We all know using different ways of formative assessment to check for student understanding is important. It can be challenging to do that with a room of 30+ students, and that is where technology comes in very handy. You will notice formative assessment is a category on the right side of this blog with all kinds of ideas.
But a king in formative assessment truly is goformative.com. Seriously, just click on the link and watch the silent video that plays on the main page that shows you what it can do. Imagine if you could have a question and students could all illustrate the answer...and you could see what they all were illustrating in real time? Imagine if you could post an open ended question and see what all students are typing in real time---and provide instant feedback while this is happening? Imagine if you could have these questions up as an exit ticket everyday for students to submit.... You don't have to imagine anymore. These are just some of the things goformative.com can do! If you are a teacher, you may want to consider this $20-40 item for your holiday wish list: A wireless keyboard with a built in touchpad!
A wireless keyboard with a built in touchpad allows you be anywhere in the classroom and control your computer---plus you can pass it to students so they can participate in leading. The Logitech one {not associated} below is what we have. It is awesome as neither bluetooth nor software needed. It connects with just a USB drive just as a PowerPoint remote or wireless remote would, and it has an excellent range. Do you like Poll Everywhere? It's a great, FREE tool that will let you do all kinds of formative assessments during a lesson including multiple choice questions, open ended responses, and word clouds.
Poll Everywhere has always played nice with PowerPoint. Now it also plays nice with Google Slides. By installing the Chrome extension "Poll Everywhere," you will find an extra menu item at the top that says "Poll Everywhere" whenever you open Google Slides. You can them click this menu item and begin creating polls in the Google Slides. Remember that your students can work in Google slides too as it's a great collaborative tool. You can have as many as 50 people working in a Google Slide set at one time (that number may change in the future). See the screenshots below showing installation of the Chrome extension and where it can be found one you open Google Slides! Click screenshots to enlarge. Have you ever tried BrainRush? We love it! It is a game that teachers or students can create, but it has more than just the standard vocabulary "match the word to the definition" kind of game options. We love that it is adaptive---that is, it adapts to how the student is doing. Every student can reach 100% mastery but it will adjust to help each student reach that mastery. Oh, and of course, it's FREE.
Here is our example of the "bucket category sort" game option (click green "play" button at top so you can preview it): http://www.brainrush.com/lesson/amoeba-sisters-genotype-vs-phenotype Here is our example of the "sequences" game option (click "play" button at top so you can preview it): http://www.brainrush.com/lesson/amoeba-sisters-name-that-monohybrid-cross If you search the public library in BrainRush, you will see an assortment of all types of games (including cards and hot spots) that are already pre-made. Many are excellent for all types of science. If you set up a class, it even will keep track of how your students are doing on mastery! Yes, we are definitely placing this one in our "formative assessment" category. We LOVE Kahoot, and we have posted on that before (see the category menu on right where Kahoot is a category).
Another great one that we learned at #TCCA15 is Quizizz! Similar to Kahoot, it is an interactive quiz game. However, it is student paced.Therefore, you can have everyone in the class working on the quiz at the same time but on their own pace. It also has hilarious memes. Who doesn't love hilarious memes? Well...for those of you that don't, you can turn them off. Like Kahoot, you can make the quizzes public so we have made one for you to see (and use if you wish!) that compares mitosis vs.meiosis: goo.gl/AjphU9 We would recommend that if you make any quizzes on this website --- yet want the answers to be secure --- to make them "private." Making quizzes public also makes the answer key public as well. |
About This PageThis page features some of Pinky's favorite instructional technology websites, apps, online resources, response systems, and other tools. Please always read the terms and privacy policy of any technology tool that you plan to use in the classroom.
Disclosure? If we share a tool or website on this page, it's because we like it and find it useful. We don't have affiliate links on this blog. If we use affiliate links at any point on this blog, we will announce on the individual post. Topics
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