I took the time to look at
the videos provided of the online resources on the blog and they all seemed
like good tools to use in the classroom.
So many ideas were coming to mind while exploring the different
tools. The two tools that I am choosing
to blog about is Quizlet and Survey Monkey. I have found Quizlet to be helpful
this past year and wanted to talk about things that I can incorporate into my
lesson. I have not created my own Survey Monkey but the AP at my school uses
this tool for various reasons to collect data from teachers and parents.
Quizlet
With a Quizlet you can study
vocabulary and different content areas by creating flashcards or sharing with
others. Using a Quizlet people can learn efficiently and remember
information over time. Images are added to your study sets to make them more engaging and you can
record your own voice to remember what you are learning. Groups are created with
unlimited classes to organize the people and subject you’re learning about. You
can get answers to your questions right away and as a teacher, you get added rewards.
As a teacher, I can track the progress of my students to see which words
my kids are struggling with which will really help me with my ESL students,
which kids are using this tool to study, and what are the more popular ways of
studying since there are multiple ways.
I like how you can study by flashcards, vocabulary, spelling, test, or
even through play to help remember and understand the information. The flashcard method allows you to study in a particular order or gives
you the option to shuffle your cards randomly.
The other method is Learn Mode where you type in the correct
question/answer or term/definition and if at any time your incorrect it keeps
recycling until you get it correct. The Speller Mode lets you type what you
hear and if you spell the answer incorrectly the automated voice will tell you,
let you know the correct spelling, and prompt you to spell it correct. This
would be good to use for spelling test or common misspelled words in students writing in my
classroom. Scatter is another method of learning in which you must match the
correct answer with the question. There
is also a game incorporated in Quizlet that assist with learning called Space
Race where you have to type in the correct answer before the problem leaves the
screen. After, going through all the
learning methods you may also test what
you've learned on Quizlet. There is a feature to enhance study sets and add your own images and audio to make your sets
more engaging for students for an extra cost.
There are many ways to implement the use of Quizlet in my classroom but one way that came to mind is Social Studies. I could use the Landforms Quizlet to help the students
really get a better idea of the different landforms, see different images, and
quiz the students in a fun learning environment to see if they really learned the
information. It can be shared with parents and team members so they can study
at home and team members can take turns creating a quiz for different lessons
and just share with one another. Students can be
tested by true/false, written, or multiple choice questions over the
information. I also chose Quizlet because I believe it not only to be a great tool for
my studies but also for the progress of students.
https://quizlet.com/_t3la0
Survey Monkey
Survey Monkey lets you design your own survey, collect responses, and analyze
results. Surveys are a great way to get
answers to all types of questions. The AP at my school uses Survey Monkey to
get a poll on different things throughout the year.
Some examples include: best
faculty and staff meeting weekday at the beginning of the year, Teacher of the
Year nominee, what works and does not work at our school, after events what did
we think from a teachers point of view and how can it improve, and these are
just a few examples.
She also uses surveys for the
parents to get feedback at the end of the year. She shares some comments as a
whole group for teachers to reflect on. Our AP has mentioned that this will
have more parent participation than sending a letter home and asking the parents
to fill out the form and send back with their child.
I would like to use Survey
Monkey to get feedback at the end of a lesson to see how I could better help
the students learn or make connections. I could create a survey for the end of
the nine weeks to see if the students feel like they are falling behind,
improving, comfortable with the pace of class, etc. Having serious, student
feedback is also important because it lets the teacher know how the students
are feeling with you teaching methods. I could give surveys to the parents to
find out small things that I can change so they feel as though they have an
opinion and I listen to make their year in third grade important as well. I
could ask questions like, “What day of the week would prefer send out
Newsletters,” “How did I do with parent communication,” and “What activities
did your child enjoy throughout the school year.”
On the first day of school, I
could take a poll on how many students took a trip to a different country or
state. We can then have a discussion on how can people travel around the world,
which will lead into our Social Studies lesson.
