3 Efficient ways to lesson plan for back to school with Nearpod
Back to school season is upon us! It’s time to plan lessons, revise, and focus on back to school preparations. Whether you’re new to Nearpod or a veteran user, don’t miss these tips to help you prepare back to school lesson plans!
New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.
3 Efficient ways to lesson plan for back to school with Nearpod
1. Revisit and revise previous Nearpod lessons
You’ve already created amazing Nearpod lessons, now is the time to revisit and revise these lesson plans for the new school year! Access your library and choose a lesson to view. Hover over the lesson tile and select “Edit” to update your lesson. From this screen, you can easily reorder or delete slides in your lesson to meet the needs of your learners.
Don’t forget to embed activities and content into your existing lessons to enhance your content! My students love the Virtual Reality, 3D images, Draw It, and Time to Climb activities on Nearpod. When students first experience Nearpod activities, they’re immediately happy to see the lesson on their individual screens and love that they don’t have to strain to see the board at the front of the classroom.
2. Find premade standards-aligned content
As teachers, we put our creative, innovative minds to work on a daily basis to provide our students with the best possible education. That’s just who we are! The existing lessons in Nearpod’s library provide teachers with amazing, premade activities that are sure to fit the needs of your students. To access Nearpod’s lesson library, log in to your account and select “Nearpod Library” on the left of your screen. On the next screen, you’ll be able to filter your search by activity type, content area, and grade level. Watch this tutorial to learn how to search and filter through lessons in the library.
As you look ahead at the standards you’ll address and begin lesson planning, be sure to take advantage of the standards search feature in the Nearpod library. After you’ve added the lesson to your library, you’ll be able to quickly rearrange activities and add content and resources to best fit the needs of your students. You can even adjust the lesson sequencing of your own existing lessons or pre-made Nearpod ones. Make sure to preview the lesson and look over the learning objectives. Don’t forget to take advantage of the growing number of lessons from Nearpod’s dozens of well-known partners, including ABC Mouse, History, Khan Academy, PBS, TED-Ed, and more! Teachers can customize these lessons, too! Launch a lesson for whole group instruction using Live Participation, or use Student-Paced mode for small groups and independent work.
3. Launch a quick Nearpod activity
Have you tried launching a Nearpod activity without a lesson? If not, you’ll definitely want to add this to your back-to-school prep list!
From your lesson library, select the “Quick Launch” icon in the top right corner of your screen. Launch an activity timer, Open-Ended Question, or Collaborate Board that your students will join with a code, just as they would join a traditional Nearpod lesson. In addition to Quick Launch options, teachers can also launch a quick activity by selecting “Create” and selecting the “Activity” option from the dropdown menu. Also, don’t forget to use the search feature in the Nearpod library to find an activity to fit the standard you’re teaching. Explore our premade classroom culture-building activities that you can easily embed into your lesson plans, such as Matching Pairs and Collaborate Board. Use these lessons and school activities as an opportunity to build classroom community.
Start using these tips to lesson plan for back to school
It’s time to get excited for back-to-school planning! By using Nearpod’s existing lessons, Nearpodizing content you’ve already created, and quickly launching fun and effective school activities, back-to-school lesson preparation is sure to be an enjoyable experience!
New to Nearpod? Teachers can sign up for free below to access these resources, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. Administrators can schedule a call with an expert to unlock the full power of Nearpod for schools and districts.
Bethany Petty is a mommy, wife, award-winning Social Studies teacher, Educational Technology professor, blogger, published author, runner, & reader! She loves using educational technology to enhance the learning environment, increase student engagement, & make learning memorable for her students!
