Nearpod for Teachers: Everything You Need to Know in 20 Minutes | Tech Tips for Teachers

Mackenzie, a fifth-grade teacher from California, introduces Nearpod as her favorite online tool for creating engaging lessons. She outlines the features of Nearpod, which include creating slide decks with interactive elements like open-ended questions and collaborative boards. Mackenzie highlights the two versions of Nearpod: free and paid, and focuses on demonstrating the capabilities of the free version. The video is structured into five sections: Nearpod setup, customizing content, customizing games and activities, launching a session, and student reports. She encourages viewers to subscribe and like the video to support the channel and help other teachers discover the content.

The setup process for Nearpod involves signing up for a free teacher account and adjusting settings to fit the class's needs. Mackenzie walks through enabling features like student names auto-fill, immersive reader, student notes, and collaborative board. She also discusses the importance of requiring student responses and preventing skipping to ensure engagement. The video then transitions into how to plan lessons using Nearpod's library, which contains thousands of pre-made lessons that can be searched, previewed, and customized to fit specific teaching needs. Mackenzie also touches on creating original lessons and the option to import Google Slides, although the latter requires a paid upgrade.

Mackenzie demonstrates how to add various types of content to Nearpod lessons to enhance student engagement. She covers adding slides with text, images, voice recordings, and videos, as well as uploading existing Google Slides or PDFs. The interactive video feature allows teachers to pause videos at key points for questions. Web content can be integrated by adding URLs, and Nearpod 3D offers the ability to explore 3D models. PHET simulations and virtual reality field trips provide immersive experiences. Sway integration allows for interactive slide decks, and a variety of activities, including slideshows, audio clips, and PDF viewers, can be added to support learning. The goal is to provide a rich, interactive learning environment that caters to different teaching topics.

This section focuses on the games and activities that can be incorporated into Nearpod lessons to reinforce student learning. Time to Climb is a game that uses multiple-choice questions as a fun way to review material. The activity bank allows teachers to search for pre-made activities, and open-ended questions can be integrated throughout the lesson to encourage student reflection. Matching pairs, quizzes, and Flip Grid integration provide additional interactive elements. The Draw It feature allows students to draw or label diagrams directly on slides, and the Collaborate Board facilitates class discussions. The Pull feature enables real-time polling, and Fill in the Blanks activities cater to vocabulary and academic language practice. Memory Test is a game that helps with recall and matching of images or text. These features aim to make learning interactive and assess student understanding effectively.

Mackenzie explains how to launch Nearpod sessions, offering two modes: live participation for real-time class interaction and student pace for independent work. She details the process of starting a session, sharing the access code or link with students, and controlling the lesson flow. During live sessions, teachers can use an interactive whiteboard, add activity slides on the fly, and switch to student view for better presentation control. Student responses are visible in real-time, allowing for immediate feedback and discussion. After the lesson, teachers can end the session and access detailed reports on student participation and responses. These reports can be downloaded for further assessment and record-keeping. Mackenzie emphasizes the importance of these features in facilitating effective teaching and learning, as well as in collecting formative assessment data.

In the final paragraph, Mackenzie concludes the video by summarizing the key points covered on how to make the most out of Nearpod with students. She invites viewers to give the video a thumbs up and subscribe for more teacher tips, signaling the end of the tutorial. The music in the background adds a light and engaging tone to the conclusion, wrapping up the informative session on Nearpod.