Sevier School District PD Day – 2020!

There is no better way to start a new year than going to Richfield, Utah and working with excellent educators from the Sevier School District. These people know how to return to school after a nice winter break… with a day of Professional Development!

SSD_Wide-address

Thank you Brandon Harrison of CUES for inviting us down to share with you. Today I had the pleasure of leading three breakout sessions. All of the content from each one is available in the links below. And if you have questions that aren’t answered there, please email me at michael@uen.org Happy New Year!

Nearpod 101: An Introduction to Nearpod
In this hands-on session we will cover the basics of using Nearpod. What is it? How does it transform learning? What kind of content is included? After a short demo of a simple lesson demonstrating the differences between running a “Live Lesson” in Nearpod and running a “Student Paced” version, teachers will also practice signing into the Nearpod.com website, looking through the Nearpod Lesson Library, and adding lessons to use with your students.

If you missed this session, check out the self-paced lesson linked here.
The code for this lesson is TFRCG

And if you want to learn more about Nearpod, be sure to sign up for the UEN “MOOC” here at uen.org/register

Neaten Your Nearpod Lessons with Google Slides
In 2019 Nearpod introduced a new way to build your own lessons with Google Slides. In this session you will learn how to turn on the Nearpod Add-On in your Google Slides and turn on some cool new ways to create engaging learning activities that look great.

This lesson is available not in Nearpod, but in Google Slides linked here.

Video Editing Made Easy with Adobe Rush
Adobe Rush makes it easy to go straight from shooting video to publishing on the web. This easy to use app works across multiple platforms. Powerful tools like graphic overlays and editing resources are simple to access. Publishing is also a snap with direct uploads to YouTube, Facebook, and more. In this session we will go over the basics of getting started with Adobe Rush so you can easily use it with your students.

View the PowerPoint from this session here.

Or, just watch this amazing episode of UEN PDTV where Jami Gardner and I talk about how easy it is to use Adobe Rush…

Neatening Up Your Nearpod with Google Slides

Nearpod is an excellent tool for creating engaging lesson that combine content knowledge with student activities and formative assessment tools. But it’s not the best tool for building lessons… until now!

As of this summer you’ll find a new button on your Nearpod Homepage that says “Create your own: Lesson in Google Slides”, check it out!

Create Lesson In Google Slides

This is great. So great. Because now you don’t have to worry about copying or importing content from Google Slides into Nearpod and ending up with an image that you can’t edit. Now you can build right in Google Slides and add Nearpod interactive features as you go with the Nearpod Add-on.

Learn more by adding a copy of my Nearpod Transform SLC Google Slide Deck embedded below.

Click here to get a copy of the presentation.

NearPod & iPads in the Elementary Classroom

Keeping students engaged can be difficult if not impossible. Perhaps the greatest hurdle for a teacher on a daily basis is to keep your entire class on task, participating, actively thinking and… wait! Are we off task again?

Oakdale 4th Grade nearpod — 4th Graders at Oakdale Elementary (Canyons District) use NearPod to learn about the Native People of Utah.

If you throw a class set of iPads into the mix chances are you’ve just given each student approximately two million more things to distract them while you’re teaching. Or did you? Teachers at Willow Springs and Oakdale Elementary schools are finding the app “Nearpod” for iPads does just the opposite.

Nearpod (available for free in the iTunes store and online at http://www.nearpod.com/) is easy to start using. Although the app is fantastic for iPad users, it’s also available in a web based form at http://ws.nearpod.com/. Try it with a MacBook lab, Chromebooks, or any web based portable device. As long as you have internet connection you can have an engaging lesson.By using Nearpod you’ll be able to hold their attention and control their screens. As long as students don’t leave the app, you determine what they see!

Step 1: Go to www.nearpod.com and click “Create Account”

Step 2: Complete the form fields required for your new free Nearpod account

Step 3: Watch the short “How Nearpod Works” video to get a preview of how your first lesson will run with students.

Step 4: Now that you’re ready to go, browse the Nearpod Content Library available at http://content.nearpod.com/ to find a lesson you can use on your first run of Nearpod. There are great resources here from LearnZillion, Time4Kids, and more. Although some resources cost money, there are enough free opportunities for your first few activities.

Step 5: What are you waiting for? Fire up your computer or iPad, launch your lesson, and have your students jump in with the unique code that is given at the start of each “NPP”, that’s short for NearPodPresentation. Although you might want to present your iPad or computer screen for the whole class, you probably don’t have to. Since all of the content you’ll be sharing will appear on each student’s device, don’t distract them with another big screen.

Step 6: How did it go? If you liked it, but think the content library doesn’t have exactly what you need for free, don’t stress. You can make your own NPPs with PowerPoint and upload them to your web account. For directions on this check out the great tutorial available from “Making Tech Simple” at http://www.makingtechsimple.com/nearpod

For more info on how to use NearPod, visit the NearPod Community Blog at http://www.nearpod.com/blog/