Build Interactive Lessons
"A student-centered learning environment encourages students to become independent learners and ultimately to be in charge of their own education."-Paul Bogdan
By choosing digital tools for interactive lessons, I wanted a way to hold students accountable for completing the activities and I also wanted the data that each tool provides. Offering students the opportunity to work at their own pace through these lessons, and providing the teacher with a variety of data to better understand the needs of the students, are some of the great reasons for using interactive lessons and videos in the classroom. The students are more engaged in the lesson, working at their own pace provides more personalized experiences and it is a good way to use the class time to work more closely with students, in peer groups, and to facilitate learning in different ways which are more personal and authentic.
The above quote is from the article Interactive Lessons: Involve the Students and Let them Create
"Strong teachers don't teach content; Google has content. Strong teaching connects learning in ways that inspire kids to learn more and strive for greatness"
Eric Jensen in Education Week Teacher
Badges
This is not an exhaustive list of tools that you can use to Build Interactive Lessons. The list below is there to help get you started or further your growth with this instructional practice. If you have a tool that you would like us to consider adding, please click on this Suggest a Badge Form.
EdPuzzle
EDpuzzle lets users create their own video in a safe environment and is ideal for project based learning (PBL) as well as flipping a classroom. Also, it allows educators to create videos for guided learning and allows them to assess students by adding questions. Finally, it can be used by any educator to integrate into any curriculum or subject.
Slide Presentation
Slides has a new Q & A Feature!
Google slides is a collaborative tool that has the ability to allow teachers and students to always be on the most updated version. This tool has a clean simple design, that allows access from any device and can track changes.
When the teacher shares a presentation with students they can focus on higher order thinking skills rather than the note-taking aspect.
Thinglink
Thinglink is the leading platform for creating interactive images and videos for web, social, advertising, and educational channels. Be creative! Make your images come alive with video, text, images, shops, music and more! Every image contains a story and Thinglink helps you tell your stories.
Kahoot
When it comes to checking for understanding, Kahoot is by far one of the most popular options right now with both teachers and students.
Teachers will appreciate how simple Kahoot makes it to combine questions, images, and videos into self-grading quizzes and surveys. Students seem to really enjoy the gamified features of the site – including individualized feedback, leaderboards, and the chance to compete against other students.
Padlet
Padlet is a virtual wall that allows people to express their thoughts on a common topic easily. It works like an online sheet of paper where people can put any content (e.g. images, videos, documents, text) anywhere on the page, together with anyone, from any device. This is a great tool to collaborate, collect ideas, brainstorm, summarize, and more!
Nearpod
Nearpod is an interactive presentation and assessment tool that can be used to amazing effect in the classroom. The app's concept is simple. A teacher can create presentations that can contain Quiz's, Polls, Videos, Images, Drawing-Boards, Web Content and so on.
Book Creator App
Book Creator is the simple way to make your own beautiful ebooks, right on your iPad. These books could include picture books, comic books, photo books, journals, and more. This open-ended, universal tool allows teachers to cross content areas seamlessly. This tool allows narration, images and video and exports nicely to Google!
(iPad app only)
Chatterkids
Simply take any photo, draw a line to make a mouth, and record your voice. Then share your students' Pix with friends and family as silly greetings, playful messages, creative cards, or even fancy book reports. (iPad app only)
Breakout EDU
Breakout EDU games teach critical thinking, teamwork, complex problem solving, and can be used in all content areas.
Digital Breakout EDU
Welcome to Breakout EDU Digital. The same game principles from regular Breakout EDU apply to these games, but there is no physical component other than an Internet connected device (preferably a laptop/Chromebook/desktop computer.)
Magnetic ABC
It's the iPad edition of the old fashioned magnetic board suitable for kids of all ages! It comes with a rich set of colored pieces that can be placed freely on the board: letters, numbers, symbols, funny figures and themed sets. It aids in teaching students their alphabets/numbers, a learning tool in teaching one how to spell or represent numbers!
Seesaw
Seesaw is a student-driven digital portfolio that empowers students to independently document what they are learning at school. FEATURES: Easily Capture Student Learning in Any Form ∙ Students can use photos, videos, drawings, text notes, links to show what they know.
Screencastify
Screencastify is a free Chrome extension that allows students to create simple screencasts. It's integrated with Google Drive, so whatever students create online can be recorded, explained, stored in their Drive, and submitted with a link. (web-based)
Youtube
YouTube is a free video sharing website that makes it easy to watch online videos. You can even create and upload your own videos to share with others.
iMovie
iMovie is a video editing software application sold by Apple Inc. for the Mac and iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPad Mini and iPod Touch). This is a great tool for building interactive lessons for students as well as students using it to show their learning. The presentations created by iMovie are highly distinguished and are ideal for classroom teaching. Show your students how to create presentations using pictures, text and sound.
Quizlet
Using Quizlet is an effective way to get your students further engaged in what they're learning both in the classroom and at home. The site offers six different study modes that appeal to all types of learners, allowing students to use what works best for them and go at their own pace. As a teacher you can easily create Quizlet classes to share study material with your students quickly and track their progress. And with our team-based game, Quizlet Live, it's easy to get your whole class involved, learning the material and how to work together in the process.