Thing 8: Quizzes and Assessment Tools

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.