I thought I would share some ideas I have to eliminate the wasteful practice of handing out worksheets, checking them, giving them back and inevitably they end up in the trash (or recycle I hope...):
Formative assessments are a necessary and extremely beneficial part of any instruction. Simple 2-5 question question quizzes can give a wealth of insight and knowledge about my instruction and the learning of my students. How do I do that without using paper? I have a couple ways. MasteryConnect uses an add-on called "BubbleSheet". All I have to do is create the questions on a doc or pdf, load them into the system under the correct standard and give my kids the test id. They log in to either the app or bubblesheet.masteryconnect.com and go. Data is collected in real time and I can assess my instruction on the spot.
Another tool I plan to use is Plickers. I create the questions, then show them on the board. They hold up their answer using one of the provided cards:
Then I use my phone to quickly scan their answer and collect my information. Another nifty part of Plickers is that I can launch a real time results graph that shows the students what everyone else is choosing anonymously. This allows for instant feedback and for the student to reflect on their answer in the moment. Not to mention it is pretty cool!
There are of course the old school methods. I taught my kids A, B, C, and D in sign language and have them hold their choice to their chest. Or there is always thumbs up or thumbs down. While I will always continue to use these methods, the techy versions allow me to collect the data rather than trying to simply remember. We all know we already have more than enough to remember!
These are just two examples, if you have more, feel free to add them to the comments!
This is going to be a challenge for me, but I am not afraid. If we as teachers don't challenge ourselves, we become stagnant and quickly lose our effectiveness. Take the challenge and do something really cool!
I will be posting more ideas up until #noworksheet week, so check back for more!
