New Tech In the Classroom

This week, I talked to another 6th grade teacher in my building. I asked her if there were any new tech tools she was using with her kids. She stated that this year, she decided to use Nearpod with her class. Here is her synopsis of it.


"Nearpod is a great app that allows me to set up lessons on the iPad that students follow along with.  I can incorporate pictures, videos, and websites, as well as assessing students understanding along the way by having them draw a picture in the app, answer a question, or write a short response.  We can then view some of the drawings or responses as a class to make sure that everyone is understanding.  The app also saves reports of how the students did on the multiple choice questions.  There are many lessons already made or I can make my own lessons.  It is a great tool to keep the students engaged and learning."

I asked her how she decided to use the app. She told me, "I saw a presentation about Nearpod at a technology conference I went to and definitely wanted to try it out in my classroom.  I liked it because it seemed like a more engaging way to present information to students and get feedback from them throughout a lesson."

She says the the only obstacle for using it was ensuring that the app was downloaded onto our iPads. Since it is a free app, that was not a problem.

Advice she would give to another teacher would be... "I would tell other teachers to make sure that students are using headphones when doing a Nearpod lesson.  The videos don't quite sync up so it is quite noisy if everyone is watching a video at the same time."

I was very intrigued by what she told me about Nearpod. I, too, had heard about Nearpod at a technology conference, but never had the opportunity to use with due to the lack of mobile devices in my last district. My colleague is someone who is willing to step out of the box and try new things with her class. I feel like I am pretty up on technology, but I have a tendency to not use a tool because of various constraints. I'm really inspired to be working with her and love that she is willing to share her knowledge with me and others in our building.