What is Pear Deck???

In short, Pear Deck was founded in Iowa in 2014. Their mission is to "help teachers create powerful learning moments for every student, every day — using the tools you already know and love." Since sharing my Pear Decks on Instagram, TikTok, and TeachersPayTeachers, I have received many questions about it. This post will dive into the basics and its BEST features!

You can read the whole post OR go directly to today's questions/comments below:

• Does your district or school pay for it?

• How do I get it?

• What is your favorite feature?

• But I like the lecture-and-notes method you call “old school!”

Does your district or school pay for it?

Both my former and current school districts pay for Pear Deck. Pear Deck offers a free trial to anyone willing to try it for 90 days and the individual price is around $200/year. Ask your principal or supervisor to observe a lesson using Pear Deck to show them how it engages your students. Once they see a lesson in action, they'll be more willing to buy-in. Also, take the time to gain the interest of your colleagues to back you up - there is power in numbers when districts decide to purchase a program! Click here for a free trial of Pear Deck :)

How do I get it?

Here’s a quick, step-by-step of how to get it to Google Slides: (This workflow was created with Tango)

1. In Google Slides, click on Add-ons

2. Click on Get add-ons

3. Search for "Pear Deck"

4. Install it by clicking the blue "Install" button.

5. Once installed, come back to the Add-ons button.

6. Click on "Pear Deck for Google Slides Add-on"

How EASY is it really to use?

If you are a regular user of educational technology, it will be pretty simple to figure out. However, if you have used Google Slides in the past, you will also have an easy time using it, as there is an extension to turn your Google Slides into Pear Deck slides! These Chinese Philosophies slides are just one example of Google Slides I used with my classes that I turned into a Pear Deck to increase engagement. Pear Deck also offers a plethora of FREE training and videos on its website.

What is your favorite feature?

I LOVE the versatility of the Draw Tool. You’ll notice I use it a lot in my Pear Decks since there are so many uses.

1. Text annotation - You can take any texts - primary and secondary sources, and have students look for specific features. Here is an example from The Legacy of Charlemagne Source Analysis. My student below took three different colors to differentiate why Charlemagne and the Frankish Kingdom succeeded.

2. Graphic Organizers - You probably know that you can create charts and graphic organizers in Google Slides. With Pear Deck, you don’t have to worry about students “accidentally” deleting all those parts you worked so hard to make perfect. Pear Deck templates come with a basic Venn Diagram, but I have created some charts of my own. Get FREE samples of these here!

These are more extensive T-Charts I created for the Road to the Middle Ages and Mysteries in History: Mt. Vesuvius and the Lost City of Pompeii.

3. Doodling! - I’ve been using drawing as a formative assessment tool since I found so many of my students like drawing. The most fun example has been thorough my Cave Art Pear Deck - students draw similarities and differences between the Paleolithic and Neolithic Eras to demonstrate their understanding.

But I like the lecture-and-notes method you call “old school!”

No problem - take your lecture slides and turn them into interactive. I’ve seen many teachers use slides they prepared for student note-taking and convert them to Pear Deck. The students still take notes, but now you have an instant log of formative assessment feedback. Instead of “answer this question in your notebook,” you can have students answer in Pear Deck. No digging through notebooks to check for understanding. And the dashboard allows you to share student responses with your administrator - hello, easy observation artifact! I’ve made my Pear Decks so content and assessment heavy that I’ve *gasp* eliminated most note-taking in my class (and my students know that our slides have all they need for assessments) but to each their own!