Or do you find yourself checking for understanding, only to see the same students raising their hands to answer each time?
The solution is here! Plickers will solve all of your problems with checking for student understanding. The best part? Plickers will make your life easier while keeping students engaged!
Plickers is a tech(ish) way to ask students multiple choice or true/false questions. I say tech(ish) because it's tech for you, and not for them. Now, I'm all about giving students the technology and creative freedom to use technology, however I know that sometimes time is of the essence and you need to do a quick formative assessment to see how students feel or answer a question anonymously.
Click the video below to see how Plickers works!
1. Assess How They Feel
Plickers is the perfect way to see how your students feel about a particular topic. Of course there are some students who feel comfortable verbalizing their comfort or discomfort with what they are learning, but there are usually an equal amount of students who don't feel comfortable sharing that in front of their peers. This can be an anonymous, safe way for your students to ask for help without getting embarrassed.
Another great thing about Plickers is that the data is always there! You can look back at previous scans to track student progress.
2. Entrance/Exit Tickets
How do you know what your students need when they enter the room? Entrance tickets are a perfect way to see what students know before you teach a lesson. The problem that I have always found with entrance tickets is that there isn't enough time to analyze student data before teaching so it doesn't really drive my instruction. Plickers instantly grades each student's answer so that you can use that data purposefully.
Similarly, you can use Plickers to collect your exit ticket data. The instant grading makes it easy to assess whether concepts need to be retaught the next day.
3. Student Groupings
Before Plickers, I struggled with differentiation. Mostly because there weren't enough hours in the day! Plickers was convenient because I could very quickly post a multiple choice math question with one correct answer choice and three incorrect answer choices. I would purposely make the incorrect choices common mistakes. This allowed me to create groups and centers based off student need and address any misconceptions right on the spot!
Plickers has truly been a time saver for me. My students seem to like using them too because the instant feedback is almost like a game show! This app has really helped my grading and has helped to drive my instruction.
What are some other ways that you could incorporate Plickers into your classroom? Comment your ideas below!
Resources
Plickers. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://get.plickers.com/
Plickers- A Step by Step Tutorial. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qpx56rjCVjQ
Karen,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your ideas on Plicker. I never heard of Plicker before reading your blog and I must admit I very curious and ready to use it in my classroom. I love how you broke the down the use of plicker and how to apply it to any subject matter classroom.
I agree that some students are more comfortable to verbalize their strengths and weaknesses, while others sit quietly waiting to get help. I think Plicker would be great to use during anytime of a lesson. Your idea of collecting data through the warm up or exit ticket is perfect for planning the next lesson and/or assessment. Lastly, plickers is an great way to assess because students do not feel the type of pressure they normally would during a formal assessment. It's always an amazing idea to make your assessments diverse.
In my music classroom, I could use this during my 8th grade band to see which students can identify the specific rhythm we keep messing up as a group. This would let me know which students are unable to identify the problem and I can work on them for that certain part.
Thanks again for sharing!
I'm glad that you found it helpful! You can also add images into the questions. Maybe you could ask questions about the correct notes. Too bad they don't have a feature where you could add a sound clip! I love Plickers because it works for all content areas!
DeleteKaren,
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU! ... sorry for the caps, but WOW! I had no clue what Plickers was before your blog entry! This is exactly what I've been needing for my classroom! Like you pointed out, it is 'tech-ish' enough that you do not need a ton of technology available, and I have a very limited amount; so this is great for me, and my class. Also because I teach 700 students, and I am a special, I only see my classes once a week or less, I need something completely instant (without more piles of stuff to organize, etc.), especially with my limited time of 45 minutes and needing clean up time (...because art) the less paper and less time dedicated to these exit/entrance tickets is great! I literally just signed up, and I am ready to start Plickers! Thank you so much for sharing, and this is great for multiple classes, and any subject area!
I'm glad you found it so helpful! I learned about it a few years ago and I have been hooked every since! If you use it, I highly recommend having the students stand up and sit down when their name turns green (this means Plickers has recorded their response). It makes scanning responses quicker and you can easily spot if students are looking at each other's cards for answers. I also have a no talking policy when we are submitting responses. This prevents students from sharing answers. My student's really like Plickers! I'm glad you found this helpful. Hopefully it will make your life easier!
Delete-Karen