Each week, I have an open Google Meet session with my students. Every teacher on my team is assigned a different day of the week so that every day the students can meet with a different teacher. This is NOT required & is just a time for them to ask questions, get feedback, hangout, and honestly just socialize with their classmates. We have around 140 students on our team and we have around 25 students show up to our virtual meetings. This is just reality! I have tried to have a plan of attack so it’s not just 30 minutes of randomness. Last week I played Quizizz and Quizlet Live with my students on our video call and had so many questions about how I did that! 

I want to start by saying that everything I talk about here is going to be geared towards using Google Meet/Hangout. This is what my district allows us to use for video calls with our students and I am very familiar with it! Zoom is another popular way to video call with your students and you can still play these games with your students on there! Some of the buttons & wording just might be a little different than Google Meet. 

My students are in 6th grade and the majority of them have phones in addition to their district provided Chromebooks. I gave the students the option to play the games on their phones as well, but the majority of them just played on their laptops!

Teacher Prep Before the Meeting

• (OPTIONAL) Download the Google Chrome extension “Google Meet Grid View.” This allows you to see all of your students at once, rather than just 4 at a time! 
• (OPTIONAL) Create a schedule slide in PowerPoint or Google Slides to have up as the students enter the meeting. I have a tutorial on how to do this on my Google Meet highlight on my Instagram. You can find it here. 
• Open up your Google Meet session in a new window. 
• Log on to the game website of your choice and have the game you want to play open in SEPARATE WINDOW from your Google Meet window.
  • Ex: I had Google Meet in one window & Quizizz open in another.

How to Split Screen

Splitting your screen is the secret to still being able to see your students while also presenting the game to them! There are a few ways to do this depending on what type of computer you are working with. I have a MacBook & my students all have ChromeBooks. There are also great video tutorials on how to split your screen depending on your device on YouTube! I walked my students through how to split their screen the first 5 minutes of our meeting. You could also just send out a link to a YouTube video for them to watch to be prepared for the game as well!

MacBook:

• Simply resize the Google Meet window with your cursor to make it half of the screen. Resize the game window to make it the other half of the screen. This is what I do & it is super easy! 
• Here is a video of another simple way to do it as well! 

Chromebook for Students:

I walked my students through this step the first few minutes of our session! It was easy to talk them through it. If you happen to have the same computer as your students you could simply present your screen to them & show them that way too! 

• Take a tab from the top. Click & drag it to the left side of the screen. It will automatically format it to fit half of the screen.
• Take another tab. Click & drop it to the right side of the screen. It will automatically format it to fit the other half of the screen!
• Here is a video tutorial as well. 

Here is a video on how to split screen on an iPad. 

Quizizz

Quizizz was so easy to play virtually! If it is your first time doing this, I would start with this one!

1. Have your Google Meet session up in one window & your Quizziz up in another so that each takes up half of your screen. 
2. Students should have the Google Meet session in one window &  one empty window open as well. 
3. Make sure you “Present” your screen with your students.
   1. Present Now
   2. A window
   3. Select the window with Quizizz open
   4. Share 
4. Click “Play Live” on Quizizz.
5. Click “Host Game” on Quizizz.
6. The website and game code will appear on your screen.
7. Remember, you are in present mode! Your students can see your screen! This way, they can see the website and game code they need to enter! So easy! I also typed the game code in the comments of our Google Meet in case a student joined in the middle of a game!
8. I keep both screens up throughout the game so I can see my students & the leaderboard. Staying in PRESENT mode also allows the students to see the leaderboard as well.

Quizlet Live

Quizlet Live is fun to play virtually, but it is more challenging! Typically, Quizlet Live is a review game that sorts students into random groups. The fun of this game is that only ONE PERSON in their group has the correct answer on their screen. In the classroom, they would sit next to each other & discuss who had the correct answer. With all of us not being able to do this, it makes it harder for the students! The idea is still the same: only ONE PERSON in their group has the correct answer on their screen. Playing it virtually takes away the communication aspect. The students really have to know the answer. If they have the correct answer on their screen, they choose it. If they do not have the correct answer on their screen, they just have to sit & wait for someone in their group to choose it! (There is an option now to play it individually, but I think that takes the fun and extra challenge out of it!)

1. Have your Google Meet session up in one window & your Quizlet deck up in another so that each takes up half of your screen. 
2. Students should have the Google Meet session in one window & one empty window open as well. 
3. Make sure you “Present” your screen with your students.
   1. Present Now
   2. A window
   3. Select the window with Quizlet
   4. Share 
4. Select the deck you want to use.
5. Click “Live” on Quizlet.
6. Select “Teams” on Quizlet.
7. The website and game code will appear on your screen.
8. Remember, you are in present mode! Your students can see your screen! This way, they can see the website and game code they need to enter! So easy! I also typed the game code in the comments of our Google Meet in case a student joined in the middle of a game!
9. I keep both screens up throughout the game so I can see my students & the leaderboard. Staying in PRESENT mode also allows the students to see the leaderboard as well. 

Gimkit

Gimkit is a newer game that my students are OBSESSED with! They used to BEG to play it constantly. (Like randomly in the middle of a lesson.) It was designed by a high school student and is outlined more like a video game. The students earn money for every question they get correct. They can use that money to purchase items such as doubling their points per question to freezing other students during the game. Your students will be hooked!

1. Have your Google Meet session up in one window & Gimkit up in another so that each takes up half of your screen. 
2. Students should have the Google Meet session in one window & one empty window open as well. 
3. Make sure you “Present” your screen with your students.
   1. Present Now
   2. A window
   3. Select the window with Gimkit
   4. Share 
4. Select the kit you want to use.
5. Click “Play Live” on Gimkit.
6. I always play a timed game for 10 minutes. You can change this & click “Continue” on GimKit.
7. The website and game code will appear on your screen.
8. Remember, you are in present mode! Your students can see your screen! This way, they can see the website and game code they need to enter! So easy! I also typed the game code in the comments of our Google Meet in case a student joined in the middle of a game!
9. I keep both screens up throughout the game so I can see my students & the leaderboard. Staying in PRESENT mode also allows the students to see the leaderboard as well.

Kahoot!

Kahoot is a little different, but is still possible! Kahoot is the only game where the question is only on the teacher’s screen, so the students need to be able to see your screen the entire time! 

1. Have your Google Meet session up in one window & Kahoot! up in another so that each takes up half of your screen. 
2. Students should have the Google Meet session in one window & one empty window open as well. 
3. Make sure you “Present” your screen with your students.
   1. Present Now
   2. A window
   3. Select the window with Kahoot!
   4. Share 
4. Select the kit you want to use.
5. Click “Play Live” on Kahoot!
6. Select “Teach”
7. Click “Classic.”
8. The website and game code will appear on your screen.
9. Remember, you are in present mode! Your students can see your screen! This way, they can see the website and game code they need to enter! So easy! I also typed the game code in the comments of our Google Meet in case a student joined in the middle of a game!
10. You MUST keep both screens up throughout the game so the students can see the question and answer choices. 

None of what we are doing these days is “normal,” but playing a game we have played in our classroom many times felt a little closer to normal.

If you have played any of these games virtually with your students and have any other advice for us fellow teachers, leave it in the comments! This is all about collaboration & helping each other out! 🙂