Teaching in 2020 was like brushing your teeth while eating Oreos. It was like shoveling snow while it’s still snowing. Or maybe it was like being a chameleon stuck inside a bag of skittles. But educators are resilient and before we threw up our hands and said that it’s “forget this o’clock,” we tapered down for the world’s largest PD event. We became familiar with websites and apps that we had never heard of. We quickly realized the importance of the “mute” button, and that most of our “staff meetings” really could be sent out in an email. But, now that we’ve had almost a year of this under our belt, we can confidently say that some apps have proven to be essential throughout remote learning and our gradual return back into the classroom. So, without further-ado, these are our top five (FREE) most commonly used apps of 2020. These apps are compatible on any device. Click on any subheading to learn more about the app and how we have been using it in our classrooms.

5. Gimkit (Gamification in the Classroom)

4. Classkick (Instant Feedback / Monitoring)

3. Nearpod (Classroom Management / Content Delivery)

2. Seesaw (Student Portfolios / Where Everything “Lives”)

1. Flipgrid (Student Creation / Social Learning)

5. Gimkit

Gamification in the classroom
Link 👉 http://www.gimkit.com

Gimkit is a live quiz learning platform where students answer questions and can earn “money” for power-ups. It was developed by a high school student who built a game that he wanted to play in class. The free version allows educators to create and edit content as much as they need. However, games can only be hosted with 5 players or fewer and new assignments cannot be created while on Gimkit Basic. We highly recommend upgrading!

How To Use it in the Classroom:

Have your students develop their own questions in the “Collab” mode. Then launch the kit and see how they perform!
Math fluency review
Use Gimkit as a way for students to go back into a text and find the answers to the questions

TIP: The more questions that you have in each “kit,” the better!

4. Classkick

Instant Feedback and Monitoring
Link 👉 https://classkick.com/

Classkick is a free app that students work on and get help instantly from their teacher and peers. Students may receive assistance from teachers (and peers) instantly. Teachers create assignments, see all their students’ work in real-time, and give LOTS of student feedback. Best of all, students can help each other anonymously.

How to Use Classkick in the Classroom:

Create assignments that students can work home regardless of where they are
Save your Powerpoint files as JPEG’s, then upload them to a new Classkick assignment
Use Classkick for Number Talks / Number of the Day

TIP: Create an assignment titled, “White Boards,” and use them as daily digital white boards. Students can erase the white boards after daily use, and return to the same link / code the next day.

3. Nearpod

Classroom Management and Content Delivery
Link 👉 http://www.nearpod.com

Nearpod is a student engagement platform built to make teaching with technology easy. With Nearpod you can control what your students see and get feedback in real-time. With a free account, you have the ability to share assignments with your students and then transition what they see from slide-to-slide. For example, if you upload an assignment from Google Slides or PowerPoint, Nearpod will convert it into an assignment. Teachers have control of the assignment, and when they move to the next slide, it will automatically change on all devices logged onto that presentation.

How to Use Nearpod in the Classroom:

Upload an assignment from Google Slides or PowerPoint, then add a virtual reality field trip! (Click: Add slide > Virtual Field Trip)
Add an activity for your students to complete while in the lesson. Activities include: Draw It, Quiz, Poll, Collaboration Board, and more!
Differentiate by duplicating assignments and adjusting as necessary. Share the appropriate login codes with the assigned students.

2. Seesaw

Student Portfolios and Where all of Your Content Can “Live”
Link 👉 http://seesaw.me

Seesaw is a platform where students share their learning in their Seesaw portfolio, giving teachers and families valuable insights into what the students know. Assignments can be easily created, differentiated, and shared - think of it as a “house” for all of your content. The best part of all: every time a student adds an artifact to their portfolio, it notifies their connected family member(s) so that they may be kept in the loop with their child’s learning.

How to Use Seesaw in the Classroom:

Create assignments and select the students that you would like to complete them (easy differentiation)
Allow students to add content on their own (let them take a photo, then annotate over the photo)
Keep families at home in the loop with what is happening in class

You may also like:
What’s New in Seesaw (2020)

Flipgrid
Student Creation and Social Learning Platform
Link 👉 http://www.flipgrid.com
Flipgrid is a video based social learning platform. Educators pose a question or assignment, then students respond in the form of a video. Once the conversation starts, other classmates may view their friends’ videos and respond to them. This creates a web of discussion, which automatically elevates the overall curricular level of the classroom.

How to Use Flipgrid in the Classroom:

Allow students to explain their thinking by holding up a whiteboard or their writing
Sequence the events of a text or historical time period
Use the Flipgrid Camera to record your own lessons - even create digital anchor charts

Stay #interACTIVE!

-👗➕🕶️

For more tips, tricks and lesson ideas for making learning more interACTIVE, check out our book The InterACTIVE Class on Amazon!

Top Five (FREE) Apps of 2020!