A name picker for the classroom
A wheel of names makes choosing a student visibly random, which is the point: the wheel picked them, not you. Paste your register once, save it, and reuse it all year — with no internet needed, so the school network being down does not matter.
Why use a name picker instead of just calling on someone?
Because it moves the decision off you. When a wheel picks the name, nobody is being singled out and nobody can argue you have favourites — and the class can see that for themselves rather than taking your word for it.
It also fixes a distribution problem that is hard to solve by hand. Left to memory, the same confident students answer most questions and the quiet ones are never chosen. A random draw does not have that bias, and elimination mode makes sure everyone comes up before anyone comes up twice.
How do you set up a class list?
- Paste the whole register at once rather than typing names one by one.
- Save the wheel and give it the class name, so it takes a second to open next lesson.
- Keep one wheel per class; search finds the right one once you have several.
- Strip duplicates in a tap if the list came out of a spreadsheet.
Nothing about that needs an account, and nothing leaves the phone or tablet.
What else is it useful for in a classroom?
- Making groups
- Draw names in turn with elimination on, and you have randomly assigned teams without anyone negotiating.
- Handing out jobs
- A wheel of classroom jobs, spun once a week, settles who does what without a discussion.
- Choosing the order
- Presentations, reading aloud, going to the board — elimination mode produces a full running order with no repeats.
- Deciding between activities
- Put the options on a wheel and let the class watch it choose. It converts a negotiation into an event.
What if the school network is down?
It keeps working. Every part of the app — building wheels, spinning, saved lists, templates, history — runs with no connection, so a wheel you rely on in front of a class does not depend on the school wifi holding up. That is the main practical reason to have an app rather than a browser tab open on a shared computer.
Is it safe to put student names in?
The names stay on the device. There is no account to create, nothing is uploaded, and no server of ours holds your class list — which is the question a school is entitled to ask about any tool a teacher brings into a classroom.
If you want a copy of your wheels on another device, you save them to a file yourself and move it; there is no cloud step in between. And if you would rather not use real names at all, initials or seat numbers work exactly as well for the purpose.
Are there ready-made wheels for teaching?
Yes — classroom is one of the ten categories of ready-made wheels the app ships with, alongside everyday decisions, food, home, party, travel and the rest. They are there so the first lesson you use it in needs no preparation.
They are a starting point rather than the destination. The wheel that earns its place is the one with your actual register in it.
How do you keep it fair over a whole term?
- Use elimination mode within a lesson so nobody is asked twice before everyone has been asked once.
- Check the history if a class disputes it — every result is recorded, along with how often each name has come up.
- Weight a name down temporarily if a student genuinely needs a lighter turn, and see the real percentage rather than guessing at the effect.
- Keep one saved wheel per class so the register does not get rebuilt from memory each week.
Is it actually random?
The winner is drawn by weighted random selection before the wheel starts moving, and the animation is then matched to that result. So the draw does not depend on where an animation happens to stop — which is worth knowing if a class ever accuses the wheel of being rigged, because the honest answer is that the spin is a presentation of a decision already made.