What are primary sources?

Primary sources are documented evidence of our past, serving as clues from our history. These types of sources and artifacts include items such as letters, diaries, and newspaper articles that provide firsthand accounts of events or periods in time. Primary sources showcase diverse perspectives across the ages, helping to illustrate the human experience. Primary source analysis helps us broaden what we consider history by understanding past contributions and providing additional context. Students, researchers, scholars, and enthusiasts have long relied on primary sources to round out a more comprehensive understanding of what happened in the past.

What is the value of teaching with primary source analysis?

To be agents of change in the classroom, we must foster a culture that encourages our students to stay well informed and continually engage in questioning and reflection to develop their critical thinking abilities. Primary sources represent diverse and often marginalized voices that tend to be forgotten. Such sources are representations of ourselves and others. They challenge our own point of view and encourage us all to grapple with contrary viewpoints. They represent the complexities and dynamic nature of our societies and cultures, and many claim that interpreting primary sources supports a fair and equitable democracy. History primary source analysis can reflect roots and values, changes in ideology, and shifts in common culture.

Examples of primary source analysis in history instruction

Nowadays, it is easier than ever to access primary sources and analyze such assets and artifacts. No longer are we limited by geography or even the fragility of documents. As educators, we can help our students understand the value of primary sources to help them cross-reference their research when learning about the past. Students today can engage in examples of primary sources by practicing how to sift through digital archives when they are looking for a variety of resources.

Examples of primary sources include:

• Photographs
• Newspaper articles
• Books
• Letters
• Survey data
• Census
• Diaries
• Songs
• Interviews
• Oral histories
• Treaties
• Household items
• Speeches
• Posters
• Cartoons
• TV shows
• Radio broadcasts
• Brochures
• Reports
• Court documents
• Polls
• Memories
• Auto biographies
• Sound recordings
• Video recordings

Nearpod Social Studies Curriculum

Nearpod offers a supplemental social studies curriculum teachers use in conjunction with their current programming for a more immersive social studies experience. Social studies teachers use Nearpod as a tool for students to analyze primary sources across a wide range of lessons covering 18 subjects. Each lesson applies dynamic media features to primary sources, enabling students to explore and evaluate perspectives in a hands-on manner. Through a hands-on, guided inquiry model, students annotate primary sources using Nearpod’s Draw It feature and gather real-world content through virtual reality with VR Field Trips – all while benefiting from collaborative discussions around lessons created by Nearpod, iCivics, and the Smithsonian. Plus, Nearpod Social Studies can qualify for Federal Title I and IV funds to support social studies initiatives.

New to Nearpod? Get started with a free Nearpod account to witness the impact Nearpod can make with your students. If you’re an administrator looking to further support social studies teachers, schedule a call with us to explore Nearpod Social Studies.

3 Essential strategies for teaching history with a primary source analysis tool

1. Site the difference

One of the first skills for students to learn is how to differentiate between primary and secondary sources. Working with primary sources provides firsthand accounts via original thinking or reporting. Secondary sources, on the other hand, provide second-hand information or accounts. Often, they are summaries of sorts. Tertiary sources are what students often interact with the most – these are textbooks or encyclopedias, which are a summary of primary and secondary sources or a curation of accounts. Helping students determine and identify whether a source is primary, secondary, or tertiary is key to their evaluating the credibility and validity of a source. It may sound simple, but your educators should have students constantly asking themselves: Does this author have first-hand knowledge of this subject or event?

The Nearpod Social Studies program includes lessons to support this strategy. For example, in Nearpod’s Ancient Rome lesson, students learn about the key figures, innovations, and the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. It explores primary sources, such as historical sites from a first-person point of view through an immersive VR experience, and has students complete activities, such as map annotations, Draw It assessments, and more.

2. Be a detective

From an early age, we need to teach our students how to read and consume information through a critical lens. They need to be detectives and form habits of mind to always ask a lot of questions about a source, beginning with who wrote or created it and for what purpose. Allow history to be brought to life in a “show, don’t tell” manner by revealing nuances, quirks, and personalities of the past. Effective readers and researchers need to piece the puzzle of the past together and go beyond the textbook to form their own conclusions. One strategy to share with teachers is “Zoom” (not the video conferencing tool). “Zoom” is a concept from the Library Congress where a teacher can reveal a historical photograph – a primary source – bit by bit, asking students to use deductive reasoning and inference skills to make educated guesses as to what they are seeing. Often, their guesses are quite different from the reality, which will encourage them to reflect on their own biases and assumptions in considering others’ perspectives and experiences. Students will be encouraged to read, write, and think – a trifecta!

You can find primary sources through the Library of Congress, Google Scholar, Google Books, Google News Archive, the Archival Research Catalog (ARC), and research libraries within universities and historical societies.

For example, in The Roaring Twenties lesson, students listen to jazz music, view architecture, read poems, and learn about sports during the 1920s, allowing them to explore the period firsthand. Additional resources include Nearpod’s Egyptian artwork activity, where students view a piece of Egyptian art and use the Drag & Drop activity to draw conclusions. These lessons not only make history come alive but also cultivate critical thinking and investigative skills, enabling students to unravel the past and connect with historical events on a deeper level.

3. Take an inquiry-based approach

Another strategy for educators is to try the SOAPSTone Technique. To encourage deeper and more comprehensive knowledge, students should look at a source’s Speaker, Occasion, Audience, Purpose, Subject, and Tone. Newer variations of SOAPSTone include an “E” for “Evidence”: SOAPSETone. This acronym encourages higher-order thinking skills as students take an inquiry-based approach to better understanding the circumstances of who, what, when, where, why, and how. Once students begin to ask these questions as part of their primary source analysis, they can then work to interpret multiple primary sources in order to look for answers to a particular research question or topic.

Nearpod’s Why do we need maps? lesson utilizes original maps and thought-provoking questions to actively engage students in critical thinking and exploration, fostering a deeper understanding of the topic through inquiry-based learning. Using historic evidence and this approach encourages students to ask questions, analyze historical maps, and take an active role in their own education.

Start using Nearpod for teaching history

Our students today need to build critical thinking skills when it comes to learning about our past and thinking about our future. Primary source analysis tools supports their understanding of complex topics by giving them direct evidence to interpret. They can analyze points of view, evaluate context and bias, and develop their own opinions and arguments. Primary sources not only reflect thoughts, they also reflect language and stories that can help students make personal connections and form unique perspectives. This will help students internalize what has happened in the past and take ownership of what can happen in the future. We need to help our educators and students engage with history in order to be inspired by history, so that history does not “just” repeat itself.

New to Nearpod? Get started with a free Nearpod account to witness the impact Nearpod can make with your students. If you’re an administrator looking to further support social studies teachers, schedule a call with us to explore Nearpod Social Studies.

Darri Stephens

Darri Stephens is a dedicated LX (learning experience) designer, passionate about creating quality content and programs for kids, families, and educators. With MAs in Education from both Harvard and Stanford, and work experience at best-in-class ed tech organizations including Wonder Workshop, Nickelodeon, and Common Sense Education, she is steeped in the design thinking process and committed to agile and iterative project management, which has resulted in multi-award-winning programs and products.

The post Curriculum tools for teaching history with primary source analysis appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

4 Ways to amplify instruction for English language learners using Nearpod EL

1. A research-based approach to ELL instruction

A report by WestEd (2014) found that teachers of English language learners (ELL) must design their instruction to “amplify rather than simplify” concepts to offer the academic rigor necessary for students’ learning (p. 11). In other words, teachers must augment their lessons to include multiple pathways to learning, particularly when it comes to providing plenty of verbal and nonverbal messages (11). This is challenging, especially for teachers who may teach a range of students.

Nearpod EL aligns with this model of amplification and supports teachers in its implementation. With Nearpod EL, ready-to-teach lessons provide an interactive, standards-aligned curriculum designed to engage and inspire ELLs across subject areas and grade levels. Nearpod lessons leverage digital activities and research-based formative assessments to seamlessly connect instruction and evaluation to meet the unique learning needs of ELL students. The lessons are designed to teach rigorous Math, English Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies content through scaffolded instruction and strategies to support language acquisition.

2. Interactive lessons with clear learning goals

Within the design of each Nearpod EL interactive lesson, ELL students are at the center of teaching and learning. As the WestEd report demonstrates, interactive lessons created for ELL students should begin with clearly defined learning goals and objectives. Nearpod EL lessons are guided by these constructs and use learning progressions and success criteria as indicators of comprehension. By promoting a continual process of instruction, assessment, and feedback, lessons allow teachers to design their own instruction by immediately identifying gaps between current levels of learning and expected levels of learning.

With clear direction on learning goals, the Nearpod EL ready-to-teach lessons harness the power of interactive technologies and multimedia-rich content to highlight academic knowledge and academic language. As the lessons offer editable content, teachers further customize lessons according to individual needs and goals. This purposeful process of planning and building interactive lessons, and learning for ELL students becomes an enriched experience with great opportunity for growth.

3. Facilitates learning through authentic engagement

A best practice in instruction with ELL students facilitates learning through authentic engagement with interactive content and meaningful peer interactions and collaboration. Lessons within the Nearpod EL library balance direct instruction with experiential learning and continual practice in speaking and listening. Within a context of subject-matter learning, Nearpod lessons build on background knowledge by incorporating reference images and familiar multimedia, explicit references to key vocabulary, and metacognition and reflection. Through the gradual release of responsibility, students are empowered to reach for levels of independence with activities following an I do, we do, you do scaffolding of skill building.

Nearpod’s On the Fly feature lets teachers respond to teachable moments during instruction and encourage ELL students voice and choice within the lesson. Open-ended tasks allow for multiple points of entry, a practice described by WestEd as effective in revealing ELL students’ learning by demonstrating their understanding through varying modes of expression, including writing, speaking, drawing, and reading. With a range of interactive activities (such as Polls, Fill-in-the-Blanks, Quizzes, Draw It’s) and interactive content (including Nearpod Virtual Reality (VR) Field Trips, Nearpod 3D, interactive video, and audio responses), students are supported in all forms of learning.

ELL students participating in Nearpod EL lessons are not only part of the instruction process, but they become creators of their own learning by assessing their personal understanding and determining their particular readiness based on feedback and support embedded within each of the lessons.

4. Access real-time data to help guide instruction

Within an instructional program for English language learners, constant interpretation of evidence of student progress is needed to inform instruction. Nearpod EL provides teachers with real-time feedback and reporting based on student interactions and responses. This continuous feedback offers the status of students’ current learning and provides direction for moving students toward identified learning goals. As the lessons are designed to minimize irrelevant language and unnecessary information, teachers can easily pinpoint and evaluate the intended learning targets. Based on feedback obtained in these embedded checks for understanding, systematic support in the forms of modeling, prompting, and repetition can scaffold ELL students and move them toward content understanding. For both teachers and students, learning progressions within Nearpod EL’s lessons allow for immediate feedback for in-the-moment adjustments to help anchor and monitor skills throughout the process of teaching and learning.

Formative assessment is essential when it comes to better ELL student learning in both academic content and the development of academic language. The Nearpod EL curriculum was developed with this in mind and provides an interactive and engaging long-term solution for instruction.

Bring Nearpod EL to your school or district

Following the understanding that desired changes must start with dedicated teacher support, Nearpod EL training targets ELL teachers and their unique instructional needs. Demonstrating best practices in the use of Nearpod lessons for teaching, teachers participating in the Nearpod PD discover ways to use Nearpod EL for whole group instruction, independent practice, and enhanced learning opportunities. With a focus on “amplification” of learning and empowering ELL students in the classroom, Nearpod EL advances culturally responsive instruction and brings agency to all students in all classrooms.

References

Alvarez, L., Ananda, S., Walqui, A., Sato, E., & Rabinowitz, S. (2014). Focusing formative assessment on the needs of English language learners. San Francisco: WestEd.

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post Amplify instruction for English language learners with Nearpod EL appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Building digital literacy skills for students is important because it empowers them to thrive in an era of rapid technological advancement by safely and effectively utilizing technology. Digital literacy fosters global connectivity, enabling students to connect and collaborate responsibly online. Teaching these topics enhances their information literacy by equipping them to navigate the digital landscape, evaluate sources, and conduct effective online research. Proficiency in digital tools and platforms also opens up diverse career opportunities, which will prepare students for their future.

We’ve given kids across the country access to devices and digital technology without teaching them how to use them safely, responsibly, and effectively. The same incredible capacity of devices to make our lives easier and amplify our voices can also have pitfalls. With the click of a button, one mistake can be accidentally broadcast to your entire social circle and strangers all over the world in a matter of seconds. Your inability to create or understand a spreadsheet can be the difference between a job offer and a denial. We often get our news online, but one Stanford study demonstrated young people dramatically overestimated their ability to evaluate the credibility of information online.

What is digital literacy in education?

The American Library Association (ALA) defines digital literacy as “the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills.”

Teenage hubris is nothing new, but in the digital age, teenage mistakes stay with you. Digital literacy topics instill the principles of digital citizenship, ensuring that students practice ethical online behavior and navigate the internet safely and respectfully. It is our shared responsibility to develop a digital literacy curriculum that can teach them these skills. While digital citizenship skills are typically emphasized during Digital Citizenship Week, they are essential year-round. We recognize the challenges educators face in finding time to incorporate digital citizenship into their busy schedules. Fortunately, Nearpod offers a solution with ready-made, impactful lessons that you can easily integrate into your curriculum today to teach these important topics.

Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program

Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program provides educators with the essential tools and curriculum needed to confidently teach their students across all grade levels to use technology safely, ethically, and effectively. Teachers don’t need to be experts in digital citizenship, social and emotional learning, or college and career readiness to facilitate them. Partnered with Common Sense Education, the program contains engaging learning experiences by leveraging Nearpod’s features to make lessons engaging, interactive, collaborative, and easy for teachers to facilitate.

Digital literacy examples

• Digital Citizenship: How to safely, ethically, and effectively navigate the internet/devices
• Media literacy: How to read the news/social media with a critical lens, decipher fake news, manage your media diet, and evaluate the accuracy, perspective, credibility, and relevance of informational sources.
• Social Media: Encourage awareness and reflectiveness of the impact that students’ interaction with social media has and create a deeper understanding of how these platforms work.
• Technology Applications: How to navigate computers, learn tech skills applied to schools, and speak the language of technology
• Coding: Teach students of any age how to code and understand algorithms

The digital citizenship portion of the program is broken down into four series that address unique aspects and the importance of digital citizenship: Digital Citizenship, Media Literacy, Technology Applications, and Coding. Each series includes pre and post-assessments, behaviorally-driven objectives with respective activities to match, PBL Design challenges, social emotional learning, and digital skills that are connected to each topic.

If you don’t have access to Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program, you can still access some unlocked digital literacy resources and digital citizenship week lessons for free. To access the resources shared in this article, make sure to sign up for Nearpod for free!

Essential lessons and examples to build students’ digital literacy skills

Digital citizenship

• In this K-5 technology Draw It activity, students will explore what a digital citizen is using a Frayer model.
• In this Common Sense Education lesson on Digital Citizenship and Literacy for grade 4, students reflect on the characteristics that make someone an upstanding digital citizen. They also learn how to recognize what cyberbullying is.
• In this Common Sense Education lesson on Digital Citizenship for grade 11, students learn how any information they post online can help or hurt their future opportunities; in order to help them leverage technology safely, responsibly, and ethically.

Media literacy

• In these Nearpod Digital Citizenship and Literacy lessons for grades 6-8 and grades 9-12, students identify strategies for determining who creates information online. Students learn about credibility, conflict of interest, and native advertising.
• In this 6-12 technology Draw It activity, students review search results to identify a trustworthy link.

Social media

• In this video lesson from Common Sense Education for grades 9-12, students listen to teens reflect on how they curate their social media lives and think about the self they’re presenting on social media.
• In this current events Tik Tok Challenge lesson for grades 6-12, students will explore the potential impact of TikTok challenges in schools and communities.

Technology applications

• In this Nearpod Digital Citizenship and Literacy lesson, students identify healthy habits when using a computer. Students learn to model and apply good posture when using a computer. (Only available on The 21st Century Readiness Program)
• In this K-5 Technology Time to Climb activity, students practice their internet terminology using Nearpod’s interactive game quiz.

Coding

• In this STEM lesson partnered with Code Monkey, students will start to learn a programming language. Your students will define coding and computer programming.
• In this 25-30 minute Nearpod featuring Flocabulary topic spark, students are introduced to coding through a hip-hop video and Nearpod’s signature interactive features. This lesson features the Flocabulary video Coding.

Start teaching digital literacy curriculum with Nearpod

Start using these resources to teach your students digital literacy skills! The 21st Century Readiness Program takes abstract concepts and grounds them in real-world applications, making concepts less foreign and pushing students to see themselves in all topics. As we prepare young people for the future, it is our shared responsibility to make sure we are teaching students to be authentically digital and media literate. Nearpod’s 21st Century Readiness Program does just that!

New to Nearpod? Make sure you’re signed up to access these lessons and activities!

Teachers can sign up for free below to access and create interactive lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post Essential lessons and examples to build students’ digital literacy skills appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Social studies resources are among the most used in Nearpod, and our community of educators tells us they need more. But, rather than simply adding lessons and activities to the Nearpod Library, we set out to create something that genuinely supports the various social studies needs of our schools, teachers, and students.

Meet Nearpod Social Studies, our newest program that supports teaching and learning through engaging and rigorous instructional resources in various social studies subjects.

What should you look for in a K-12 social studies supplemental curriculum?

An effective supplemental social studies curriculum must have two key components. First, quality social studies instruction requires trusted, accurate, age-appropriate, and standards-aligned content. It should share stories and perspectives that history often overlooks, teach skills related to analytical and critical thinking, and, most importantly, make learning relevant so students can better connect and explore different aspects of their experiences.

Second, a social studies supplemental curriculum must provide active-learning opportunities. Avoiding passive learning techniques that don’t promote deep learning or foster motivation is difficult. Nearpod Social Studies provides opportunities for students to actively engage with the material, share their perspectives in class discussions, investigate the “why,” and show what they know through exercises that require higher-order thinking.

What is Nearpod Social Studies?

Nearpod Social Studies is a K-12 supplemental curricular program that helps teachers create immersive social studies experiences. With standards-aligned interactive lessons, videos, and activities built using the power of Nearpod, teachers make students a part of every instructional moment. Teachers can search, customize, and download resources beyond history essentials, covering subjects such as civics, geography, historical figures, and economics and financial literacy. Our team of experts and industry-recognized partners create, vet, and update every resource in the program, giving educators a trusted source to design and deliver their instruction.

4 Reasons your school needs Nearpod’s supplemental social studies curriculum

1. Give teachers a reliable source of content

Teachers and social studies departments commonly tell us that searching for social studies resources is exhausting. Many schools and districts rely on their teachers to decide which materials to use because they haven’t adopted a core curriculum or the one they have is very outdated. This is especially true in elementary grades, as an analysis from RAND Corp. highlights. Nearpod Social Studies provides a single source of reliable resources tied to standards to build consistent, high-quality instruction across classrooms, grades, and buildings. Teachers can easily incorporate effective social studies instructional models, tailor their instruction to the needs of their classrooms, and deliver an engaging experience.

2. Adopt a guided inquiry approach

Think back to your own time in grade school; were there any lessons or activities that were more memorable than others? We believe the pedagogical model plays an important role in sparking—and keeping—students’ interest in learning.

Nearpod Social Studies uses an inquiry-based approach to fully immerse students in the learning process and material. This framework asks students to:

• Connect: Tap into prior knowledge by sharing what they know in collaborative discussion, visiting landmarks using VR Field Trips, or anonymous responses 
• Contextualize: Represent learning in multiple ways using dynamic media and activities
• Investigate: Analyze secondary sources such as articles or videos
• Integrate: Apply new knowledge by annotating primary sources or responding to higher-order thinking questions. 
• Evaluate: Draw conclusions and make connections

Strategically combining this framework with the powerful features in Nearpod helps teachers create immersive learning experiences that engage critical-thinking skills. Students analyze primary sources, gather real-world context, gain perspective, participate without feeling pressured to speak, and more—making lessons truly memorable.

3. Enhance civics instruction

The latest NAEP score results show 31 percent of eighth graders performed below NAEP Basic in civics, representing a 3-percentage increase from 2018, and average scores decreased by two percentage points. Although we can’t determine an exact cause, we haven’t done enough to increase proficiency since 1998. The Nearpod team and our partner, iCivics, aim to address this gap by giving teachers access to high-quality civics resources.

Nearpod Social Studies includes hundreds of iCivics lessons enhanced by the Nearpod team by strategically applying formative assessments and media features like Quizzes, Open-Ended Questions, Interactive Videos, and Collaborate Boards. Teachers get access to high-quality civics lessons and activities that can be delivered to students with a click of a button.

In addition, Nearpod Social Studies includes iCivic’s K-5 Private i History Detectives curriculum. These standards-aligned interactive lessons lead students through inquiry-based mysteries to explore historical investigations that strengthen content knowledge and critical thinking skills. Students analyze primary and secondary resources, practice vocabulary, and apply inquiry skills to solving problems.

4. Support your teachers

Without question, teachers are motivated to do their best to educate their students. But, the Voices from the Classroom 2023 survey shows an overwhelming amount of teachers feel they have too many responsibilities to be effective. The survey also tells us how teachers feel about instruction, such as how they:

• Value measuring learning but don’t have aligned formative assessments
• Need better curricular materials to provide effective instruction
• Want professional training to implement their resources

Teachers who had positive views of their curriculum and assessment tools were more likely to recommend the teaching profession than those with negative views, indicating the profound effect high-quality instructional tools and resources have not just on our students but on the outlook of our teachers.

Everything we do at Nearpod is to support teachers. And Nearpod Social Studies caters to their social studies instructional needs—whether it’s finding the perfect lesson within minutes of searching, getting real-time insights into student learning, or having the entire class engaged and excited about learning.

Bring Nearpod Social Studies to your school

Every social studies classroom is different; perhaps you’re looking to strengthen your own curriculum or give teachers more access to resources. Nearpod Social Studies provides exciting, rigorous, and purposefully designed resources to help students learn about their past, present, and future in relevant and impactful ways.

Learn more about our program and have a Nearpod representative contact you for a demonstration.

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post 4 Benefits of Nearpod’s Supplemental Social Studies Curriculum appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Find the right supplemental resource for your instructional need

Full lesson experience

We know that half the battle in schools right now is finding top-quality resources for teaching and evaluating supplemental programs effectively. Resources need to be flexible enough for teachers to make their own, while still remaining rigorous, engaging, and differentiated to meet the needs of all students in their class. Nearpod Math allows teachers to support their instruction with a standards-based lesson, digitized in a ready-to-teach, problem-based format that keeps students at the forefront of instruction. These lessons provide warm-ups to get students thinking about the standard and topic of the day, then lead to exploration and practice through interactive activities and collaboration with classmates.

Always on the hunt for more

We also know that core instruction may not always be enough to meet the needs of all learners. Teachers likely need more for any given topic, and we’ve got them covered. Find opportunities to practice, reteach, and extend lessons, as well as videos and activities specifically aligned to the standard or topic within you’re working on. These supporting resources allow teachers to highlight a key concept by using a mini-lesson for small groups, showing a short video, or assigning additional practice opportunities in the form of a Time to Climb, Matching Pairs, Drag & Drop, Draw It, or one of our new virtual math manipulatives activities. All of these resources are conveniently organized in one place to help teachers maximize their limited time available to plan instruction.

Confidence-boosting math experiences engage every learner

The role model approach: Math is for me!

Too often, we find students unable to relate to the math classroom. Nearpod Math provides access to role models throughout the offering that look and think like typical math students across the nation. We built a character crew that grows and learns with the students across their K-8 math instruction journey. Through our Oh Now I Get It video series, these relatable characters demonstrate common misconceptions that may occur in the math classroom to clarify their understanding. These characters also walk students through relevant and authentic real-world connections through our Math in Action video series. We are excited for Sammy, Jaden, Willow, and all of their classmates to boost math experiences and engage every learner.

Building conceptual understanding

Our new virtual math manipulatives provide students with a scaffold to solve problems using Color Tiles, Base 10 Blocks, Algebra Tiles, and Fraction Tiles. Teachers are able to use our pre-made activities or make one on the spot to address a specific problem and drive conceptual understanding for students who may need additional support. Teachers can see the student solving in real-time, share student work in real-time, and allow individuals to model their thinking with the whole class. This helps peers become math role models for one another and demonstrate their understanding.

Reducing pressure and anxiety amplifies student voice

With the power of Nearpod, teachers truly have the ability to amplify student voice and hear from every student on every question. This reduces anxiety and allows students to practice without fear or judgment of being wrong. We intentionally integrated opportunities for student collaboration through interactive activities and discussions. With our Live to Student-Paced feature, teachers can release students to complete math activities at their own pace and monitor their progress in real-time. This removes the pressure that the class is waiting for “me” to finish while supporting the students who are able to move swiftly through more practice problems. Teachers decide what’s next because they know their students best.

Teachers drive the path

Flexibility is key when using supplemental resources. With Nearpod Math, teachers get access to high-quality resources that can be customized to meet their unique classroom needs. Not only can teachers edit, remove, or add to the existing Nearpod resources, but they also can create or upload their own to further support small groups, whole-class, reteaching, or enrichment opportunities!

Confident next steps after every turn 

Teaching math is complicated. Nearpod assists teachers in managing classroom behavior by facilitating engaging lessons while supporting teachers in addressing misconceptions before they start. Nearpod Math experiences are rich with real-time student insights, a live teacher dashboard, exclusive content, and on-the-fly instructional tools such as live annotation so teachers can intervene at the moment. Forget the days of teachers reviewing 150+ exit slips a day to adapt tomorrow’s instruction and start seeing where kids are so you can make adjustments in the moment.

Boost student confidence with Nearpod Math

Powered by Nearpod Premium Plus, Nearpod Math is available to schools and districts seeking to solve the “experience gap” found in other supplemental math programs. The program helps your teachers bring 21st-century skills to impact student learning each and every day.  Want to take a deeper look into the features that support boosting student confidence in math?

Pamela Villalba

Pamela Villalba is a Senior Curriculum Manager at Nearpod. She previously served as the Director of Secondary Curriculum and Instruction at a large urban school district in Central Florida where she led a team of content experts to support over 60 middle and high schools in the areas of professional development, school support, and curriculum within all core subjects. Pamela is currently in charge of supporting Nearpod in creating an innovative offering to support Math teachers across the nation.

The post 6 reasons your school’s math instruction needs Nearpod Math appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Adopting supplemental math curriculum materials is one of the most impactful decisions administrators, and curriculum coordinators make. Instructional materials influence student engagement, assessment practices, lesson delivery methods, and teachers’ underlying pedagogical practices and efficacy.

Using the five steps and evaluation rubric below, administrators can thoughtfully evaluate supplemental curriculum programs and ultimately invest in the resource that best supports both teaching and learning.

5 Steps to Evaluating Supplemental Math Curriculum Programs

Step 1: Rank evaluation criteria

Amongst a landscape of hundreds of supplemental math teaching resources, the only way to carve the path forward is to get clear on what is important to your teachers and best for your students from the start. Create a team of decision-makers representing diverse and well-balanced perspectives, including administrators, teachers, and instructional coaches. The evaluation team should rank the following categories from most to least important: program organization, content/pedagogy, reporting, lesson delivery, and training/support. 

If it is tough, and it may be, ask tough questions:  

• Is it more important that teachers can navigate through the program’s organizational structure with ease or that there are professional development and teacher support resources? 
• Are the standards alignment and mathematics pedagogy more critical than the program’s assessment capacity? 
• Do teachers most value a program that assists with engaging lesson delivery and differentiation? 

Not all categories of evaluation criteria will hold equal weight for your district, so it is important that team members discuss and establish shared priorities from the onset of curriculum evaluation. 

Step 2: Define what teachers and students need

To get a clear picture of the “best fit” supplemental math curriculum resource, the evaluation team should identify specific “look-fors” to define observable targets and indicators that embody and align with district priorities. The more specific the “look-fors”, the easier it will be to gauge how potential supplemental math programs measure up. We advise developing 3-6 “look-fors” for each evaluation criteria category outlined in step one. No “look for” is more or less correct or incorrect. They depend on the many different factors that comprise your district.

Program’s organization in terms of a supplemental curriculum program’s organization, what are the “look-fors” that best capture your teachers’ priorities?

• Is the content logically organized so they can easily search and access supplemental resources? 
• Do teachers give precedence to programs that incorporate accessibility for English Language Learners and students with disabilities? 

Even if this category ranks low on your list of priorities from step one, it is still important to collaboratively develop these indicators as it may be the differentiating factor between two contending supplemental programs.

Program’s organization

Regarding a supplemental math curriculum program’s organization, what are the “look-fors” that best capture your teachers’ priorities?

• Is the content logically organized so they can easily search and access supplemental resources?
• Do teachers give precedence to programs that incorporate accessibility for English Language Learners and students with disabilities?

Even if this category ranks low on your list of priorities from step one, it is still important to collaboratively develop these indicators as it may be the differentiating factor between two contending supplemental programs.

Content and Pedagogical Offerings

What priorities concern a potential supplemental curriculum resource’s content and pedagogical offerings? This category is often a critical component of math educators. They want to ensure that supplemental resources align with their standards, personal mathematical teaching philosophies, and district initiatives around mathematics education. What “look fors” best describes teachers’ pedagogical priorities in a supplemental resource?

• Does the resource build conceptual understanding and procedural fluency, emphasizing strengthening students’ mathematical habits of mind?
• Are there real-world connections and explicit problem-solving instruction?
• To address the unfinished learning caused by the pandemic, does the resource provide plentiful lessons and activities designed for differentiation at all student readiness levels?

Reporting

With data-driven instruction continuing to inform many districts’ strategic plans, it is critical to examine how potential supplemental curriculum resources can assist teachers and administrators with reporting. The “look fors” in this category can depend on the core curriculum that has already been adopted, the age range of students, district grading initiatives, and many more variables. 

• Does the resource include adequate opportunities to assess and report student progress in real-time and after a lesson?
• Are there built-in opportunities for teachers to gather information to support meaningful differentiation?
• Can administrators view and actively use data?

The team should define indicators that paint the “ideal” picture, being cautious not to undermine their vision during this evaluation phase.

Lesson Delivery

A potentially differentiating factor for supplemental math curriculum adoption centers around a program’s lesson delivery methodology. This component will arguably most directly impact teachers on a day-to-day basis. It is important to make teachers’ voices predominate in these “look fors.” 

• Is it critical that your supplemental resource has the ability to deliver synchronous and asynchronous lessons seamlessly? 
• Is it a priority that the program offer resources suited for various instructional formats, including whole and small group instruction, independent practice, and collaborative group work? 
• Do teachers value multimedia, including videos, games, songs, math manipulatives, etc.?

Hone in on what most closely addresses both teacher and student needs in your district.

To develop “look fors” in step two, use our evaluation checklist and rubric. This resource was specifically made for supplemental math curriculum adoption but can be used as a starting point or template for other subject areas. The evaluation checklist and rubric can be used throughout evaluating supplemental curriculum programs by providing the clarity needed to support meaningful evaluation, dialogue, and analysis.

Step 3: Implement a strategic evaluation

The real test of the quality of instructional materials is the learning they support in the classroom. Thus, it is recommended that curricular resources be evaluated by teachers when possible. Evaluation processes should be clearly outlined for all stakeholders.  It is recommended that the process, on the whole, be developed and shared with participating teachers and staff in detail. Developing a folder on Google Drive or a HyperDoc to house information on the evaluation process will help teachers feel more comfortable and prepared.

To get started, decide how the curricular resource will be introduced; ideally, targeted training sessions will be held before and during the evaluation. Next, you will need to set the evaluation duration and expectations for how often teachers should use the tool during the evaluation. If your district has support staff such as instructional coaches, it is a good idea that they hold at least one observation of the teacher implementing the curricular program.

We recommend evaluating teachers to complete our evaluation checklist and rubric to reflect uniformly on the program’s strengths and weaknesses.  By ranking each criterion using numerical indicators and measuring the resource’s performance across many categories, decision-makers can have meaningful dialogue. The final aspect to consider is how to solicit student input. We find student input is invaluable in evaluating curriculum programs. In addition to the teacher evaluation tool,  you should also develop a way by which students can share their thoughts. 

Step 4: Analyze evaluation results

During the analysis phase, the decision-making team and evaluating teachers should discuss the supplemental curriculum resource’s affordances and limitations. The strength of using a checklist and rubric is that it provides qualitative analysis of different criteria and promotes guided discussion around critical evaluation categories. Ultimately, the decision-makers and administrators can gather each teacher’s rubric, compile the data in a central location, and, using student input and instructional coach observations, make a collective decision on whether to adopt the supplemental curriculum resource. 

Step 5: Refine implementation

If the evaluation went well and your team decided to adopt the curriculum, your job is not quite over! Teachers implementing the supplemental math curriculum program will need additional training and opportunities to check in with their peers. We recommend scheduling at least one additional training and/or Q&A session and meetings where teachers can share their tips/tricks with one another and reflect on implementation. If your district has instructional coaches, we recommend that these staff members receive additional professional learning to provide the expertise and support needed to teachers who may benefit from more personalized assistance with implementation.

It is a good practice to re-evaluate supplemental curriculum programs regularly. Has the supplemental program led to improved student engagement? Has adoption helped teachers with instructional planning? Have student mathematics scores changed since implementation? What is the district implementation rate, and how can administrators work with coaches to ensure more fidelity? Re-evaluating the curriculum is not just about determining whether this curriculum continues to align with district needs. It is also about discovering if you can provide additional support to teachers to ensure the curriculum is implemented with fidelity. 

The importance of implementation

What if your team did not implement the supplemental program after the evaluation? This is possible if the feedback from the evaluation was predominantly negative and/or it was discovered that the supplemental math program had unworkable deviations from district expectations. Suppose teacher evaluation in step four was done with consistency. In that case, the next steps will involve getting clear on the pain points students and teachers experienced with the supplemental curriculum program and identifying additional supplemental programs to evaluate that address these pain points.

Suppose your team of decision-makers believes that the negative feedback is not substantial enough to move to another potential program. In that case, the next steps might include more professional development around the resource and subsequent rounds of evaluation. Either way, it is important not to get down if the feedback is less than ideal. Rather, it is a unique opportunity to continue to find ways to support your teachers best.

Find a math curriculum that’s right for your school

Adopting supplemental math curriculum resources is an impactful decision for administrators, teachers, and students. The process should be carefully planned from start to finish. You can make an informed, measured decision by giving teachers and students a voice and ensuring diversity of perspective on your decision-making team. Using our evaluation checklist and rubric is a great way to get a “head start” and ensure curriculum evaluation and adoption are data-driven and consistent. Charter your path forward with a simple goal: to help your teachers take on the most important job in the world.

Interested in reading more about this topic? Learn about Nearpod Math, a supplemental K-8 math program that provides the content, tools, and organization teachers need to create daily, engaging math learning experiences that maximize outcomes for all learners. Featuring:

• 5,000+ new standards-aligned lessons, videos, and practice activities
• Exclusive virtual manipulatives
• Enhanced course navigation and reporting

References:

[1] https://www.nctm.org/News-and-Calendar/Messages-from-the-President/Archive/Diane-Briars/Curriculum-Materials-Matter_-Evaluating-the-Evaluation-Process/

[2] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260392089_How_to_evaluate_the_quality_of_digital_learning_resources

[3]  https://storage.googleapis.com/edreports-206618.appspot.com/resources/8270005/files/k-8-math-rubric-082019-v1.pdf

[4] https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oese/sst/evaluationmatters.pdf]

Brittany Granquist

Brittany is a former math educator who brings her love of mathematics education and passion for instructional technology to her role as a Nearpod Math product specialist.

The post 5 Steps to Evaluating Supplemental Math Curriculum Programs appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

After chatting with Nearpod superstars, we’ve gathered 6 ways schools and districts are maximizing their Nearpod experience with School Library.

1. Organize by subject

2. Organize by grade level

3. Organize by PLC teams

4. Organize by EL Elementary and EL Secondary

5. Organize by school

6. Organize by events

The ideas are endless! School library allows educators to collaborate more effectively, share best practices and resources and it helps school leaders amplify the impact of their teacher’s lessons. So, what are you waiting for?

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post Organizing your school library: 6 ideas to implement today appeared first on Nearpod Blog.

Aligned with state and district initiatives, the suite of more than 130+ ready-to-run lessons equips teachers with the necessary resources to create classrooms filled with teamwork, empathy, self-advocacy, character education, mindfulness and more

Nearpod, today launches its ready-to-run Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) supplemental curriculum to support positive, safe and empowering learning environments. Built from the leading framework by the Collaborative for Academic, Social and Emotional Learning (CASEL) and developed in partnership with Common Sense Education, the new curriculum is a K-12 solution to facilitate students’ SEL competencies, integrate character education and create meaningful learning experiences for students’ lives in and beyond school.

New research reveals how critical SEL skills are to a child’s development and success. According to a ‘Ready to Lead’ CASEL report, students who receive high-quality SEL instruction achieve, on average, 11 percentile points higher on achievement scores than students who did not receive SEL instruction. Additionally, findings from a survey of 192 schools, 26 districts, and over 100,000 students revealed that SEL skills such as self-management and self-efficacy impact the success of student course outcomes. Developing SEL skills is crucial for life beyond school as well, as research from the Kennedy School showed that occupations that are social skill-intensive grew nearly 12 percentage points over a 22 year period and saw higher wages than jobs that didn’t require a high level of social skills.

With this launch, schools and districts can increase the integration of SEL skills into core classroom learning. Nearpod understands that SEL competencies like teamwork and empathy are inextricable from all aspects of a student’s life, and these competencies are necessary for them to flourish in the personal and professional environments that lie ahead of them. The new supplemental curriculum provides flexible, intentional opportunities for direct instruction in SEL skills.

An engaged classroom starts with an empowered teacher – @jenniekristoff pic.twitter.com/BCqJtmAj5M

— Amber Calderon (@PeppyZestyTeach) February 25, 2019

“We know that an engaged classroom starts with an empowered teacher,” said Jennie Kristoffersen, Chief Academic Officer of Nearpod. “We’re always listening to our insightful community of educators and understand their need to embed SEL instruction into any setting so all students can build positive, safe learning environments. We want to empower our teachers with content from best-in-field partners, like Common Sense Education, while supporting districts to mobilize on social and emotional learning requirements and initiatives.”

The content covers a wide range of SEL topics to build empathy and emotional intelligence for all students, including:

• SEL Competencies features lessons that include direct instruction in and practice with self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision making.
• SEL in Digital Life, created in partnership with Common Sense Education, helps students apply SEL skills to their online lives, promoting integrity, self-control, humility, and courage.
• Growth Mindset Practices develops crucial skills such as responsible risk-taking, metacognition, thinking flexibly and persistence.
• Lifelong Learning Strategies focuses on goal setting, balancing obligations, time management and critical thinking.
• SEL Moments encourage teachers to incorporate social and emotional learning into their daily or weekly routines, with mini-activities that can be a part of any lesson.

Built to address teacher pain points without adding to their workload, the new SEL program features over 130 ready-to-run lessons, with plans to continue expanding the supplemental library for back-school with more opportunities for direct instruction in and integration of SEL competencies. Nearpod developed these lessons to be flexible and easily integrated into existing teacher routines and school schedules.

Learning Labs

To further build students’ SEL skills, Nearpod offers expert-derived, scalable Learning Labs to help teachers reach every student. Districts can prepare their entire staff to traverse the complexities of this content set, with training to help teachers implement restorative practices, teach empathy, name and navigate emotions and more. Mindful implementation is critical to the successful deployment of sensitive content such as SEL, and these lessons showcase how teachers can weave SEL into every lesson to create a lasting effect in their classrooms and beyond.

Districts can utilize Title IV funding to support a well-rounded education with Nearpod’s SEL curricula. Access free sample lessons and explore the new program here.

Explore SEL

Nearpod Team

Nearpod’s award-winning platform is used by thousands of schools around the globe, transforming classroom engagement.

nearpod.com/

The post Nearpod Launches Social Emotional Learning Curriculum appeared first on Nearpod Blog.