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Supercharge Classroom Participation with Chromebooks

100% lesson participation is achievable through 1:1 Acer Chromebooks.

This blog post is sponsored by Acer Education, a partner of EdTechTeam. 

Imagine the scene: you’ve just delivered a stunning teaching soliloquy to your class, full of all the perfect pedagogy known to educators.  As the lesson reaches its climax, you pause to give time for reflection…and ask a discussion question deserving of debate. You look across your classroom, hoping for thirty hands raised amongst thirty engaged minds – but you’re instead met with a familiar scene.  A handful of usual confident faces burst forth, ready to announce their views. The others turn their heads away from your gaze. Most of the room look back with glazed over eyes, expecting one of their eager friends to break the silence. There is sadness that despite your efforts, many students are unwilling to share or contribute to the lesson.

Because participation and not just attention, is so important for student outcomes, this post will discuss four Chromebook apps, which can help you achieve 100% student involvement in your lessons:

  1. NearPod – Interactive slides presentations
  2. PearDeck – Formative assessment and interactive questions in Google Slides and PowerPoint Online
  3. FlipGrid – Video recording and sharing platform
  4. Quizlet Live – Collaborative vocabulary game

Educational research shows that by allowing students to choose whether they participate in lessons, the achievement gap becomes exacerbated.  This is because students who are ready to share are constantly thinking, questioning, forming connections and ultimately growing their intelligence. While those who choose not to contribute, miss out on this opportunity to further their learning. 

Interestingly, it’s not only self-conscious children who can be disadvantaged by the traditional method of teacher asks a question, children who know–or think they know the answer put their hand up. This approach can also restrict and discourage students who want to contribute. I’m sure every teacher has at some point in their career seen the look of disappointment on a student’s face when a peer says the answer they were thinking, or they had their hand up but weren’t chosen and the lesson moves on.  So how can teachers create classroom environments where participation is obligatory without being threatening, inconsiderate of different personality traits and where everyone’s voice is heard? 

While in the past, this would have been a difficult classroom climate to achieve, now with the ever-increasing accessibility brought about through Chromebook technology, classrooms with 100% participation rates can be a reality and a relatively simple one at that. 

So here they are, four amazing Chromebook Apps you need to try out in your classroom for 100% student participation:

NearPod 

NearPod enables teachers to create and share interactive slide presentations with their students. Teachers can choose to receive responses in a range of forms, including polls, short or long answers, post-it note ideas, drawings and more. 

Teachers can choose to share student responses with the class and can also select whether student names are visible or hidden. 

After a question is shared, the teacher can see the percentage of student responses: who has responded and who are still working on their answer. 

Student View
Teacher View

Teacher Tip: Shared writing ideation

One thing my students especially love about Nearpod is their ability to ‘like’ other students’ post-it note ideas. When starting a shared write, I ask students to type their idea for an introductory sentence or two. They then go through and (with student names set to hidden) ‘like’ their favourite 3. Together, we then combine the most popular 2 or more sentence ideas to begin the piece of writing. 

PearDeck 

PearDeck is another great platform to create interactive presentations. Teachers can add multiple choice questions, draggable activities, drawing opportunities and more. 

Available through G Suite for Education and Microsoft Office 365 Teams, teachers can turn their regular Google Slide or PowerPoint decks into interactive presentations with questions and answers in real time promoting complete student interaction and instant formative feedback. 

Teacher Tip: Lock Screens  

When you want your class’s attention, click the ‘Lock screens’ icon in the bottom left-hand corner. When my students’ screens freeze during a PearDeck lesson, they are trained to flip their screen to the front of the room. When using the Tablet Mode Acer Chromebooks, they just bend the hinge straight up in one easy step. This ensures everyone’s attention is on me for the instructions/input rather than their screens. 

Flipgrid 

Flipgrid provides a unique platform for teachers to add stimulus for students to record and share short videos. Children can respond to each other’s videos so it’s a great way to facilitate discussion and peer feedback. 

Teacher Tip: Camera shy children? 

Not every child feels comfortable recording themselves. Not a problem! By selecting the ‘whiteboard’ option before recording, children can record their screen with their voice over the top. I love using this as a plenary in Maths lessons. The students complete an ‘exit pass’ question by explaining their thought processes and justifying their answers as their screen records their real time calculation (the Acer Active Stylus Pen is perfect for this). This practice provides great insight into students conceptual understanding and is very informative when planning future lessons. 

Quizlet Live 

Quizlet Live is an app designed for students to work together matching terms with definitions or explanations. It requires 100% participation and collaboration since no one has all the answers. The teacher can choose the app to randomly generate student  teams or can specify the student groups. 

Quizlet Live encourages accuracy over speed. If a team chooses an incorrect answer, they must start over from the beginning. The gamification and competitive element of Quizlet Live – even equipped with the option for game show-like background music – means students are revising and learning vocabulary all while having so much fun. 

Teacher  Tip: Science Vocabulary Game/formative assessment 

I love using Quizlet Live at the beginning of a new Science unit as an enjoyable way to determine what vocabulary my class already knows and understands. Then after teaching a new concept, I add a few more relevant scientific terms to the quiz. When each team is complete they receive a personalised evaluation, including advice for, ‘What we Should Study Next’. Using this feature, my students research the terms suggested and add their findings to a collaborative Google Doc. 

Each app shown above can elicit participation from every child in your class but they also have even more benefits:

  • Students love them! Engagement and enjoyment in the learning process is extremely high when using these interactive platforms. 
  • Resources can be saved, reused and shared with your team and other educators. 
  • Each app is super easy for students to log into – even younger students can access these by using the QR code or simple 5-6 letter code!
  • Each app is free! And if you love them, there are options to upgrade to ‘premium’.
  • Evidence of student progress and lesson outcomes are recorded and easily accessible to teachers for future planning or leadership teams for evidence purposes. 
  • Teachers can receive instant formative feedback, which can be used to inform lesson direction. 

The wonder of technology enables not only collaboration in the classroom but also amongst teachers and educators around the world.  If you’ve found Chromebooks or any of the apps discussed helpful, or have any other tips and tricks, why not share your experience in the comments.  

Want to be part of the evolution of the 21st skills generation and be inspired about best practices? Visit Acer for Education blog and subscribe to our newsletter at: http://eu-acerforeducation.acer.com/

Rachel Dunne – Change Manager: Google for Education, IT Curriculum Coordinator, Google Certified Trainer and Innovator.

5 Top Management Tips in the 1:1 Classroom

With 1:1 technology access now the norm, classroom management around devices is another piece of the planning. We hope these top 5 tips will help you to maximize learning while minimizing distractions in your technology rich, student-centered classroom.

Focus on Relationships

The beginning of any classroom management plan should start with building positive relationships with students. Teachers who do this well create healthy and focused learning environments. All the classroom management strategies in the world won’t be effective if students don’t feel safe and respected. So greet students at the door, learn their names quickly, and focus on creating a culture of inclusiveness where all voices are valued and students feel safe. How will your students know relationships are your priority on day one?

Grab Students’ Attention 

When devices are being used effectively in the classroom, students are engaged in collaboration, creation, and communication. When the teacher needs to direct their class to the next task or provide large group instruction, it can be challenging to regain students’ attention. In order to avoid frustration and wasting valuable learning time, you’ll want to have both a signal for gaining student attention as well as clear expectations for what students should do when they hear the signal. What will be your “eyes on me” signal? 

Make Expectations and Procedures Visible

Having clear classroom expectations and procedures helps students be successful. Problems arise when instructions are unclear or students don’t know what to do. Display posters for common procedures, expectations, and mindsets. Consider making a visual reminder explaining to students how to proceed if they have a question, or what it looks like when a student is “ready to learn”. How will you help students take responsibility for their learning through clear, visible expectations this year? 

Need inspiration? Check out our free, downloadable posters at cmdigitalage.com/free-posters.

Get the Students Active

Say goodbye to being asked, “What are we doing today?” The beginning of the year is a great time to consider your “bell ringer”, “warm up”, or “activator”. Starting your day with an agenda, objectives, and actions posted in the same predictable place gives students an anchor for launching their days right. Along with a list of what lies ahead, you might share a prompt for talking, writing, drawing, or doing. Regardless of what your activator asks students to engage in, sharing out learning objectives, daily plans, do-nows, inspiration, and relationship-builders without the need for the teacher to provide the direct instruction is more than just a time saving strategy. You’ll get a few moments to connect individually, to take attendance, and to get the pulse of your students while they independently get oriented. Whether you choose to project a slide onto the screen for all to see or have each student access the activator in Google Classroom or another online learning space, this is a routine you’ll want to solidify in the first weeks of school. What will activate your students’ days?

Set the Students Free

But wait, isn’t management all about control, and isn’t that the exact opposite of freedom? Nope! Personalized and differentiated learning meets the needs of our students. When teachers establish strong structures, they create environments where students can then move in the directions they need. The powerful creative devices that students have access to, whether laptops, tablets or Chromebooks, make it possible for students to have deeper levels of ownership of the pace, the paths, and the products. When you have an effective classroom management plan (see items 1-4 above) you set the foundation for a truly differentiated classroom. We encourage you to consider ways that you might give students more ownership of their learning this year. How will you cultivate an environment for student directed learning?

Student directed doesn’t mean teacher absent. These five tips create a proactive scaffold from which your students can grow as learners and people in a technology-rich, relationship focused community. Wishing you a wonderful year ahead!

Want to learn more about effective practices in technology-rich spaces? Check out Classroom Management in the Digital Age!

About the Author: Patrick Green is the author of “50 Ways to Use YouTube in the Classroom”and co-author of  “Classroom Management in the Digital Age.” He is also Chief Adventure Officer at Raising a Maker. After two decades working with and learning from students, parents, teachers, and administrators in stateside and international schools, he is living location-independent in the pursuit of extraordinary personalized learning opportunities for himself and his family. A YouTube Star Teacher, Google Certified Innovator, and Apple Distinguished Educator, you can follow how work, school, parenting, and play blend for Patrick at @pgreensoup on Twitter and Instagram and can visit his YouTube channel for more tips and tutorials.

Five Great Apps You Should Try in Microsoft Teams

This blog post is sponsored by Acer Education, a partner of EdTechTeam. ACER produces a range of affordable Windows 10 devices designed for use in education.

For schools using Office 365, Microsoft Teams brings together lesson content, collaboration and apps in one easy place for students to access. Here are five great apps you can use with your class inside Microsoft Teams.  

Flipgrid

Want to have Video Questions and Answers directly in your classes Microsoft Team Channel? Flipgrid allows teachers to ask questions and have students leave video responses using a range of devices. Students can also respond to other students, creating full class discussions. You can add Flipgrids, so that students can add and record directly from inside Teams. You can also add an optional connector, so that everyone is alerted to new videos added. Find out more… 

Quizlet

Quizlet is a popular revision tool for students, with millions of study sets already created by teachers and students to cover thousands of popular topics. With the Microsoft Teams integration you can share any study set, so students have sets chosen (or created) by you right inside your class channel. All of the Quizlet Activities, such as Flashcards, Learn, Write, Spell and the Match and Gravity Games will run from inside Teams. Find out more… 

Wakelet

Wakelet allows teachers and students to save, organise and share content from across the web. You can organise content into collections and you can bookmark anything, from individual tweets, articles, videos or resources and share them with your class as a new tab inside Teams. It’s easy to add more content to your collection at any time, using the Wakelet Chrome Extension, Android or iOS App – so you can keep your class up to date with the latest content. Find out more… 

Nearpod

Nearpod allows teachers to create and share interactive lessons with their students. Nearpod content can include Quizzes, Polls or VR Field Trips, delivered in real time to all students in the class. All Nearpod Lessons can be shared as a tab in Microsoft Teams, making it easy for students to access the lesson content quickly and easily. Find out more

PearDeck – Coming Soon

PearDeck allows teachers to create interactive presentations, adding multiple choice questions, draggable activities, drawing and weblinks to your existing presentations to create active learning and formative assessment opportunities. Teachers can see the outcomes in real time and share with the class, to promote class discussions.  Find out more..

Want to be part of the evolution of the 21st skills generation and be inspired about best practices? Visit Acer for Education blog and subscribe to our newsletter at: http://eu-acerforeducation.acer.com/

Andrew Caffrey – Regional Director – EdTechTeam UK – A former Assistant Headteacher, Geography Teacher and SLE at a Google for Education Reference School, Andrew received an Inspirational Educator Award from the Worshipful Company of Educators in 2016.