point in the year. I also think having different versions would help this from getting stale with students. The activity will not be as engaging if they do the same one three times in a row.