Nancy Robinson
EDGR 625 - Self Directed Learning - Plickers
  
I teach K-6 health education classes.  I teach in two schools.  One school has limited access to technology for students (laptop and IPAD carts that you can sign out when available but are shared among staff on a first come first serve basis), and the other school has one-one access to technology (Chrome Book) for each student.  One school I travel classroom to classroom to teach and the other I have a teaching space that is shared by many other programs (ie. after school program, special education, and other teachers who need a space and do not have one).  My Action Research is going to be around how student feedback impacts student learning, so I wanted to explore technology that could be used in both these settings to help me get feedback from my students around their learning experiences within the classroom and collect some formative assessments as well to help guide my instruction.  Lisa Forbes, introduced the idea of Plickers in our class one day, and I have been thinking about the possible uses for this tool within my classrooms for this purpose.  I choose to look into Plickers for my self-directed learning.

 

I used the following steps for finding information:

• I went to their website (Plickers) and looked to see what was available on the website.
• I tried Twitter, which gave me information on how teachers were using it in their classrooms.
• I google searched "Plicker Webinars" which took me to some recorded webinars on Youtube and found one that was very helpful in taking me through the whole steps of using Plickers in the classroom.  This was the most valuable resource for me in my learning.

New Learning:

• Plickers provide real time formative assessment data with limited technology.
• All you need is one paper Plicker card for each student, a computer and the ability to project the questions for the students, and one mobile device.
• The one card allows students to answer several types of questions (poll, multiple choice, true and false, and yes and no).  They answer by holding their card so the correct answer is on top.
• Answers can be hidden, viewed only to show who has and has not answered or to show the answers students gave (you choose).
• Plickers are used at the K-college age level.
• Plickers are used for formative assessment, exit tickets, warm up, lesson refreshers.
• The App and paper cards are free.  The App is available on iOS or Android, but the phone App can be used on IPAD.
• Currently you organize your questions by class, but soon you can organize by folders.
• You manage your Plickers accounts (class lists, question banks, etc.) from the Plickers website in the "library section".
• You can set up a "task card system" in place of the questions if you like and their is training on how to do this in the webinar notes I am including a link to at the bottom of my entry.  

How I hope to use Plickers in my classroom for:

• Student self-assessments around class participation.
• Student feedback on learning activities used in the classroom.
• In direct instruction (example instead of voting with hands or thumbs up, use Plickers)
• Exit tickets.
• Trivia games.
• Small group activities - The group enters their answer after research and discussion. 
• I hope to look into creating "task cards" so that I can have grade K, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6 cards. 
  

 I look forward to using these in my class.  I think it will be especially helpful in my grade K-4 classes where access to technology is limited.  I can use technology to obtain student feedback in a way that accommodates both technology limitations and the fact that I travel from classroom to classroom and do not have one space to work in.

Plickers Learning and Resources  This has link has the webinars and some additional resources and learning information.  My next step after I use Plickers in the classroom is to Look at how to use Plickers beyond assessment - which is Plickers 102 webinar on this link.

ISTE Teacher Standards:
2.  Design and develop digital age learning experiences and assessments.

     Teachers design, develop, and evaluate authentic learning experiences and assessments

      incorporating contemporary tools and resources to maximize content learning in context and 

      to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes identified in the Standard. 

          d.  Provide students with multiple and varied formative and summative assessments aligned

               with content and technology standards, and use resulting data to inform learning and

               teaching.

 

 

 

 

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February 11, 2017

Weekend two journal entry.  I have a lot of new learning from this past month and this weekend of class.

• Padlet:  I learned this tool, and used it with my classes and presented it for my speed geek session.  I learned about this tool from the book "Amplify digital Teaching and Learning in the K-6 Classroom" by Stephanie Harvey.  I had not even heard of Padlet before reading about it in this book.
• We Video:  I have never done anything with We Video ever.  I did a "My Health Meal Plan" introductory video for my classes to get them excited about the project (as  hook).  I used picture clips, and video segments to make my video, added a theme with background music and added voice to the picture clips.  My student told me it was a good "first time ever" We Video.  That felt good.  I have already started my Promo video using We Video.
• Twitter:  This is a constant learning experience for me.  Totally new, a little confusing, but I have found some very good resources on it and plan to keep exploring it a little each week.
• Tinkercad - I made a pretty cool valentine day design using this tool and again had never used this tool before.
• Speed Geeking:  Introduced me to some new tools (SeeSaw sound like a good student resource management system.  Thinglink has some good concepts to it that I might be able to use in the future.  Very informative, all I need now is some time to play with these new learning tools.
• Plickers:  Lisa introduced this to our class and I want to explore it more.  It would be so useful in my Action Research class in obtaining feedback from students in a quick and easy way that keeps a record of student responses.  It also allows students to respond without being influenced by their peers (like when raising your hands or thumbs up or down), which can help to ensure that their feedback is honest and biased.  I look forward to researching this more.

February 11, 2017

My Padlet Presentation Video:
Enjoy!

February 9, 2017
I worked with voice thread for my maker space time.  I do not have what I would consider a lot of imagination, so my final project is pretty simple.  It is a valentine for my nephew who passed away and whom I miss dearly.  I made my text in green because that was his favorite color and I enjoyed thinking of him while learning and trying some new technology. 

I could possible use this in my classroom to create my "Health Diamond" project with my grade 5&6 students or my health triangle project with my grade 3&4 students, but I would need to play with it a lot more.  I can not remember how I saved it to this format even and I just did that a few minutes ago.  Anyways, I like my final product and I enjoyed trying something new.

So you have a Twitter account.  Now what?  by Jennifer Gonzalez
I found this helpful because I am struggling how to make Twitter meaningful for me as a professional.  I am also having difficulty understanding Twitter posts and the organization of it.  She is helping me with this.

February 2, 2017

One of my goals for my technology class is to started each (grade 5&6) class with a small technology task to help them come in and settle down and focus better.  I did that today with a Google Form Survey about what types of learning activities they enjoy and it worked well.  Next week they will answer a question on using Padlet.  Not only today's survey help me work toward my class goal, but my Action Research is about student feedback, so it will help me with that topic area as well.

I learned that:
Preferred Learning Activities Included:               Least Preferred Learning Activities Indlucded:
Videos                                                                        Lecture
Technology                                                                Discussion
Kahoot
Games

Good information to help with planning learning activities in health class.

February 2, 2017  My We Video:

I created my promo video using We Video.  I wanted to do this early because I also wanted to use it in my health classes today to introduce the My Healthy Meal Project to my classes.  The kids seemed to enjoy the video and most seem excited about the project.  My Health Meal Video

Playing my promo video for my classes, I discovered that I left out some key information.  The making the meal process.  Although student's complimented me on my first ever "We Video", I plan to go back and adding the section I left out before the end of my Technology Class.