Back-to-School Tools and Tips To Energize Your Classrooms

Back-to-school season is the perfect time to refresh your classroom with tools that spark curiosity and excitement. Whether you're looking for new ways to keep students engaged or just want to add some creativity to your lessons, our Teaching and Learning Consultants, Kristin Dupuy, Angela Kiser, Anna Hanrahan, and Lindsey Keely, share some of the best resources and ideas to help you and your students get excited about the school year ahead.

Interactive Learning with Interactive Flat Panels

We all know keeping students focused can be a bit of a challenge - especially when they are just getting back from summer break - but using interactive tools on flat panels can make all the difference. Our TLC, Kristin Dupuy, after spending months exploring a Newline Q Series panel, has put together some of her favorite tools that stand out for their engagement, fun factor, and utility in the classroom:

Quizlet: A Familiar Resource with New Features

Quizlet is a classroom staple that you’re likely already familiar with. While the app’s core functionality remains consistent with what you’re used to on a computer, using it on an interactive panel introduces new levels of engagement like:

• Interactive Learning: The panel lets students get up and interact with the content directly, turning standard activities like matching games or flashcards into more dynamic learning experiences.
• AI-Powered Content Creation: This handy AI feature helps you whip up flashcards and questions from a simple PDF upload. It saves time and can even offer fresh, creative prompts that might not immediately come to mind.

Spin the Wheel: Add a Fun Twist to Classroom Activities

Need to pick a student for a task or decide on a topic? Spin the Wheel is a simple but fun app that randomly selects names or content. Its bright, colorful interface is easy to use and adds a playful element to your classroom activities.

PBS Kids Games: Learning Through Play

PBS Kids Games are always a hit, and using them on an interactive panel makes them even more engaging. Games like "Wild Kratts" become a hands-on experience where students can move elements around the screen, answering questions as they go. It’s a fantastic way to keep younger students excited about learning.

Coirle: Interactive Classroom Activities for All Ages

Coirle stands out for its versatility—it’s perfect for both lower and upper grades. From counting coins to exploring physics, Coirle gets students up and moving, making learning a full-body experience and an excellent way to keep energy levels high in the classroom.

GeoGebra: A Powerful Tool for Math Enthusiasts

For those looking to bring math to life, look no further than GeoGebra. Acting as a full-featured graphing calculator, it’s perfect for teaching and exploring complex math concepts, offering solutions to help visualize and understand mathematical functions.

Make Video Lessons Interactive with Edpuzzle

Using videos in your teaching can be a great way to explain complex ideas that words alone sometimes can’t. But if you’ve ever wished your students were more engaged during video lessons, Edpuzzle could be the thing that makes a difference. It transforms regular videos into interactive experiences that keep students interested by allowing you to add questions, notes, or even your voice to guide them through the content.

When time is tight, Edpuzzle Originals offers ready-made, standards-aligned lessons that are visually appealing and easy to use. As Angela Kisler notes, “The videos are engaging, visually appealing, and they’re really time-saving.” Plus, with features like the Question Generator and Auto Grade, creating and grading assignments becomes a breeze. It’s a simple way to enhance your video lessons, keep your students engaged, and lighten your workload.

Check out these 10 Back-to-School lessons from EdPuzzle Originals

Gamify Learning with Quizizz

Adding excitement to your lessons can make a world of difference in student engagement, and gamified learning is a proven strategy, boosting test scores by an impressive 34%. Quizizz is a standout tool in this space, effortlessly combining fun with education. Kristin Dupuy, who regularly uses Quizizz, loves how it streamlines lesson planning while keeping students actively involved.

Kristin finds Quizizz particularly helpful for quickly generating quizzes and activities from various sources, thanks to its AI-powered content creation. The customization options let you add a playful twist, using voices like Shakespeare, Dwight Schrute, or Yoda to make your content stand out and keep things interesting. Plus, the ease of tweaking and refining your activities ensures that your lessons remain both engaging and tailored, making Quizizz a favorite for keeping students excited about learning.

Unleash Creativity with Canva

If you haven’t hopped on the Canva train yet, now’s the time—and Lindsey Keely will tell you why. She admits she was a bit late to the Canva party, but once she started exploring its features, there was no turning back."Y'all, Canva is amazing!" she says. "I’m going to use it all the time because there’s just so much to explore. The more I learn about Canva, the more I can build out and enhance my projects."

Here are a few of Lindsey’s top picks for making your back-to-school materials shine:

• Magic Write: Adjust the tone of your text, making it easy to switch between formal communication and fun, student-friendly content You can also have it analyze your voice for different writing styles.
  • Try using this feature to create posters and announcements that are clear, fun, and welcoming. You can also tweak the tone to match the voice you’re aiming for, from formal to friendly or anything in between.
• Magic Media: Lets you create custom graphics with just a simple description.
  • Think about designing colorful banners or visuals that brighten up your classroom and make it a place students love to be. You could also have your students create graphics for vocabulary words and watch their creativity blossom!
• Magic Grab: Easily isolates specific elements from an image for more focused visuals.
  • Consider using this tool to add personalized touches to your bulletin boards or lesson plans, showing that extra bit of care. You could also isolate parts of a cell from an image, making complex topics more visually engaging for your students.
• Recording Feature: Records and saves presentations for easy reuse throughout the year.
  • You could use this feature to quickly put together intro videos or presentations that you can reuse throughout the year, saving you time and effort.

Explore AI-Powered Learning with Google Tools

Before we finish up, there’s one more set of tools that Anna Hanrahan suggests adding to your lineup this school year - Google’s AI Labs. These can bring fresh creativity and engagement to your classroom, making it easier to inspire and connect with your students. Here are some of Anna’s favorites:

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