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Flashcard Factory in 5 Easy Steps
Content AreasWeb 2.0 Tool

An Intro to Pear Deck’s Flashcard Factory

by Destiny Wagner
written by Destiny Wagner

What if I told you there was one tech tool that supports key skills such as collaboration, critical thinking, and metacognition, all while having fun? Allow me to introduce to you Pear Deck’s Flashcard Factory! Let’s explore how Pear Deck’s game-based approach to vocabulary with Flashcard Factory can revolutionize the learning experience, making it fun, meaningful, and effective.

PearDeck Flashcard Factory Landing Page
Screenshot by Emily Horn: Flashcard Factory, Home Page

What is Flashcard Factory?

Students team up and cooperate to produce spirited and captivating flashcards. By working together, they depict and explain the terms, transforming vocabulary learning into a lively and collaborative endeavor. Gamification has been proven to increase motivation and engagement. Flashcard Factory’s interactive and gamified approach transforms the traditional classroom into an exciting place of exploration and discovery, making it a powerful tool for educators. Please note that both the teacher and students must log in with a Google or Microsoft account to play Flashcard Factory. 

PearDeck's Flashcard Factory Login
Screenshot by Emily Horn: Pear Deck, Teacher Login

Pre-Pear Flashcard Factory Learning in Five Easy Steps 

1. LAUNCH

After logging into your Pear Deck account as a teacher, click Flashcard Factory. Create your vocabulary list by entering your own terms and definitions or by pasting your list from somewhere else. Once your terms are ready, start the game.

Example Vocabulary List in Flashcard Factory
Screenshot by Destiny Wagner

2. CLOCK IN

Students join the Flashcard Factory game by going to joinpd.com and entering the code on the screen. Once everyone has joined, the teacher clicks Clock In. Students are grouped into Day Shift and Night Shift, where they will be asked to submit example sentences, definitions, or illustrations of the terms. 

Clock-in, Day and Night Shift, and Foreman Letter examples
Screenshots by Destiny Wagner

3. PRODUCTION PHASE

This is where the magic happens. Students draw illustrations and write examples for the terms or give their own definitions of the terms in Flashcard Factory. When they are done with each card, they “ship it” and submit their answers for approval. They are assigned a new term, and the process repeats.

Example of the production phase in Flashcard Factory.
Screenshot by Destiny Wagner

4. QUALITY CONTROL

The teacher (and the students, if you choose to include them in the evaluation process) get final approval for the set of Flashcard Factory flashcards. The students’ screens are frozen during this phase, so they can focus on the Projector View. Review the cards one by one and choose the ones you want for the final study set. Click the Accept (green check) or Reject (red X) buttons. 

Example of rejected definition in Flashcard Factory quality control.
Example of accepted definition in Flashcard Factory quality control.
Screenshots by Destiny Wagner

5. SHIPPING 

Once you’ve moved to this phase, the teacher can choose whether to print the flashcard set or export it to Gimkit to play fun games

Example shipping phase in Flashcard Factory.
Exporting vocabulary set to Gimkit.
Screenshots by Destiny Wagner

Here is a great six-minute overview and explanation of Flashcard Factory:

Flashcard Factory with Stacy Yung | Pear Deck on YouTube

Skills Learned in the Process

Pear Deck’s Flashcard Factory enhances student engagement and nurtures essential skills such as critical thinking and metacognition. Since it’s designed for collaboration, students work in teams to create flashcards, promoting cooperative learning and communication skills. 

Developing critical thinking skills especially comes into play if you choose to involve the students in the Quality Control phase of Flashcard Factory. The peer review process encourages students to critically evaluate each other’s work, reinforcing the material and improving their critical thinking abilities. Constructive criticism and learning from peers create a supportive and inclusive learning environment.

Metacognition, or the ability to think about one’s thinking, is a skill that can greatly enhance a student’s learning journey. Flashcard Factory encourages students to self-assess. They must reflect on their understanding of the material, which helps them recognize their strengths and areas that need improvement.

Learning Can Be a Pear-adise of Growth!

When students are actively involved in their learning process and given opportunities to collaborate, think critically, and assess their own progress, they feel empowered. An empowered student is more likely to be an enthusiastic and motivated learner, driving success both in and out of the classroom. Try Pear Deck’s Flashcard Factory in your classroom and watch your students thrive in a fun, engaging, and empowering educational journey.

Resources:

Don’t miss the chance to see Destiny at TCEA 2024! She will be presenting in six sessions on everything from Wakelet and Pear Deck to Mindfulness and Digital Portfolios. Pricing increases on January 13, so hurry and register to get discounted pricing on the educator event of the year in Austin, Texas!

Save Your Spot!

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Good TeachingGoogle Tips and TricksWeb 2.0 Tool

The Benefits of Using Pear Deck in the Classroom

by Jeannie Hipp
written by Jeannie Hipp

When it comes to motivating the unmotivated students in our classrooms, we can’t change the cards we are dealt, only how we play the game to secure their attention. So what’s the answer to going from ordinary to extraordinary, best practice-based instruction and engaging every student in your classroom? One game changer I’ve found for my classroom is Pear Deck for Google Slides. From beginning to end, bellringer to exit ticket, educators have the power to turn their pedagogy mindset from teacher-led to student-centered.

With a free account, you can:

  • Design brilliant lessons with interactive questions, polls, quizzes, formative assessments
  • Work seamlessly with powerful classroom tools from Google and Microsoft
  • Control the pace of class and project student answers anonymously
  • Enable students to join a session anonymously without email login
  • Keep students in sync with Locks and Timers
  • Ready-to-teach templates designed by educators
  • Teach vocabulary with Flashcard Factory*
Source

Here’s a video overview with information on how Pear Deck works. 

What Are the Benefits of Using Pear Deck?

Thousands of Customizable Templates in Google Slides

Pear Deck works directly with Google Slides and Google Classroom, which enables Google Education to be maximized when it comes to e-learning in the classroom. Once it’s been installed as a Google Slides add-on feature, you’re ready to double down with an array of options to assess your students’ critical thinking skills while holding them accountable for their learning. Pear Deck houses thousands of templates you can customize to align with any content. From littles (k-2), math, reading, social studies, science, etc., you can find any template suitable for editing as a bell ringer, “middle of lesson” activity, or exit ticket/reflection.

Photo screenshot of selecting a question type in Pear Deck
Image Source: Get the Pear Deck Google Slides Add-On

Pear Deck for STAAR Practice

Just for a moment, think about how much better a student’s formal assessments might be if they had (1) direct engagement in more effective learning discussions; (2) more frequent practicing of test-type questions in the viewing of a bell ringer or exit ticket; (3) were consistently held accountable for their learning. We can all agree that’s a combination for a winning hand!

STAAR Test Logo
Pear Deck Logo

In Texas this year, the hot news for educators in grades 3-12 is the STAAR redesign. The newly redesigned question formats affect every tested subject associated with these grade levels. How does Pear Deck connect to the latest STAAR? One of its fascinating features is the ability to construct diversified questioning. We can create questions that align with the new type of STAAR questions so students can practice as often as teachers like in a learning environment that isn’t directly associated with a formal assessment. Whether it’s questions that involve text response, number response, multiple choice (with more than one choice selection), or drawing and draggable style answer choices, you can customize Pear Deck templates for any of these question types. This can help prepare students for success with accommodating strategies that will enable mastery of these redesign questions in a manner that best challenges and satisfies their academic level of students. 

Interactive Learning

Interactive learning is a teaching method that supports educators by taking a hands-on approach to engaging students. Through this technique, there is social interaction between the educator and the learner (Interactive Learning Project, 2020). In other words, instead of teachers taking complete control and driving the instruction, becoming exhausted and frustrated trying to keep students engaged, the paradigm switches. Students no longer become passive participants. Instead, they become active participants and involve themselves as part of the conversation/discussion that’s taking place in the classroom. John Hattie’s effect size for direct instruction, classroom discussion, and feedback is a combination for great success. Pear Deck for Google Slides is a catalyst for increasing more robust academic success in your classroom. How? Great question! The following Pear Deck Infographic details the benefits of using Pear Deck as an engaging tool, as well as HOW TO power up your presentations for the classroom.

What Can a Pear Deck Lesson Look Like?

Beginning of Lesson

Depending on your class’s academic level or the content being learned, you may choose a bell ringer from Pear Deck’s Content Orchard template library that poses a question for students to answer with written expression, respond with a draggable slide, or draw a response.

During Lesson

As educators, we know the effects engagement has on learning. This article in Reading Rockets demonstrates the importance of students being actively engaged and not just compliant. Pear Deck promotes the qualities necessary to ensure every student is engaged and accountable for their learning. Whether you choose a multiple choice slide, draggable slide, or short answer response slide, you can get your students’ attention from start to finish.

End of Lesson

Exit tickets are informal assessments that hold students accountable for their learning. Pear Deck’s Content Orchard has sample templates that allow teachers to insert exit tickets into their Google Slides presentation. Having the ability to pick from several different types, along with customizing the exit ticket based on the content, makes the task easy and effective.

I hope this information sparks your interest in using Pear Deck to engage students in interactive learning. How will you use it in your classroom? 

Additional Resources

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SEL
Social-Emotional Learning

Three Easy Ways to Incorporate SEL This School Year

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

As we go back to school this year, it is more important than ever to incorporate social-emotional learning (SEL) into our classrooms. As we know, research shows that there are many benefits when it comes to SEL. Students who practice SEL tend to have better academic outcomes and behavior both inside and outside the classroom. They can also better manage their stress levels and the challenges they face. So now that we know SEL has long-lasting benefits, how can we support students in developing SEL skills and practicing SEL habits?

Create a Calming Corner

SEL

As you think about how you have arranged your classroom, consider creating a calming corner. This is a place in your classroom that is safe for your students to reflect or be alone. The goal of your calming corner should be to reduce students’ stress and provide calming visual, auditory, and tactile experiences to help them (or you!) destress. The space should be used to help students de-escalate and emotionally reset.

In addition to the physical space in your classroom, you can also think about creating a digital space. A virtual calm room like this one, shared by Cindy Lewis (@CLewis4ed), is a safe, online space for students to decompress. Try clicking on an object in the room and see what happens. If you are using Google Classroom, have this room listed as an always-available resource.

Check in with Students

SEL

As educators, we know that each and every day is a new experience for our students. Therefore, checking in with them to see how they are doing is vital. Social-emotional check ins will help you gather quick student feedback about their emotional state. The check ins can even be done digitally before class begins. Take a look at a few of these Google Jamboard -heck In templates; Peardeck also has some great SEL templates you can use for check-ins with your students.

Check-ins can also be done in the form of a survey or during morning meetings. The important thing to remember is to carve out a small amount of time to connect with your students. This will reap large benefits in their overall learning and performance.

SEL

Encourage Students to Keep an SEL Journal

Many students may already use a journal at school to develop their writing skills, so why not help them express their feelings in a space that’s their own with an SEL Journal? Journaling is a terrific way for students to express emotions in a safe way. An SEL Journal can be an informal way for them to write down their feelings and express themselves creatively. Remind students that there is no right or wrong way to journal about their feelings. With this reminder, they have the opportunity to express themselves without the fear of being graded on what they write. Centervention has a wonderful SEL Journal template you can download, and Book Creator has a few SEL Journal templates you can use, too.

For more ways to incorporate SEL into your classroom, take a look at this blog by Laura Boyd. In addition, be sure to check out TCEA’s online, self-paced Social and Emotional online course. Priced at just $29, the course features seven modules designed to help your students explore self-awareness, build positive relationships, make responsible decisions, and more. Enroll today.

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Slide add-on
Google Tips and Tricks

Don’t Miss These Amazing Google Slide Add-Ons

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

Are you wondering what Google Slide add-ons you need to add to your teacher toolbox? If so, look no further. The must-have add-ons listed below will make your life a lot easier and engage your students in learning as well. But first, let’s look at what Google Slide add-ons are and how you can get them.

What Are Google Slide Add-Ons?

Just as the name suggests, add-ons are tools that you can add on to help you do something in Google that normally you would not be able to do. They provide you with extended features not built into Google products by default. To add on a particular extension, go to your Google Slide and then click on the Add-Ons tab on the menu bar and select Get Add-ons. You can then search the Google Workspace Marketplace for the add-on you want to install.

Some Great Educational Add-Ons to Try

Insert Icons

What’s a Google Slide without icons? I love to use icons in my Google Slide presentations. With the Insert Icons add-on, you have options for more than 1,800 icons to choose from. You can select any color you want, and the icons are imported in your slides with a transparent background. It also has an edit option that allows you to add texture to those icons, as well as shadows and outlines. The best part is that you can use all these icons for free. Insert Icons also exists for Google Docs and Google Sheets.

Paletti

The color of your Google Slides plays a major role in developing an engaging presentation. Selecting a proper color for the topic and theme of your lesson is vital. With the Paletti add-on, you can change the slide color in a minute. Once Paletti is added, you scroll through the more than 200 different shades of colors and then apply the one you want to your slide with just one click. You can apply the color to a particular slide or you can apply it to the entire Google Slide presentation. If you have a color that is not available in the palettes, you can customize it.

Pear Deck

The Pear Deck add-on is a powerful tool for getting your students engaged in the lesson by adding interactive questions. It’s also a good way to check for understanding during your lesson. As Tracey Smith mentioned in her blog post, Increase Student Engagement with Pear Deck, your students will be begging for more.  The basic version of Pear Deck is free for teachers.

Pear Deck also teamed up with Google to help students become confident digital citizens. The Be Internet Awesome curriculum now includes 35 Pear Deck lessons and other interactive activities. On top of that, Pear Deck has a free Social-Emotional Skills Template developed in conjunction with Newsela that can be used in your lessons. 

Slido

Slido is another way to engage your students. With the Slido add-on, you can poll your students or ask them questions without ever leaving your slides. As I pointed out in my blog post, Make Your Next Lesson, Presentation, or Meeting More Interactive, one of my favorite features of Slido is the ability to make a word cloud out of the answers to a poll question. I have always been a fan of word clouds, so I was excited when I saw this as a feature. The basic version is free for teachers.

Slip-in-Slide

With the Slip-in-Slide add-on, you can effortlessly insert slides into multiple student presentations at one time. You can choose to send one or many slides from your presentation to an assignment folder in Google Classroom. This makes distribution of new material quick and easy. It integrates with the folder structure of Google Classroom to send your slides directly into student’s existing presentations. There is a great tutorial on how to use Slip-in-Slide here.

Summing It Up

These Google Slide add-ons are extremely useful and can save you time. Whether you are giving a presentation or teaching a lesson, you will want to make use of them. Let us know in the comments which add-ons you use or want to take advantage of.

In addition, if you are wanting to learn even more about Google Workspace for Education, be sure to check out our online courses.

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Classroom Discussions
Good TeachingGoogle Tips and Tricks

High-Impact Classroom Discussions with Google

by Diana Benner
written by Diana Benner

John Hattie’s research identifies classroom discussions as having an effect size on student achievement of 0.82, which means approximately two years’ of growth in one year.  Do you have classroom discussions in your class?  Do you use Google tools to promote classroom discussion? If not, let’s take a look at how you can use them to increase student learning in your classroom.

The Power of Classroom Discussions

Classroom discussions are an instructional strategy where students are invited to speak about the topic at hand. But it involves much more than just a teacher asking a class a question and then another, etc., It involves all students having robust discussion with each other in order to think more critically about a topic.

Using Classroom Discussions to Adapt Instruction

Classroom discussions allow students to improve communication skills by voicing their opinions and thoughts. Teachers also benefit from classroom discussion as it allows them to see if students have learned the concepts that are being taught. Moreover, a classroom discussion creates an environment where everyone learns from each other, which is the best kind of learning.

The key to successful classroom discussions is the feedback given by and the instructional adjustments made by the teacher. According to Hattie, “when implemented correctly, classroom discussions can be a source of rich, qualitative data – data that allows teachers to understand the thinking of their students more closely and determine if there are information processing errors that need instructional intervention immediately.”

Planning for Classroom Discussions

When planning for classroom discussions, teachers should consider the following:

Classroom Discussions

  1. Share expectations. When planning for Classroom Discussions, it is important to share your expectations for participation, including the ground rules for the discussion. Sharing a rubric with students will help to clarify your expectations.
  2. Create questions. Create a series of questions for the students to think about. Make sure these are open-ended and thought-provoking questions. Your questions could spark controversy or draw on common experiences. This way, you will spark a meaningful discussion.
  3. Allocate enough time. Discussions take time to get started.
  4. Ensure that it’s the students talking and not you. You already know the content being discussed!
  5. Facilitate the discussion and adjust instruction, as needed. Monitor what is being said and ask students for clarification. This is where you get an understanding if the student understands the topic being discussed and adjust instruction as needed.
  6. Deal with conflict. It is important not to ignore conflicts. If a misunderstanding occurs, make sure you step in and clarify. Do not let certain students dominate the discussion. In addition, make sure that students can freely express their opinion without being laughed at.
  7. Summarize the discussion. Provide a summary or some conclusions of the discussion.
  8. After the discussion, reflect on what worked well and what you might do differently next time. Think about the students that didn’t participate much or didn’t understand the topic.

Google Tools for Classroom Discussions

Classroom Discussions

Google tools can complement the effectiveness of classroom discussions. With online discussions, teachers can view and select individual student responses to deepen further discussion for the whole class. This way, the teacher is using the thinking of students to drive instruction for the entire class. Teachers can also use whole-class views to push students’ thinking beyond the material being studied. In addition, online discussions will give a voice to those students are aren’t comfortable speaking up in class. The main thing to remember is that the teacher must model how to post in the online forum. Below are a few tools to get started with.

Google Classroom – The Google Classroom question feature allows teachers to have their own version of an online discussion board. Simply ask a question and students can begin having a discussion online.

Google Slides – Teachers can have a classroom discussion using Google Slides. As Alice Keeler points out in her blog, you can post a question in Google Slides and then have the students insert a slide to respond to the question. Students can insert comments on the slides of other students to respond. Get the discussion template here.

Google Sheets – Google Sheets can also be used to facilitate classroom discussions. On her blog, Alice Keeler mentions how you can create a list of discussion topics on the first sheet and then run a script to create a tab for each question. Students can then respond to the questions collaboratively. Get the discussion template here.

Pear Deck Google Add-On – Pear Deck is an add-on for Google Slides that will allow teachers to ask students questions. Students will be prompted to answer your questions as you advance your slides.

Additional Digital Tools for Classroom Discussions

Some additional digital tools for classroom discussions include:

Back Channel Chat – Backchannel Chat is a class discussion tool that was designed to look like an online chat room. Teachers can control of all aspects of the discussions. They can remove messages and prevent students from posting, if the pace of the discussion is overwhelming and key messages are lost.

Flipgrid – Flipgrid is a video discussion platform that helps teachers see and hear from every student in class. Teachers can post a topic for discussion and students then respond by recording their thoughts via a short video clip. Students can then watch the videos of their classmates and respond back to them to generate further discussion.

Nearpod – Nearpod provides another way to hold classroom discussions. Students can answer a prompt by reporting their thoughts and feelings through open-ended text. When answers are submitted, the teacher can see everyone’s response on their dashboard. They can even push out the responses to each student’s device. The teacher can keep it anonymous or mention the student’s name.

Padlet – Padlet is an online bulletin board in which students can post responses to discussion questions. Teachers should instruct students to put their name in the Title of their Padlet post. After students have posted their response, teachers can reply to their post. Students can even attach files or links to their responses.

Try a Classroom Discussion

Classroom discussions can be a powerful data source for teachers to adapt instruction. Therefore, you should try a classroom discussion or adjust a discussion you already have. As a result, it will lead to increased student learning in your classroom.

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pear deck
Google Tips and TricksMicrosoft Tips and Tricks

Increase Student Engagement with Pear Deck

by Tracey Smith
written by Tracey Smith

As teachers, we all face the challenge of how to keep students engaged in our lessons. We also want to get authentic formative feedback in a manner that makes students feel safe and comfortable participating. Pear Deck is a tool that will allow you to do both and have your students begging for more!

What is Pear Deck and How Will it Help Keep Students Engaged?

Pear Deck is a live slides presentation tool that works with Google Slides or PowerPoint presentations,and allows students to see the slides on their own devices. With Pear Deck, interactive slides can be added to solicit feedback, do a quick formative check, or just see how your students are feeling today.

When students respond, their answers can be shared anonymously by the teacher so only he knows who submitted which answer. This allows all students to feel safe in answering as they know they can’t be singled out by a classmate for a wrong answer. 

To make classroom management even easier, you can control your presentation on a tablet or phone. This allows the teacher to move about the classroom freely rather than be tethered to a computer. 

Not Just Another Slide Deck Tool

Pear Deck goes beyond being just a slide presentation tool with the vocabulary game Flashcard Factory. Flashcard Factory allows the teacher to upload or create a list of vocabulary words and definitions using your own definitions or pulling them from an embedded dictionary. Students then pair up and take turns writing sentences using those words and drawing a picture to illustrate their sentence. They earn points for their team when their flashcards are evaluated at the end. The flashcards can then be exported to Quizlet Live for further study.  Talk about gamifying learning! 

pear deckPear Deck and G-Suite Are Perfect Partners

Pear Deck and G Suite become perfect partners with the Pear Deck for Google Slides add on from the G Suite Marketplace. This allows you to quickly and easily add interactive slides and questions to your existing Google Slides presentations. Pear Deck has the “essential” plan, which is free, and the “premium” plan which adds some additional features like “takeaways” that allow you to share a copy of the deck and anonymous responses with students in their Google Drive and Google Classroom. 

Not sure how to get started with your first Pear Deck presentation? Visit the Pear Deck “Orchard” which is a library of example decks you can download and edit to suit your needs.

Pear Deck Can Help Teach Social-Emotional Skills

Teaching and modeling social-emotional skills is a large part of what we as educators do each day. As we all know, our students can’t be engaged if their SEL needs are not being met. Pear Deck has a free Social-Emotional Skills Template developed in conjunction with Newsela that can be used as a whole lesson, or selected slides can be interspersed with your own lesson to get a pulse on how students are feeling.  

Be Internet Awesome with Pear Deck’s Free Digital Citizenship Curriculum

In today’s blended learning classrooms, digital citizenship is something that must be taught early and reviewed often. To assist in this endeavor, Pear Deck partnered with Google and ISTE to develop their “Be Internet Awesome” digital citizenship curriculum that includes free, ready-made lessons, recognition badges and certificates, and parent handouts. 

It is refreshing to find a tool like Pear Deck. It helps us keep our students engaged and encourages them to take ownership and embrace the learning. I hope you’ll explore Pear Deck to learn more about how it can make your teaching life a little bit easier. 

Tracey Smith is a TCEA member and fifth-grade teacher in Arlington ISD.  She’s a self-proclaimed ed tech geek and blended-learning evangelist who has served as a teacher-leader on her campus and in the district. She recently presented at the TCEA Elementary Technology Conference and at Region 11 ESC’s Leveraging Canvas conference. You can find Tracey on Twitter or find her blog, Bright Ideas in Blended Learning here.

Photo: Joanna Stołowicz

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template presentation red
Google Tips and TricksMicrosoft Tips and Tricks

Free Templates for PowerPoint/Google Slides

by Lori Gracey
written by Lori Gracey

If you’re like me, you are not a graphic designer. I have no eye for color and no sense of what does or doesn’t look good. Therefore, my presentations can sometimes be either boring, because I’m afraid to use a provided design, or horribly garish as I create a background that is downright ugly.

Slides Carnival Saves the Day

The good news is that Slides Carnival has some absolutely beautiful templates for PowerPoint or Google Slides that are free and easy to download and, more importantly, have been created by someone who is a graphic designer. The templates are available in the following categories:

  • Business
  • Creative
  • Elegant
  • Formal
  • Inspirational
  • Playful (Be sure to check out the Jachimo design, which looks like a comic book.)
  • Simple
  • Startup

What I really like about these templates above others I’ve seen is the fact that each one comes with a great explanation of the thought process behind the colors and fonts selected. This is a fabulous way for someone like me or your students who have no experience in design to get a better understanding of how professionals put together a blended look. Each template also comes with not just a “front” slide, but up to 25 different slides built around that particular design theme.

You can download the set as a PowerPoint slide and then upload it to Google Slides or export it in PDF or JPG formats. New templates are added monthly and they also offer a “template of the month” that fits a theme for that time of year. So be sure to revisit them often.

More Free Templates

Thanks to Julian M., here are some additional offerings:

If you or your students are in need of graphic organizers that help them to complete projects (and not just slide backgrounds), you can find them in this blog post.

Of course, you can’t go wrong with these from Google itself. While they tend to be more content specific (science project, student certificate, status report), there are some nice designs available. And this is a fabulous virtual museum template from David Lee that would be great for a student project.

This is a good Google Slides design for schools. It downloads as one presentation, but includes a variety of template choices in it. The same company offers this free open book presentation template, an orange presentation, a blue origami business background, and a creative banners one on black. They also provide a very nice gradients background that can again be used to help students discover what makes a graphically interesting and alluring template.

Digital Graphic Design teacher Mike Macfadden created these Google Slides designs for his students to use and also shares them with you. There are currently 15 of the simple but effective templates available.

Presentation Magazine has a lot of very nice PowerPoint templates available for free download. Of course, these can be downloaded as a PPTX file and then converted to Slides.

There are some well-designed templates for Google at Slide Model. They lean toward business presentations, but could be used for other purposes as well.

And Even More Free Templates

Pear Deck Critical Thinking Templates to Use with Google Slides

Pear Deck is a great add-on to Google Slides and provides tons of interactivity for student learning. They now include some fabulous templates even in the free (Essential) pricing plan. As Eric Curts explains “In the add-on panel there is a new section titled “Featured Content“. At the moment the content being featured is a collection called “Critical Thinking“. When you click on the section you will see thumbnails for all the new slide templates.”

How to Create Your Own

Finally, once your students have investigated the world of design, they may be ready to create their own masterpieces. Alice Keeler offers a nice how-to article on creating presentation templates in Google Slides.

This blog was updated on June 9, 2019 to include more free templates. If you want to see templates for students to use in Google, check out these.  Also, more free templates are available here.

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