Random student picker wheel

Set up your class list

1. Press Clear to empty the sample names, then paste your roster straight from a spreadsheet or gradebook, one name per line. First names fit the slices best.
2. If two students share a first name, add an initial (“Sam R.”, “Sam T.”) so nobody argues about whose turn it is.
3. Save it under My wheels with the class or period name, such as “Period 3 Biology”. With several sections, keep one saved wheel per group and switch between them in a second.
4. Before the lesson starts, press F for full screen on the projector so the whole room can watch the spin.

Routines that work

• Cold calling without the fear: ask the question, give 10 seconds of think time, then spin. Nobody knows who is next, so everyone prepares an answer, and nobody feels singled out by you.
• Everyone gets a turn: switch on “Remove the winner after each spin” so a name leaves the wheel once picked. When the wheel is empty, Reset brings the whole class back.
• Lifelines: a picked student may name a classmate to help, or ask for 30 more seconds. It keeps the stakes low for shy students and English learners.
• Groups instead of one name: paste the same list into the team generator. The random name picker is a plainer option when you want a name without the animation.

Keep it kind and inclusive

Tell the class on day one how the wheel works: it picks who answers, not who is right. Allow “pass and come back”, where a student can pass once and you return to them after two others have answered.

If a student is absent, or has a support plan that rules out being called on aloud, use Hide on the winner card for today, or give that name the weight *0 so it stays in your list but is never picked. Nothing about it shows on the wheel.