Krista Hudson

#EdTechToolBoxSite

🍐Pear Deck is a Google Slides add-on that allows students to participate in interactive questions and slides. It works seamlessly with any Google presentation. Teachers can create their own slides and templates, or add interaction to any already created resource. Students can then participate by adding text, drawing on slides, responding to questions, and much more!

✏️ Pear Deck is a wonderful tool that can help teachers and students communicate clearly, and it can help students overcome the fear of making mistakes. Teachers can immediately provide feedback and also have a clear understanding of student knowledge.

I use Pear Deck in my classroom in several ways.

One way I use it is as an ACTIVATOR

Here is an example of how I used it to activate knowledge by having students indicate the point of view of a poem!

You can use Pear Deck for students to participate during a lesson and see immediate feedback to show their knowledge!

You can have students drag their answer to the correct response and view it anonymously. Students aren't scared to show what they know because their name is not displayed on the screen.

You can have students participate in Turn-to-Talks while you are presenting in instructor-paced mode.

You can also save the reports after each session and view them later!
Teachers can comment on student responses for students to see.

Teachers can also view student responses in real-time. This way, you can easily tell who does not understand the information that you are presenting.
It is a super quick tool for collecting data and providing immediate feedback!

🍐 After you are finished with your lesson, you can turn it over to student-paced. Students can view the lesson and work at their own pace. You can also save the presentation and link it to Google Classroom so students can refer back to it whenever they want! 🍐

Google Slides is a presentation program that lets you create and format presentations, and allows you to collaborate with other people!. With a variety of free features and options, it’s a fantastic way to create engaging and memorable learning experiences for your students.

I use Google Slides in my classroom in a VARIETY of ways. The possibilities are endless, which makes this such a great learning tool

One way I use it is as a VOCABULARY BUILDER

Here is an example of two ways I use Google Slides for Vocabulary Building

Students learn how to make presentations using images, gifs, and animation!
They find pictures that represent their vocabulary words and create slideshows using their words. It's so much fun to pull up their slide and have the class infer the vocabulary word. This gets them to think about the word in context, rather than memorizing a definition.

Another way I use Google Slides is when students are doing classroom assignments.

It is a convenient way to save on paper, and the students enjoy using the navigation tools such as drag and drop, underlining, inserting images, and collaborating with peers.

Here is an example of a classroom assignment using Google Slides

Students use the drag and drop format to drag the correct language example into the correct category.
Students use the typing tool to show grammar knowledge.
Teacher can monitor on your own desktop and place check marks as students are working.

I copied a checkmark image from google and visited each of their pages to provide immediate feedback while they were working.

Google Slides is also a fun place for students to be creative!

Here is an example of a reindeer we created using Google Slides.
Students then wrote about their Christmas traditions! We shared them with the class.

Mentimeter is a platform that teachers can use to easily create a presentation that engages their students in real time. Teachers can select from a variety of tools, including question and answer, word clouds, rankings, polls, and even a quiz competition!

I use Mentimeter in my classroom weekly! There are many engaging ways to use Mentimeter.

One way I use it is as an ACTIVATOR
Mentimeter can also be used as a SUMMARIZER
I also use Mentimeter for polls and comprehension questions during my lesson.

Here is an example of how we use it in my classroom to engage students in learning for the day:

One way to activate learning is through a Word Cloud.
In this example, my students logged on and were asked to write what a theme in a story is. The words that are the largest on the word cloud, are the words that were typed the "Most". Students were able to look at each response and discuss how the classroom did at determining the theme!
Just a quick and easy tool to show knowledge and activate engaging conversations.

Here is a quick language arts SUMMARIZER to see who understood the concept being presented.
This does not show student names, but let's them answer truthfully so that you know which students you need to work with for a given topic.

Here is an example of how I used Mentimeter to take a poll from students. We were working on opinion writings, and I wanted to give them a chance to voice their opinion.
I put up several topics, and they all voted. It was quick, easy, and no complaining from students!

There are a variety of ways you can use Mentimeter. One of the new features is similar to Kahoot. You can plug in questions and it plays a quiz competition with the children, and shows them a "leaderboard". Students LOVE anything competitive.

With the ability to ask questions in real time, students can connect with each other and make connections during a lesson. The creation tools available for Mentimeter allow teachers to create interactive presentations making it engaging for students.

Bamboozle is a learning tool that engages students in a competitive environment by making them produce the answers, not just recognize them!

Baamboozle is a fun and easy-to-use game that can be played from anywhere. It works seamlessly across various platforms, including smartboards.

Each time you play, the game generates different questions. With teams, students can make discoveries together.

Create a library of games that will keep your students engaged and motivated. Each game has its own unique scoring system. There's no reason to make a game if it already exists. Review your last unit, introduce a new topic, concept check, or, simply play for fun.

Here is an example of how I use bamboozle as an activator to review vocabulary words.
You can create a game in an instant. Just type the definitions, and the answer in the answer box. In a matter of minutes, the game is ready to play! Students will see the screen below on your smartboard. Have students pick a number and answer the question! They love the fun features that have been added that allow them to steal points from the other team while playing!

You never know what will happen when you click on a number! Students LOVE this element of SURPRISE

Google Forms is part of the Google Suite tools that enable teachers and students to create surveys, quizzes, escape rooms, and daily grades.

Google Forms is very versatile and can be used for something as simple as a daily check in, to something as complex as a self-grading assessment.
You are able to choose from various sets of response options such as multiple-choice, drop down, and even answer elimination. Multimedia pictures and videos can also be integrated!

One way I LOVE to use Google Forms in the classroom is to review a skill. Students answer questions and get immediate feedback. This is awesome if we are working in small groups. I can ensure students are answering questions correctly as they are working. The form will not let students move to the next question until their question is correct. (to prevent students from "guessing" I usually tell them that Google counts the number of times they get the answer incorrect and sends the data to me.)

My children LOVE escape rooms! There are many templates and already created escape rooms online already available. One way we use them is to practice a reading skill. Students are given a link through Google Forms and they are prompted to make a copy. They will then work on a skill through Google Slides or Google Docs and form an answer. They will then type their answer in Google Forms. If correct, the page will open to their next challenge. They love to compete with other students in the classroom to be the first team to "ESCAPE"

Along with escape rooms, comprehension checks, vocabulary assessments, and daily grades, I enjoy using Google Forms as a summarizer in my lessons.
The media features make it easy to upload task cards and questions for a quick Ticket Out the Door type assessment.
I can immediately see who understood the task and who needs additional help.
The opportunities and ways to use Google Forms are endless. Just be creative and work smarter :)

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