1. Use shapes to highlight.

When you draw a shape on Jamboard, you can set the fill color as transparent. Make the border colors different colors and have each one stand for something (like parts of speech in a sentence). Students can duplicate the boxes and use them to highlight important parts of the content on the frame. Get this template!

2. Add text to a jam and annotate

Take a screenshot of a text -- a passage from a book, part of an article, etc. Encourage students to annotate it by using the highlighter or dragging frames around important sentences. Then, they justify their responses. Use multiple frames for multiple passages if needed. Get this template!

3. Sticky note brainstorming

Jamboard is great for brainstorming -- gathering ideas, sorting them by color, organizing them on different frames, moving them together, drawing lines to connect important ideas, etc. Give students a brain storming space and, if it fits, let them collaborate, too! Get this template!

4. Digital posters

Images and text about a topic. We've done posters forever in the classroom, right? Jamboard gives you access to TONS of images. Plus, students can always collaborate and share on each other's posters. See, there are some ways to upgrade a classroom classic! Get this template!

5. Pick one and vote

Images and text about a topic. We've done posters forever in the classroom, right? Jamboard gives you access to TONS of images. Plus, students can always collaborate and share on each other's posters. See, there are some ways to upgrade a classroom classic! Get this template!

6. Circle and guess

A fun part about learning something new is guessing. Can I guess the right answer? Can I figure it out on my own? This circle and guess activity can be engaging -- and get students thinking deeply. Get this template!

7. Teaching whiteboard

Using Jamboard as a teaching whiteboard has lots of benefits. For remote learning, it's a whiteboard you can share on your screen during a video call. Plus, when used anytime in any setting, you can always share your whiteboard with students to view later.

8. Storytelling

This one's fun! It has so many possibilities. Students can find images and tell a story. You can add images and have students tell stories about them. Or you can do an add and pass activity, where each student adds a slide with an image and some text to the story. Get this template!

9. Screen record to describe thinking

How do we know what students are thinking when they create with Jamboard? Let's give them a way to tell us! Have students do screen recordings of their jams with a tool like Screencastify. They can describe what they've done, show us how they do it, and tell us why.

10. Graphic organizers

Graphic organizers give students a space to think. Students can get their ideas in order. Create graphic organizers in Jamboard and students will be able to draw, write, and move items around. Here are lots of graphic organizers you can download (File > Download > PNG image) to put on a Jamboard frame. Get this template!

11. Pros/cons discussion

Give students a situation and let them debate the pros and cons. They can do this on their own individual frames in a jam or all together on one big frame in Jamboard. Get this template!

12. Sticky note brain dump

This is a great study technique for long-term learning! Retrieval practice tells us that a "brain dump," where we recall everything we can about a topic, is better stored in long-term memory than if we re-read chapters or notes. Provide a space where students can do a brain dump. (Note: Ctrl+Enter lets students complete a sticky note and start typing on another one.) Get this template!

13. Order of importance

After doing a brainstorming or listing session, it might be time to put the most important items in order of importance. Students can add text, sticky notes, images, even drawings in the boxes. In the text below, they justify their responses. Get this template!

14. The top 10 list

Curation is the idea of collecting the best items and then justifying why they fit the collection. Students can easily do this in a jam by adding images, text, sticky notes or even drawings. Then, they can justify why their choices make the top 10 list. Get this template!

15. Mad Libs

These silly stories can be a lot of fun! They can also give students practice with different parts of speech. On one frame of a jam, have students write out their words. Then, they can cut the sticky notes with the words and paste them on the second page, where you've written the story. (Be sure to include hard returns / spaces between lines of text so there's plenty of room for the sticky notes.) Get this template!

16. The whole class jam

The first thing students do is write their name at the top of their jam. Then, they answer a question or respond to a prompt you give them. When they're done writing, adding images, drawing, etc., they can go look at each others' responses. The best prompts for this are those where there isn't a single correct answer. Get this template!

17. Character notes

Studying a character in a story? In history? In current events? Students can use a jam to gather all the details they can about that character. Or students can gather details on different characters on different frames of a jam. Add images. Add lots of details. Maybe draw a picture of that character! Get this template!

18. Which doesn't fit?

Deciding which of several items doesn't fit -- and, more importantly, WHY it doesn't fit -- can help learning. In this template, students add images or text for four different things. The student drags a red X over the one that doesn't fit and then describes why. Get this template!

19. Sketchnoting

Sketchnoting -- or visual notetaking -- blends the verbal (words) with the visual (images). It's very brain friendly. When students get used to adding images to their notetaking, they'll find that it's easier to remember things they've learned. Jamboard can be a great spot for visual notetaking, especially if students have a touchscreen device.

20. Small group notetaking

When students meet in video call breakout rooms, Jamboard can be a great place for them to take collaborative notes. Have one student create a jam and share it with fellow students. Use the "everyone with the link can edit" sharing setting. Students can then take notes in the same document.