EASY Tech Tip!

Technology, technology, technology. That's one of the buzzwords at my school ... 21st Century Learning ... Integration ... Rigor ... Data ... Assessment ... WHEW! 

I'm not one to hop on a bandwagon before I know for sure it will make my life easier or vastly improve my students' learning experience. Well ... I HAVE to tell you about this super awesome tech tool that is changing my classroom (and the classrooms of my teammates!). 

It's called ... PLICKERS! 

Paper + Clickers. Yup - a super easy way to assess ALL the students in the classroom at once, or even just a few at a time. Plus you can save SO much time by adding the rest of your teammates' classes onto the application. Saving time + easy assessment + fun for kids? WIN, in my book. 

Here's what you do: 

1. Sign up each student for an individual Plickers number using the computer app. 

2. Download the Plickers app on your mobile device.  

3. Plug in a question you want to use for your assessment. It has to be a multiple choice or true/false question. 

4. Print and pass out Plickers cards to your students. Each shape is different, and has a number written on it very lightly in gray. Also written on different sides of the image are the letters A/B/C/D. Students will pick the answer they think is correct, and hold that side upward. 

5. Assess! To assess you open the app on your computer and mobile device. The question on your mobile device is mirrored in a test format on your computer for projection. Kids hold up their cards, and you use the camera on your device to "scan" their answers. The results show up on your phone immediately! 

I even added classes for the two other teachers in my team so that we could share the burden of loading questions onto the program. 

How did it work? Like a dream! I had immediate, accurate data on what my students understood and didn't understand. I was able to access the data immediately, and give feedback to the kids. I even cleared up a few misconceptions almost immediately. 

I highly recommend! Let me know in the comments what YOU think of Plickers!