Classroom Essentials - Pear Deck

Each and every lesson in my classroom had a Google Slides presentation. This included my "Do Now" activity, agenda, objectives, directions for activities etc. even if I wasn't going to be doing any lecturing that day. 

I would often times have students record their thoughts on a Google Doc or in a notebook to checks for understanding throughout the lesson. Directions like "Take 2-3 minutes to discuss the following question" were followed up by pair shares to try to ensure every student was participating. Sometimes I'd use a Polleverywhere or Socrative question to try and collect some data.

Enter Pear Deck. Pear Deck is an amazing tool that combines presentation with real-time assessment. Students log in with their GAFE accounts and the teacher controls the pace. Teachers share their interactive lessons and students respond to “checks for understanding” through any device. They can track student results on an individual and group basis. Feedback is instantaneous and can inform instruction, highlighting if a topic needs to be covered again. 

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Best logo ever or best logo ever?

There are many question types, including your basic text and multiple choice questions all the way up to my favorite, a "drawing" question. Students can mark up text or draw the route taken by a famous explorer around the world. 

The ability to "focus" the students on a particular slide, including a website, is an amazing classroom management tool, too. 

Pear Deck lives in the cloud and is deeply integrated with Google Apps for Education, so you spend less time administering and more time engaging your learners! 

Watch the video below to learn how Pear Deck works and then check it out by clicking on the logo above.