I teach

A class that gets its feet wet.

The small free tools that make a class answer, choose and show up: word clouds, one-tap exit tickets, field-trip sign-ups with the drivers and chaperones sorted. No student accounts, no ads, nothing to install.

Neeri the river otter sitting on a rock by the water

Three things you could make this week

Start with a word cloud

"What lives in a river?" Every answer lands on the screen at once, and the quiet kids' words are the same size as everyone else's.

Make a word cloud

An exit ticket in one tap

A poll at the end of class: "What surprised you today?" You know before the bell what landed and what didn't.

Make a poll

Sign up the field trip

A task chooser with a cap on each job: four parent drivers, two chaperones, who carries the nets. Jobs fill themselves; the reply-all thread never starts.

Set up the sign-up

One unit's week

This one is an ecology unit on a river. Yours might be a history unit, a band trip, a kindergarten class, a seminar. Same week, different mud.

  1. Monday

    What lives in a river?

    Ms. Reyes puts a word cloud on the board and twenty-six phones answer. FISH. FROGS. TRASH. MY UNCLE'S BOAT. The word "trash" gets bigger every time someone else types it, and that is the whole unit in one slide.

    Made with Engage, a word cloud.

  2. Tuesday

    Who's driving, who's holding the net

    One link goes home in the newsletter: four parent drivers, two chaperones, each with a cap. Another link goes to the class: nets, jars, clipboards, the camera, two of each. The permission slip gets a QR code so nobody has to type anything.

    Made with Chooser, two task choosers, and the QR code generator in Tools.

  3. Thursday, 10:15 am

    Feet in the water

    Dip nets at the bend below the bridge. A crayfish in a jar, a mayfly nymph nobody can believe is real, a handwritten sign from the volunteer crew that cleaned this stretch last month. Somebody asks if the class can come to the next cleanup. Somebody always does.

    The crew's own week is on the I organize page.

  4. Thursday, 2:05 pm

    The exit ticket

    Back in the room, wet to the knees: "What surprised you?" One tap each. "How clear the water was" wins, "how much trash" is second, and one vote for "crayfish have faces."

    Made with Engage, a poll.

  5. Friday

    The thank-you

    A note home with the crayfish photo, the four drivers thanked by name, and the cleanup crew's date for next month. Three families sign up. The class has a river now.

Got this page from a card? Then you've met the person behind it. Here's Mars, in case you want to put a face to the otter.

Make your first one.

Start with the word cloud. It takes less time than taking attendance.

Make a word cloud See everything Shatuga makes