Teacher guide

The short version first. Open a section only when you need it.

The first five minutes

Open the yard, pick an activity, and press Pick this one. Change the question if you like, then press Host it now.
A room code appears on the projector. Students open this site on their devices and type the code and their first name.
Watch names appear on the projector. When everyone is in, press Start.
From there, you set the pace. Reveals and results wait for you, and the big button on the projector says what comes next.

Want something the yard does not have? Press Have an idea? Make it real on the home page and describe the activity in a sentence or two. Jamyard builds it from its own steps, shows you the plan, and lets you change any wording before you host it. Every activity you change or build is saved as your copy under My yard.

Trying it without a class? Every activity has a Try it out button that shows your screen and pretend students side by side. Try one activity out before your first real class; it is the fastest way to know what your students will see.

What you need

A projector or shared screen for the host view. The whole class watches this together.
A device per student. Chromebooks or tablets are perfect. Students install nothing and never make accounts.
Any device for you. A second device for the private teacher console is optional but handy for moderation.
One laptop and a projector: set the display to extend, not duplicate. Host opens the projector in its own tab; drag that tab onto the projector and keep the console tab on your own screen. Nothing on the console reaches the projector.
Laptop plus a phone or a second device: project from the laptop, and open Copy teacher link (bottom corner of the projector) on the other device for the console.
Keeping things: an activity you changed is saved as your copy in that browser, under My yard on the home page; use its Share link to open it on another computer. What a class made lives only in the activity report, printed or saved as a PDF before the room closes.

What you control during a live activity

Pacing. Payoff moments (reveals, results, winners) never auto-advance. The class moves when you press the button.
More time. Whenever the class is working against one shared countdown (writing, voting, ranking, sorting, merging...), an A bit more time button sits next to the countdown (on the projector and on the console). Each press adds 30 seconds to every screen at once; press it as often as you need. Turn-based clocks, like the charades timer, keep their own timing on purpose.
The teacher console. Press Host and the projector opens in a new tab in front, while the tab you pressed it in becomes the console, already signed in (a blocked popup means it did not: use the next sentence). For a second device, tap Copy teacher link in the corner of the host screen and paste the link there; the class never sees the PIN. One rule to remember: anything the projector's buttons can do, the console can do, and the console never jumps ahead of what the class has seen.
Moderation. From the console you can hide any student response or remove a student from the room. A text filter also runs on everything students submit.
Drawings. Activities with student drawings include a teacher preview step, so nothing hand-drawn reaches the projector without your approval.
The answer to a guess. While a Guess the Number step is open, the console has a box for the true number. Count the jar, type it, press Set the answer, then close the step: the class sees the answer and the closest guesses get the points. Leave it empty and the class just sees the spread of guesses.
Sound. The speaker chip on each screen mutes sound effects, and it remembers the choice.
The activity report. The teacher console has an Activity report link: a printable record of everything the class made (answers, drawings, results, the AI's summaries). Print it or save it as a PDF from your browser. It is built on the spot and never stored online, so save it before you close the room; when the room ends, the work is gone.

Quick fixes

If this happens	Do this
A student's room code will not work	Have them retype the code exactly as it appears on the projector. If the activity already ended, host it again; each run gets a fresh code.
A student's device drops off the wifi	Have them refresh the page. They rejoin automatically with their work intact.
"Someone here is already playing as that name"	That name is in use on a connected screen. If it's the same student twice, they should go back to their first screen (or wait a few seconds and try again). Two students sharing a name: one adds a last initial.
You close or refresh the host tab by accident	Reopen it. The room resumes where it was, even if the mistake happens mid-activity.
Something on the projector needs to go	Hide that response from the teacher console. It disappears everywhere immediately.
A student joined late	Nothing to do. Late joiners drop straight into the current step.
An AI step feels slow	With a full class, AI summaries can take around 20 seconds. The room is not stuck; the screen says what it is working on.

Privacy in one breath

No student accounts. First names only. Student work is deleted when the activity ends. When AI summarizes class answers, student names are stripped first and never sent. Full details, and what we promise your school, on the privacy and terms page.

Back to the yard

Jamyard is made with support from assemblycode.org.