Nearpod Reflection

Before creating your own Nearpod, practice with pre-made templates with your class. It will help you to figure out the different options when creating your own. You will also see certain glitches appear, and will be able to create a backup plan. For example, it was hard for me to embed a video AND have the students access the sound. This would eliminate the option of students to play videos on a self-paced lesson at times. 

Nearpod can be a lot of fun, encourage students to use the app and not the website. The website has limited features.

I love this tool- 10/10. I'm slowly getting my team on board by creating common assessment and practice tools we can all share and now that I have tried it in whole group, small group at teacher table, and as a center I think I can help them find the best way to implement it in their own classrooms! My tips would be to start implementing in small group at teacher table- especially for primary! But once they get the hang of things I would absolutely rather use this than make copies of worksheets that don't involve cutting or gluing. 

I love Nearpod! I've been using it to start units for two years. I highly recommend it as a presentation tool. You get lots of different activities that you can easily integrate. You can also add activities on the fly if you decide you need a formative assessment while you are going through the Nearpod. I use the Common Sense Media Nearpods, which are paid content. There is fairly reasonably priced content if you don't want to make your own. The ones I bought are so intense it would take 2-3 class periods to go all the way through it, and they're all tied to content. I think students are a lot more engaged in Nearpod than a traditional presentation because it's right in front of them and they can see it easily. It also constantly includes assessment to draw them back in.

Nearpod is amazing. I am definitely going to continue using it! So cool that we have a paid account!! 

For Nearpod newbies, I reccommend checking out the shared library. There are a lot of great resources and nearpods that are already made!! 

This was not my first go at using Nearpod however, they way I used it was and I really liked it. I used Nearpod for brainbreaks. Searching through the already created lessons I found several "icebreakers," so I decided to use them as brainbreaks during the week of testing. I did one as a live lesson and one as student paced. I much rather prefer the live lesson. I did like that the student pace was active for several days so yo could use it as homework. 

I also used some of the VR lessons for the first time. I'd never used them. I thought you actually had too use the headset and that was not the case at all. Students are able to manipulate their iPads to get the same effect as wearing crocs headsets. Students loved it and it served as a great brainbreak! 

Overall, this is a good resource. If you're going to use it, I suggest looking through the already created lessons and use them. You can edit them however you wish.