Every now and then, we need a way to ensure that a student may randomly be selected for something. It doesn’t always have to be reading, or answering a question. These are often a “gotcha” thing. You can use it for positives as well. 

When I taught elementary grades, specifically third and fourth grades, popsicle sticks reigned supreme. You could do a ton of stuff with them. Most of us had a cup filled with them, each with a student’s name on it. To randomize things, we just pulled one out.

Popsicle sticks still work fine most of the time. Unless, of course, you are me… I tend to knock over the cup and spill them everywhere. Perhaps it is the overly caffeinated state I tend to remain in.

A couple of years ago, I stumbled across the iPad app, Random Name Selector Lite. I downloaded it and used it in class. The kids loved it. It’s easy to airplay to an Apple TV so the kids see their name in lights, and they actually look forward to getting called upon.

Every now and again, we need to be sure to share the little things. The things that take care of a specific task. It’s not something like Google Classroom or DocentEDU… it’s just a little something to make other teachers’ lives easier. Head over to the App Store and check it out. It’s been a real blast to use, and I don’t have to pick up popsicle sticks anymore.