Engaging students in class using Interactive Presentation Tools

Engaging students in class using Interactive Presentation Tools

Our students love to be on their devices.  Often times, if a student can just have a device in their hand, they are happy and already paying closer attention.  Our learners today are connected and collaborative.  This rings true in all facets of their lives from the way they interact in their gaming environments to how they all like to have group texts.  When they have a device and they are using it, they tend to be more engaged.

So whether you teach 3rd grade general studies, or you’re the 12th grade biology teacher, how can we allow our teachers to use their devices to promote a higher level of engagement in their content?  How might we get them to engage with what you have on your screen / interactive whiteboard?

Interactive presentation tools are transforming the way our teachers are teaching and students are learning.  Specifically, this year we have started using Pear Deck to help transform some of our instructional practices at Sinai Akiba.  

What:

Pear Deck, and other Interactive presentation tools (which I will highlight later), allow the teachers to display content on their interactive whiteboards while the students see a prompt on their own devices.  These prompts will require students to respond to the content by drawing something, typing something, dragging something (like a dot, or a line, etc), and more.  

During a lesson, teachers can lock students screens so they are forced to look up at the screen which helps with keeping them on task.  Also, teachers can put students responses on the board to foster collaboration and discussion among students.   At the end of a lesson, with the click of a mouse button, teachers can send each student a copy of their presentation which includes all of their notes / responses.  This has proven to be a game changer for some of our middle school teachers and students as it engages students to use this tool for a solid note taking tool as well.  

The best part, well, one of the best parts, is it is 100% integrated with Google Apps.  Teachers work on creating slideshows collaboratively like any other google doc.  Students receive session reports directly to their google drive, and for the tech guy, it is one less username and password to manage because of the SSO with their GAFE accounts.

Here is a brief video that shows what Pear Deck is all about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evoJy4WcReM

HOW:

We have used Pear Deck in every grade level in 3-8th so far this year.  Here are a few scenarios in which we used it:

• 3rd Grade Jewish Holiday Activity: Our 3rd Grade Judaic Studies teachers used pear deck to assess students knowledge of the Hebrew language and Rosh Hashanah facts and even had them draw a picture of their ideal Rosh Hashana festivity.
• 5th Grade: Morning Meeting / First day of school icebreaker.  Our 5th grade teachers did a beginning of the year icebreaker that aligned with our Responsive Classroom program that we use for our social-emotional development.   Students drew something that symbolized their summer and goals for the school year.  These were shared with the class and students had to guess who drew which symbol.
• In our 6th grade Research & Information Fluency class, students were asked to choose a perspective about an important Jewish Issue / Value and based on their perspectives were put in partnerships to conduct research collaboratively.
• Our 8th Graders Hebrew teachers shared a video in Hebrew and as it was playing, students had to answer discussion prompts, in Hebrew, on their devices.  These responses were then used to create a class discussion.

WHY?

Students need to be engaged.  The days of sitting and listening are not conducive to the brains of our learners today.  Stagnant time of sitting does not engage the brain.  Interactive presentation tools such as Pear Deck foster engagement during your lessons.  

TRY IT:

Pear Deck is free to try.  I am pretty sure whether you are a single teacher or an entire organization, you will find something that will help you improve your classroom instruction and classroom pedagogy.   

Pear Deck vs. Nearpod.  I really like Nearpod, too.. Pear Deck’s competitor.  In fact in some ways, Nearpod has a more robust system and library, but here is why, for my school, I chose Pear Deck:

• Pear Deck is 100% integrated with GAFE… Huge selling point.
• Pear Deck does NOT have an entire content library, which is, in my opinion, better for a few reasons.  To promote a systematic change in instructional practices, teachers are more apt to accept change if they don’t have to replace things.  In Nearpod, there is a HUGE library of pre-made content but it doesn’t necessarily align with the existing curricular objectives.
• That being said, it was much easier in my opinion to take an existing presentation (Powerpoint, Google Slides, Notebook File and more) and import it into Pear Deck in three clicks.  You can then make these interactive slides right in Pear Deck.  The biggest downside, however, is that it imports existing presentations as image files so you cannot change your existing presentations within Pear Deck.  
• Starting from scratch: I also found it to be more user friendly when creating a new presentation from scratch within Pear Deck than Nearpod.  I knew that if I was going to get teacher buy in for this instructional tool, I would need to find something that is user friendly.
• Pear Deck is much more affordable.  MUCH more affordable.

To summarize, if you are looking for a great way to engage students during your content delivery, consider checking out Pear Deck as a tool to create and deliver interactive presentations to your students.

Have you used Pear Deck?  Nearpod?  A different platform?  How has interactive presentation platforms help revolutionize the way you teach? Learn?  What else do you want to know about interactive presentation software?