 Hello I'm Stevie Barnes and today we will be exploring engaging tech tools to help you boost creativity and spark discussion in your classroom. I've created a choice board for teachers. This amazing resource will help take your planning to the next level. Before we get started don't forget to subscribe and hit that bell to enable notifications for our channel by clicking our logo during the video. Also leave us a comment or check out our related videos by clicking the pop-up cards in the upper right corner. By the end of the video I want to equip you with the knowledge to incorporate Mentimeter, Padlet, Speedrite, Kagan, Autodraw and Nearpod in your classroom as engaging lesson hooks and closures. I also want to highlight aspects of the Core 5 in each tool so that you feel empowered to create a personalized learning experience for all your students. First I want to emphasize the power of purposeful lesson hooks and closures. Lesson hooks grab students attention and create eagerness to find out more. Lesson closures help students make meaning out of their learning and provide teachers with important student data. Don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to take your lesson plans to the next level. First let's take a look at Mentimeter. A few of my top recommendations when using this tool are to ask an open-ended question, create a student word cloud, take a poll or ask a multiple choice question. After creating an account simply click New Presentation, label your presentation name, choose the type of engagement you'd like to produce. For this example I'm going to show you an open-ended question. Write your content or your question. You can add an image and you can choose how you would like your results to be laid out. And last you can customize the look of your presentation. In a moment's time you've created an engaging hook or closure that your students will love. Not to mention Mentimeter ensures student ownership by requiring active participation, generates a variety of thinking and responses and last but not least is an emerging piece of EdTech. Next we'll discuss Padlet. This handy virtual bulletin board should not be forgotten. When incorporating Padlet in your lesson I recommend using it as an exit ticket, a space to collect prior knowledge or a space to collaboratively post and respond with peers. After creating an account you must choose the type of wall or background you would like to use. From there it's as easy as editing your title and description, updating your wall's appearance and sharing a link with students. Padlet easily provides students with a space to reflect. Writing and reading a variety of thoughts helps foster higher order thinking skills. Additionally students honor the viewpoints from their peers and receive individualized feedback from teachers. Following Padlet we will dive into speed write. This web tool is referred to as the most dangerous writing app. If your students stop typing all progress will be lost. I recommend having students complete a quick write or a timed reflection. When students enter the site you can clarify the task by specifying the time limit you've set or the number of words you'd like them to write. You can have students complete a computer-generated prompt by clicking generate a prompt or you can have a teacher made prompt written on the board and ask students to click start writing without a prompt. At the top of the screen each student will see a progress bar if they stop typing for too long. All of their work will be erased. This tool encourages students to get their thoughts written down. Every student is responsible for their reflection. Thinking quickly encourages creativity and higher order thinking. Furthermore this emerging piece of ed tech creates a personalized learning experience for every student in your classroom. Next up on our teacher choice board we have what I call quick cake-in. When I say that I mean quick so easy anybody can do it collaborative structures for your classroom. Although there are so many items you could add to this list the three that I'm going to suggest are stand-up hand-up pair up timed pair share and round robin. Each of these strategies get students talking with their peers about their learning. Collaboration equals engagement. Using cake-in in your classroom helps ensure positive classroom culture, helps students use higher order thinking skills, helps students practice real-life collaboration, provides opportunities for conferencing and ensures that there is a balance of online and offline learning taking place. After cake-in next up on our choice board is Autodraw. Autodraw is an online drawing tool that employs artificial intelligence to transform student sketches into conventional icons. To incorporate this tool as a lesson hook or closure I recommend having students complete a time draw, create an infographic or concept map, or create sketch notes. Simply give your students the Autodraw link with the creative prompt of your choice. From there student creativity takes charge. For example, students could explore external and internal character traits in ELA, draw a word problem from math, practice identifying and drawing vocabulary for science, or create a concept map of a lesson learned in social studies. Autodraw provides students with choice and the ability to create, make mistakes and have fun with their learning. It provides you qualitative data and it's a fun different way to start or end your lesson. Last but not least we're going to discuss Nearpod. Nearpod is an up-and-coming tool that is designed to make every lesson engaging and interactive. To take advantage of a few of its best features I recommend creating an interactive video, creating a matching pairs activity, a multiple choice activity, or having students interact by drawing, writing and uploading. After logging in with your Google account click create and choose whether you'd like to start with a lesson, video or activity. Teachers are given a fully equipped tool belt to make sure your students are interested in what they're learning and having fun. Take a look at the options you have for providing content and don't forget to take advantage of these amazing activities included within the app. Nearpod is a wonderful tool to encourage students to reflect on their learning. The platform allows students to explore and use higher-order thinking skills. Thank you for joining me today. I hope you feel inspired to boost creativity and spark discussion in your classroom. Make a difference, one lesson at a time. Thanks so much for watching. 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