16Encouragement
A well-timed burst of celebration goes a long way. Slate has twenty-nine, tuned for teaching — each moves its own way, each is recorded into your replay, and in a live class your students can react too.
CelebrateCorrect!SparklesIdeaNailed itGood jobApplauseStarLove itBalloonsTrophyLet's think…QuestionListen upGreat progressChalk dustWow!On firePerfectParty timeSo funnyMind blownGreat effortGold medalMagicalLightning fastRainbowHands upHappy birthday
Find itThe React button in the top bar — and, during a show, React on the presenter bar.
Use itTap a reaction to place it at this point in the lesson. It plays back in the player and saves with your file (and stays out of exported animations). In a live class it plays on every screen.
Each its own way🎉 fires from both bottom corners, 👏 runs along the bottom like a Mexican wave, ⭐ and ✨ twinkle across the board, 🚀 flies across with a trail, 🔔 shakes and rings out, 💡 lights up in the middle, 🎯 closes in with rings, 🎈 and ❤️ drift up swaying, ❓ and 🤔 pop and bob, 🔥 licks up from the bottom edge, 💯 and 🥇 slam down like a rubber stamp, ⚡ and 🤯 flash and jolt, 🦄 trots across leaving sparkles, and 🎂 arrives with balloons and confetti. With reduced motion turned on (in your computer’s settings or Slate’s Performance options), each is one calm picture instead.
Drop it on a spotTurn on 📍 Drop it on a spot at the top of the menu, tap a reaction, then tap the board: a 💡 or ❓ lands right on the line it is about, with a ripple, on every screen — and the replay lands it there too. Esc cancels.
Class reactions
In a live session students get a small reaction tray at the bottom of their screen: 👍 👏 💡 ❤️ 😮 ❓, and ＋ opens a second row — 🔥 💯 😂 🤯 💪 🥳 ⭐ 🚀. The tray keeps itself above the drawing tools and the tool rail, so on an iPad it never sits on top of a menu. Each reaction shows as a bubble with the student’s initial, rising from one side of the board, so you can see who is reacting without it becoming a wall of emoji.
Find itCollab → Class reactions in the presenter panel.
Who sees themEveryone sees (the default) shows each reaction to the whole class; Only me shows them to you alone, with a live tally — the students are told; Off hides the tray. Your device decides, so the setting holds whatever a student’s page does.
CombosThe same reaction from several students within a few seconds builds a counter (“👏 ×9”) at the top of the board, and at 5, 10, 20 and 40 one big burst plays for everyone — thirty students clapping is one moment, not three hundred particles. Each student can react once every second and a half.
Mute and tallyThe panel lists who reacted most recently; 🔈 beside a name mutes that student’s reactions (tap again to allow them). The line above it counts this lesson’s reactions.
Students drop them tooA student you have let draw (✏️) also gets 📍 in their tray: pick a reaction, tap the board, and it lands on that spot for everyone — “I’m stuck here” becomes a ❓ on the exact line. A student with a writing box can’t.
Hype meterChoose a goal (10–100) and press 🔥 Hype meter: a bar across the top of every screen fills with each class reaction. When it is full it celebrates for everyone, then goes away.
Feel check🙂 Feel check gives every student 30 seconds to tap 😀 Confident, 🙂 Getting there or 😕 Not yet (they can change their mind). You see the split live in a card at the bottom right; only you see who chose what. Show the class shares the overall result.
Shout-out⭐ Shout-out: pick a student and the words (Great explanation, Brilliant question, Super effort… or your own) and a card with their name appears on every screen, with twinkling stars.
In the lesson afterwardsYour reactions and shout-outs go into the replay as before. A burst of class reactions is kept as one small marker down the right of the board (“👏 12”) that plays its burst and count again in the replay. The recap’s last card tells you what the class reacted to, and the biggest moment.
Part of the Slate guide — or read the whole guide on one page.