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If you are reading this, you have most likely been enticed to use Nearpod. Why wouldn\u2019t you? It\u2019s an Ed Tech tool that allows you to compile everything<\/em> you do as a teacher (engagement activities, web quest, video presentation, <\/span>formative assessment<\/span><\/a>, etc.) all into one place and allows you to track student data in real time. So long multi-tab teaching! When I first started using Nearpod I thought it was near perfect. As time has passed, I\u2019ve been amazed, again and again, with every <\/span>new feature and update<\/span><\/a> that the Nearpod team creates. <\/span><\/p>\n The Collaborate<\/a> feature is one of those features that increasingly wows me with every update. It has become one of the features I use the most. I have even found two very unique uses for this feature: incorporating \u201cstudent voice\u201d into my classroom and using it as a way to initiate a classroom debate.<\/span><\/p>\n Before I explain <\/span>how<\/span><\/i> I used the Collaborate Board to guide a classroom debate, let me take a detour through \u201cstudent voice.\u201d Yes, \u201cstudent voice\u201d is another educational buzzword you may have heard floating around in the education space, though, it has become increasingly popular in the past year.<\/span><\/p>\n You may be saying to yourself, \u201cWhat is student voice? Why is it important? And what does it have to do with Nearpod\u2019s Collaborate feature?\u201d All are very valid questions and I\u2019ll be answering them all. <\/span><\/p>\n According to <\/span>eduglossary.org<\/span><\/a> student voice is defined as, \u201c….<\/span>the values, opinions, beliefs, perspectives, and cultural backgrounds of individual students and groups of students in a school, and to instructional approaches and techniques that are based on student choices, interests, passions, and ambitions.\u201d Science teacher Bill Palmer had this to say about student voice in his article for <\/span>edutopia.org<\/span><\/a>, \u201c<\/span>The term \u2018Student Voice\u2019 describes how students give their input to what happens within the school and classroom.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Student voice is allowing students a say in the decision-making process that impacts their education.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Student voice is important because it allows students the opportunity to be stakeholders in their education. It can increase student engagement in the school community and within the classroom. Student voice also allows students to hone valuable leadership skills they will need as they embark on college and careers. In an ideal world, students would work hand-in-hand with teachers and administrators on leadership teams helping to guide organizational, curricular, and classroom decisions. We don\u2019t live in an ideal world and getting there takes baby steps. The baby step I took was to allow students a voice in choosing their debate topic during the Civil Right and Liberties unit in my AP Government and Politics class.<\/span><\/p>\n Before Nearpod, I would choose the debate topic for the students. This would usually focus on a Landmark Supreme Court case that was decided forty or fifty years ago. Once the topic was assigned, I would instruct my students on logistics to complete a <\/span>Socratic seminar<\/span><\/a> around the assigned case. Students would do the work, but when it came to the day of the debate\/seminar it felt as if my students were going through the motions. I decided the debate\/seminar was perfect opportunity to bring student voice into my classroom. <\/span><\/p>\n Student voice is very much about student choice and Nearpod\u2019s Collaborate feature provides a simple and powerful way for students to have that choice through the use of like\/heart button. This is within the Collaborate feature that I have come to love. See the example below.<\/span> I decided to use the \u201cliking\u201d feature as a way of giving my students the power to choose their debate topic. Below are the steps I took with my students just in case you would like to recreate something similar in your classroom.<\/span><\/p>\n Here is an example of one class\u2019 board with student names removed to respect their privacy.<\/span><\/p>\n The process of searching for the articles, posting them, and having students read them, before voting, was time-consuming, but the outcome was well worth it. Students were completely engaged in the discovery and reading process. When it came to voting for the best article on the Collaborate board, they campaigned for theirs and responded with delight as they saw the number of hearts increase. Once each class was done voting, I was rewarded for allowing them to choose.<\/span><\/p>\n By using the Collaborate feature in this way, I ended up with debates about whether or not it should be legal to \u201cflip off\u201d police officers, if bakeries should be forced to bake cakes for same sex weddings if the owners are christian and don\u2019t agree with same sex marriage, if lawmakers have the right to ban their constituents from their public candidate Facebook pages, and whether or not students should be forced to get permits and stand in \u201cfree speech zones\u201d on college campuses just to handout political pamphlets and other ephemera. <\/span><\/p>\n I ended up with richer debates that had taken place in previous years. Students were engaged and impassioned by the topics <\/span>they<\/span><\/i> had chosen. They were no longer rehashing a historical event they had already learned about half a dozen times. They were reading about and researching real-world applications of the content they had been learning and developing arguments to defend positions. All of this because of allowing a bit of student voice and using Nearpod\u2019s Collaborate feature.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Student voice is very much about student choice and Nearpod\u2019s Collaborate feature provides a simple and powerful way for students to do that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":5419,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[888,901],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-implementing-nearpod","category-tools-and-features"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat is Collaborate?<\/b><\/h2>\n
Why is it important?<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/div>What does #StudentVoice have to do with Nearpod's Collaborate feature?<\/span>Click To Tweet<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/a>\n What does Student Voice have to do with Nearpod\u2019s Collaborate Feature?<\/b><\/h2>\n
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