Formative Assessment Gaming
This year one of my professional goals has been to improve my use of formative assessment. So, I have been trying out lots of different tech tools that would make the creation and feedback processes easier for me. One of the things I used to use (way back in the day) was an in-class clicker system. I LOVED them when I first got them. Then I fell out of love because it was too much work. Creating the questions. Creating the rosters. Getting to reports. Providing feedback to the kids which was not broadcast to everyone in the room. It was great, but only a limited greatness.
Then came online educational gaming options that allow you to recreate the clicker through phones. LOVED this until I had a kid complain that they couldn't participate because of text restrictions. I always felt bad when some of my kids couldn't participate, and besides, doesn't that defeat the purpose of formative assessment if you can't collect data on all kids.
Last year (IDK, maybe longer) I played a little with Kahoot! The kids really enjoyed it and was a nice way for providing feedback to the kids instantly. The nice thing about this system is that it only requires an internet connection. They can play on their computer, their phone, their iPad, etc. As long as they have a device, they can play.
Setting up the game is really simple. You don't have to set up a roster. Kids join your game through a pin. You can create a discussion where the kids answers just come to you, and they don't get to know the right answer until you tell them. In this method no one else can see how they did, except for you. You can set it up as a quiz where they can see the leaderboard (scores of top 6 students in the room), but they can't see everyone. The reports when it is over are saved for you and are downloadable as an Excel file. You can add images and/or videos into your questions. It has worked out really well for me.
Grammar. The struggle is real.
Each week we try to cover one small grammar skill and/or writing style issue that kids have been struggling with. This is in all sincerity, the bane of my existence. The kids hate it. I hate it. I hate taking the time to make the activities. I hate that my kids are 17 years old and don't seem to know what a verb is. I hate that I talk about the same things for 36 weeks, and they still struggle.So, this year we changed our approach. I post grammar practice activities as homework modules for the learners to complete BEFORE coming to class. This requires that they review and struggle a little on their own. When they come to class, I post an activity for them to complete in a small group which focuses on one specific skill. Then, we review and discuss as a class. It is repetitive, and sometimes, a little silly, but I have to address these things in some way. I try to to make activities within the context of something we are reading or writing and not out of blue. It was going OK, but then I decided to turn Friday's into Kahoot! quizzes with a leaderboard and the whole nine yards. All of the sudden, they are willing to participate a little more. They want to actually learn the materials--I wish I could say this was for the sake of learning, but it is actually just to annihilate the competition. Whatever! It seems to work.
I think that the learning has increased, the engagement has increased, and it is a little less of a beating for me because I am seeing better results. Check out Kahoot! or something similar. Maybe it can make the tedious formative assessments a little less tedious.
