Educator stories

Guest Post Laura Morris: “It was so exciting to see 1st graders creating such wonderful presentations!”

May 12, 2014The Nearpod Team

My name is Laura Morris and I am a first grade teacher at Franklin Elementary in Wausau, WI. Franklin is at the end of it’s second year as a 1:1 pilot school for the district. Every student in our school, K-5, has an iPad, and I am continually looking for new and exciting ways to keep the students engaged in their everyday learning.

I discovered Nearpod through a teacher I follow on Twitter. Her first graders were using it and I went to the website to check it out. I was immediately excited to try it with my class.

Since we started using Nearpod, the students have become very familiar with how presentations work and what to expect. I have worked with other teachers in my building to create presentations that we can utilize in Math, Literacy and with our Word Study program. I am also impressed by the level of engagement with my students. My favorite feature, just from using the free version, has been the drawing that students are able to do. They love seeing their responses pop up on the board and having their voices heard. It has proven very useful in Math and Word Study, and I am eager to discover more ways that we can utilize all of the different features that Nearpod has to offer.

Most recently, my students created their own Nearpod Presentations (NPPs) about an animal that they had been researching. The project, which they worked on for over a week, included several different things. First, they researched an animal on PebbleGo using a Chromebook. Then, they created a Keynote presentation on their iPads about that animal. Finally, they used their Keynote to create a NPP which included a quiz, poll, and open –ended questions. The students had seen how Nearpod worked through use in class and were extremely excited to take on this responsibility. Although the actual uploading of their project was directed by me, the students made their own questions and presented their project to the class. I was able to print the results of their presentation to share and to include in their project work.