Pear Deck: A Total Game Changer

Last summer, I attended the EdTechTeam’s Summit featuring Google for Education in Colorado Springs. On a whim, I attended a session on an app I had never heard of: Pear Deck. Immediately upon entering the room, the presenter engaged us in an interactive and extremely fun activity on our individual devices. I was amazed at how simple it was to join the session on my device, and at the very easy but meaningful ways I could demonstrate my learning as we went along. The presenter controlled the pacing from her own device, and she had the power to advance our screens. The best part was that she also had the ability to anonymously display all of our answers onto the big screen at the front of the room! She could also show all of our responses simultaneously on the screen in an overlay format, which was quite fun to see--even as an adult! She then told us that she could go in later to see students’ names and responses in her own file--how helpful to monitor individual students’ progress!

I was immediately excited to try this tool in my classroom. As an elementary music teacher of 800 students with only 25-minute long class periods, I find it hard to give meaningful ways for students to demonstrate and practice their learning. Passing out hard surfaces, worksheets, and pencils and then collecting it all again leaves little time for students to work, and leaves me with huge piles of papers. Activities like this on student iPads have the power to revolutionize my situation! I am fortunate enough to share an iPad cart with our school’s art teacher this year. After my 4th-graders had spent a few weeks studying the different types of notes, I designed a Pear Deck activity for them. Once students had logged into their Google accounts, I showed them this screen for them to go to the correct website:

Students just had to go to the easy website, then type in the 5-letter code. Then our lesson began! I controlled the pacing from my screen, and started with an engaging question: "How are you, today?" Students clicked on a multiple-choice option, and then their minds were blown when I showed them the class results: 

I then advanced to the next slides and dove into our music content. Students drew with colors and thickness of their choice as they were asked to, "Draw a quarter note."Then their minds were blown again when I showed all of their screens on my projector screen:

Here is another example of a question, one student’s answer, and then several students’ answers:

Here are a few more questions and answers. Students type, draw, select multiple choice answers, and more. I would occasionally throw in a fun question just for fun!

Another fantastic feature that students LOVE is that I can overlay all of their answers on top of each other.  By the end of the lesson, students were beaming, laughing, and very sad class was over. They had also practiced all of our music skills that we had been talking about for weeks. What a huge WIN-WIN for me and my students!

Not only is Pear Deck EXTREMELY engaging and enjoyable, but it gives students a platform to practice the skills they learn in a meaningful way. It helps me as the teacher monitor everyone’s progress, knowledge, and capabilities. It allows me to informally (and formally!) assess my students. For a teacher of 800 students, Pear Deck is a TOTAL GAME-CHANGER!! Check out more about Pear Deck at Peardeck.com. You will not regret it!

Katie Stafford is in her 2nd year teaching Kindergarten-5th grade music at Ridgeview Elementary. She has a music education degree from the University of Northwestern--St. Paul, and taught elementary general music and orchestra in southwestern Minnesota for three years. She then taught for three years overseas aboard a hospital ship mainly in Congo and Madagascar before returning to her hometown of Colorado Springs.  Check out her bio HERE!