Random Tools for Teachers
For teachers, teaching assistants and anyone running a classroom, a club or a training session. · 15 tools
Most classroom randomisers do one of three jobs: choose a pupil, split a class into groups, or start a lesson with something to think about. The tools below are grouped that way rather than by how they work internally, because that is the order you actually need them in during a lesson. Everything runs in the browser with no login, which matters when you are signed in to a school device and have ninety seconds before the bell.
Choosing a pupil
For cold-calling, picking a volunteer, or deciding whose turn it is. On the name picker and the wheels, turn on the option to remove a name once picked if you want everyone asked before anyone repeats; the first-player picker has none.
- Random Name PickerPaste a list of names and instantly pick one at random, fairly and without repeats if you choose.
- Wheel SpinnerAdd your own entries, spin the wheel, and get a fair winner every time.
- First-Player PickerRandomly pick who goes first from a list of players.
- Classroom Reward WheelSpin a wheel pre-filled with classroom reward ideas.
Splitting the class up
Group work without the negotiation. The team and group makers deal the names round, so sizes differ by at most one; the one case that leaves somebody alone is groups of two from an odd-sized class.
- Random Team GeneratorSplit a list of names into a chosen number of random, evenly sized teams.
- Random Group GeneratorSplit a list into random groups of a chosen size, for activities larger than pairs or teams.
- Pair GeneratorPair up a list of names, across as many rounds as you need, without anyone being paired with the same person twice.
- Turn-Order GeneratorGenerate a full random turn order for every player in a game.
Starting a lesson
Something on the board as pupils come in. Useful as a settler, a retrieval-practice warm-up, or a five-minute filler at the end of a lesson.
- Writing Prompt GeneratorA prompt to kick-start a story or creative-writing session when the page is blank.
- Discussion Question GeneratorAn open-ended question to start a classroom discussion or small-group conversation.
- Spelling Challenge GeneratorA commonly-misspelled word, ready for spelling practice or a classroom spelling bee.
- Random Letter GeneratorGenerate one or more random letters of the alphabet, with vowel or consonant filtering.
Maths and numbers
For quick mental-maths practice and for demonstrating probability with something the class can watch happen.
Getting the most out of these
Two things are worth knowing before you rely on these in front of a class. The group, team and turn-order tools can now save a class list on the device you are using — you press Save, nothing is written before that, and it is never uploaded anywhere — but the pickers and wheels cannot, so for those keep your register in a document you can paste from. And the name picker and the wheels can pick the same pupil twice in a row unless you turn on their option to remove a name once drawn; for cold-calling, that setting is the one that makes the difference. The first-player picker has no such option.
Other collections
- Random Tools for DevelopersIdentifiers, placeholder data and sample values for tests, fixtures and documentation.
- Random Tools for Game NightDice, turn order and worldbuilding tools for board games and tabletop RPGs.
- Random Tools for PartiesIcebreakers, party games and conversation starters for groups that have gone quiet.
- Random Tools for Language TeachersTurn this week's vocabulary list into worksheets, flashcards and speaking practice.