Make your presentations interactive!!

Once upon a time when presentations were from the "sage on the stage," I was satisfied with a PowerPoint or Keynote I had saved on my computer or USB and presented to a group of people, be it my students or other teachers. Rarely was I asked to share it, although it was a very huge email attachment! Fast forward just a few short years and I'm more interested in creating presentations that can be interactive and more easily shared...what better way to know your audience is engaged?

I chose the following four presentation programs because they could be used on any device and they are free.

Sway

People are calling Sway the alternative to PowerPoint. The more I explore, the more I'm itching to try it out and let my students use it to show their learning. It's collaborative and has some interactive aspects, such as the way charts are viewed. There is also an option to "remix" already created Sways. Hopefully my students will be collaborating on presentations with Sway this year.

Nearpod

Once you explore the Nearpod site, you can see that there are many options for interactive presentations. Teachers can "remix" already created presentations as well as run reports for students, and could easily be used as formative assessment. This is the presentation I'm hoping to do as a Get to Know you activity, as a BYOD incentive for my class.

Google Slides

My method of choice in the classroom has been primarily Google slides. Last year, I had hoped to make it interactive by students adding comments and/or editing slides, however due to my students not yet necessarily participating the way I had hoped, they are mostly informational and help me keep track of my lessons. Here's an example of the first one I made last year. It is very text heavy, I realized later in the year the students much preferred the information in the text book, so I began using the presentations to help me keep track of lessons and resources. This is the last one I made. It is possible to make Google Slides interactive and I'm hoping I can do more of that in the coming year. I found this great lesson on how to do that.

Smartboard Exchange

Last year I had a panic attack when I realized I had a mounted Smartboard in my room. Although I have yet to create my own lessons, thanks to the generosity of teachers posting lessons on the website, I have a few USBs full worth of lessons that I've either remixed or used straight off the site. There are countless games and activities and opportunities for learning.