I wish Today's Meet existed when I was a student. This wonderful site allows you to open a temporary chat room for your students to speak to each other. It is incredibly useful, especially for engaging your quiet students. As a high schooler, socratic seminar days were my worst fear. Talking in front of everyone was a nightmare. Today's Meet helps to remove some of that stress from my students today. I use the site to keep a dialogue going in my outer circle, and my quiet students end up flourishing, because they are comfortable to share. The site is easy to use and a wonderful tool. I've also used it during video, for students to comment and ask questions without disrupting the class, and even during independent work when students are working hard and frequent questions might distract from the larger group.
ThingLink allows students and teachers to upload images and tag them with links, docs, and more. You can place markers on an image to dive deeper in to a subject, organize information, or increase student interest. I know many that have used this to give their kids info, but many more that have assigned Thinglink creation as formative assessment, especially for concepts that are best explained through graphic organization.
QR codes are a great resource in the class. I use them often for activities and formative assessment, like reading and station notes, but really the possibilities are endless. QR codes are great, yes because the give students access to different sites and link in a new and exciting way, but they also help us as teachers. When students have to use codes to scan for information, it is much easier to judge how far along they have come. My stations are able to flow much better with codes instead of the traditional carousel style because I can judge better what students are struggling based on their frequency of scans. On the Chromebook they are super simple to use, too. Have students download a QR reader- I use ScanQR in my room. Then you can create codes using any link using the site www.qrstuff.com. Classtools is an awesome site full of random but great resources for formative. You or your students can use the site to develop Pacman games, create news headlines, build social media profiles, and more. The site contains templates for a variety of activities that can be used as quick formative assessment, while being fun for the students. Check it out some of the screen shots below and allow yourself some times to explore this resources. It can be a little difficult to navigate but it is full of great stuff!
Combining the digital world with some physical manipulates, Plickers is a blast for everyone involved. It is pretty easy to set up as well. You will need to print Plicker Cards from the Plickers website. There cards look like QR codes. For my classes, I print and laminate the cards, writing the students names on the back for easy distribution. I have seen this procedure done various ways however. Next year my plan is to tape the plicker cards to my students' social studies notebooks, so they always have them. Anyways, once you have your cards you will need a phone with the Plickers app installed. You can add questions from your desktop or from your phone. Plickers allows you to ask multiple choice questions (content or opinion based) by scanning your students QR codes. Students hold up their cards in a specific direction (depending on what they intend their answer to be). It sounds confusing, but its super easy and is a great way to assess the kids on the spot. Plus its fun! ActivePrompt is a cool and simple resource. The site allows you to upload a jpeg for students. You can then create a list of directions. Students then have the chance to move a red dot around the image. It seems simple, and it is. However, it is a powerful tool for formative assessment. The red dot is anonamous. Students place it wherever they feel. I have used the site often to gauge student rediness and confidence for upcoming assessments. Its also a good tool when discussing opinions, espeically on a scale. It can replace the walking debate or always/sometimes/never strucutre when students are not in the classroom or are unable to move around the room. Simply grab an image you would like and edit a scale or timeline on to the picture (this can be done in PPT). Upload that image (with your new scale imposed on it) and now your students can mark their dots on the scale. It is another simple and quick tool.
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AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
October 2016
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