Random Student Picker

How to use it

1. Enter your class listType or paste one first name per line. The list is saved in this browser, so the next lesson starts with the same class already loaded.
2. Tap out who is away todayEach student appears as a chip. Tap a chip to skip that student today and tap again when they are back. The counter shows how many are here.
3. Pick a student and presentPress Pick a student for the big reveal. Open Present mode to hide the list so only the name shows on the board, and press Escape to leave.

Built around how a lesson runs

A classroom picker has a different job from a party picker. The list is the same every day, a few seats are empty, and the teacher wants everyone to be called on at a similar rate across a week. This page keeps those three facts in mind. Your roster stays on the device, absent students are one tap away from being skipped, and fair turns are switched on from the start.

Because the list is saved, there is nothing to rebuild between lessons. Open the page on the classroom computer, check the chips, and begin. If you teach several classes, give each roster a title, add it to My wheels with Save on this device, and load the right one at the door.

Marking students absent today

Under the picker is a row of chips, one per student. Tapping a chip dims it and takes that student out of the draw; tapping it again returns them. A line beneath shows how many students are here today out of the full roster, which is a quick check before the lesson starts.

Doing this on the roster rather than by deleting names matters. If you delete an absent student and forget to add them back, they quietly disappear from every future cycle. A dimmed chip stays in the list, so the roster stays complete and only today's draw changes.

Late arrivals work the same way: tap their chip and they are back in the draw. One detail to know: a student who was absent when the cycle was dealt, or at the moment of a pick, rejoins at the next cycle rather than the current one. Marking students absent or present never restarts the cycle; adding or removing names in the list does.

Fair turns across the cycle

With a purely random pick, one student can be called three times in a morning while another is never called, and the quiet student is usually the one who is missed. The no-repeat setting, on by default here, works like dealing from a shuffled deck: each present student is drawn once, and only after the last one has had a turn does the cycle begin again.

That is fair over a cycle, not over each individual draw. In a class of 24, the first pick is a 1 in 24 chance, the next is 1 in 23, and so on until the final student is certain. If you prefer independent draws, where anyone can follow anyone, switch the option off in Options.

A practical point for short lessons: a cycle may not finish in one session. The cycle is held in the open page, so reloading it starts a fresh one, and so does editing the list of names; marking students absent or back does not. Note on paper where you stopped if continuity across days matters to you.

Using the picker well in class

Random calling is most useful when students know it is coming. Tell the class at the start that questions will go to whoever the screen picks, and give thinking time before you press the button. Pose the question, wait several seconds, then pick. Students who would otherwise freeze get time to form an answer, and everyone has a reason to listen throughout.

Treat a pick as an invitation rather than a trap. A student who is not ready can pass to a neighbor or ask for a hint, and you can pick again. Cold-calling works best when the cost of a wrong answer is low, so respond to a mistake as you would from a volunteer.

Mix the uses. Pick a student to answer, to read the next paragraph, to hand out materials, to lead the line, or to choose the next activity from a short list. When the picker covers many small roles, being chosen feels routine instead of exposed.

If a student is uncomfortable being picked in front of peers, talk with them privately and agree on a signal, such as a card on the desk, that means pass this time. A fair system should still leave room for a student who is anxious or whose home language differs from the lesson's.

Present mode for the board

Present mode, reached with the Present button or the F key, shows only the reveal, the result and the Pick a student button. That keeps the roster, the absent chips and the options off a screen the whole class can see. The result stays big enough to read from the back row, and Escape returns you to the editor.

The reveal rolls through names for a few seconds before landing, and the spin time can be set from 1 to 20 seconds. For a fast warm-up, use one or two seconds. For a moment of drama before a quiz round, stretch it, bearing in mind that the roll itself tops out at about four seconds. If a student in your room is sensitive to motion, the page reduces the animation automatically when the device asks for that.

Student names and privacy

Use first names, or first names with an initial, rather than full names, and follow your school's rules about what may be typed into web tools. Nothing you enter is sent to a server: the roster, absent marks and results history live in local storage on this device. There is no account. The site counts page views with Google Analytics, which records the page address but never the names on your list.

The one place to be careful is sharing. A copied link carries the whole list after the # sign. Servers do not receive that part, but anyone who has the link can read every name. Use it to move a roster between your own devices, and avoid posting it where students' families or other classes can open it.

On a shared classroom computer, other users of the same browser profile can see saved lists. Clear the saved wheel when you finish if that is a concern.

Beyond answering questions

The picker works for any rotation you would otherwise run from memory. Use it to choose who collects the books, who feeds the class pet, who shares their weekend news, or who reads their writing aloud. Because the cycle is fair, students quickly see that the system is not about favorites, and complaints about being picked too often or never tend to fade.

It also helps at the start of a term. With a class of strangers, call on people by pick while they are still learning each other's names, and say each name aloud as it appears. Hearing it spoken by you, from the board, is a gentle way for everyone to learn who is who. If you are unsure how to pronounce a name, ask the student before the first draw, not at the moment it is on screen.

For group work, the group generator creates new pairs and threes over several rounds, and the team generator balances sizes. This page stays focused on one student at a time.