Clickers in our Classroom

We have been using clickers in our classroom as review for math tests and for MAP practice.  We use our Options book daily to prepare for MAP testing.  Usually the students say "Options again!  But now they say Options!  Do we get to use the clickers?  My third graders get more excited about the multiple choice lessons when they get to use the interactive clickers.  I love that everyone is engaged!

McDowell Clicker Activity

Students used their clickers to text pre-primer words found on the ABCya.com, spelling practice game. This was a great way to review our word wall words and get the kids excited about spelling. We use the clickers as part of our morning routine and it has become something the students look forward to each day.

Clickers' Use in Class

I have been using the clickers to see how well students can identify coins and their value. It has been very successful and the children look forward to using them! Students have been openly discussing if they knew the answers or not.  They help the person next to them with (technical things) if their number isn't highlighted. Some challenges: Number 23 is occasionally showing though no one has that clicker. We haven't figured out which existing clicker has the connection to it.

Clickers (Blackwell)

I have used the "clickers" in my classroom in a varitey of ways - quick polls with answers texted in, self-paced questions that lead the students through an activity, answering the quiz at the end of BrainPop videos, sharing their conclusions from an experiment, and compiling a list of "what went well" in an activity.

I started each class with a brief introduction to the clickers and some simple questions for them to answer to get used to the features of the clicker. I used the ELMO camera to take a picture of my clicker, and created a quick picture with labels explaining what certain buttons do. This worked well, as some of my students had never used any type of clickers before.

Some of the challenges I am seeing:

• I am still struggling with feeling like the clickers are "gimmicky".
• The kids (grades 2-5) sometimes seem excited to use them, but sometimes kind of groan when they are asked to get them out. I wonder how quickly they will tire of using the clickers ... particularly as they are making their way in to more and more classrooms.
• Too many of the things I am able to do/ask with them are lower-level (knowledge & comprehension ... DOK level 1) activities. My hope is that as I become more comfortable using the clickers, I will be better able to develop higher-level thinking activities with them.
• I wish the students were able to text in multiple answers. I would LOVE to use the clickers for brainstorming ... and then be able to sort/categorize the ideas. It is difficult to do this, however, when ALL of a student's ideas must be in the same posting.
• The "graphs" of the texted answers are virtually useless, and when I "throw" the words to a blank page, they are all overlapping. Iwish the default was set so that they are "thrown" on the page in a readable way.

Some of the benefits I see:

• Everyone is able to answer questions, rather than just 1 or 2 students
• They provide a quick glimpse at where the class is in terms of understanding.

Bagot Clickers

We have been using our clickers and loving it!!  I have been using them to assess informally, as well as check progress.  I have been using them for morning work as well.  I learned how to enter in a question so I am using them to start the morning with simple directions.

Heilich's Clickers

How have you been using the clickers in your classroom?
I have used them in several ways so far. 1) As part of morning work when the students come in. 2) Used them for a math measurement "hunt" for 5th grade. 3) End of the day review questions.

What successes have you had? Challenges?
So far pretty successful! Kids are definitely enjoying them and have been pretty responsible with them. In my room I keep them velcroed to the desk and in order to keep their clickers with them at all times they must have neat/tidy desk areas. If they can't keep it neat then I keep them with me until we need them. The only challenge was realizing I had to set the timer with the questions when I made my measurement hunt! Otherwise the timers were set to 5:00 to complete all of the tasks and it would reset the clickers.

I don't have any pictures at this time. I do have the Measurement Hunt saved as a flipchart if anyone would like to look it over and use it(5th grade). Email me and I'll send it to you aheilich@lindberghschools.ws

Juzenas Clickers

Students have been using clickers since the day after we got them, using the Express Poll, mostly as an informal assessment of their skills in using material presented. In a couple of classes, students asked to use them if I didn't start the class with them.

The best feedback has come when students choose from pre-set multiple choice questions/answers. This lets us discuss the "wrong vs right" answers and move along. When I ask that they type in words, there's the risk of students taking too much liberty with "entertaining" answers.

I did have a little trouble changing pages of my ppt while using Express Poll. The Elite 3 "guru" has advised me to make sure I close the Express Poll question before trying to go to the next page of my ppt.

Symmetry

We have really enjoyed having the clickers in our classroom.  The children enjoy getting them out and on their desk as a part of their morning routine.  We have used them to do a variety of things in our room each day.  Making decisions has become a very democratic process that can take place quickly and efficiently.  Of course the kids want to vote on everything, now!  :)  They have also made working on study guides, answering math questions, and participating in interactive web sites something they all participate in actively for all questions and activities.  I observe an increase in interest, focus and use of time!

Our math lesson on symmetry was enhanced with the clickers.  The students cut out shapes to fold in order to strengthen their understanding of lines of symmetry.  Then we responded with a number indicating how many lines of symmetry each shape had.  The graphs provide great immediate feedback. 

 

Scavenger Hunt For Measurement

My class did a scavenger hunt around their room and 5th grade hall to practice their measurement skills.  They had 13 tasks that were entered on their activexpressions as they roamed to find and measure.  This was very simple to plan and put together with no difficulties that arose.  The winner earned a big bag of m&m's and the kids all said they loved it.  Sorry no pics.

Letter Pop

For my class project, a group of my third graders created a class newsletter through Letter Pop.  First the students selected a layout for the newsletter and decided on a title for their newsletter.  The used the classroom computers to type articles that would be included in the newsletter.  One student interviewed the student teacher and took a picture.  Then students took turns typing their articles into Letter Pop. One student uploaded and dragged a picture into Letter Pop.  We had to spend time on editing the articles once they were dropped into Letter Pop to fit their writing into the space provided.

For the most part this lesson was successful, but time consuming.  To save time two of the students had to cut and paste their articles from the class computers into the Letter Pop layout .We had to play around with the edit button and menu bar until we could figure out how to make changes like deleting and changing the font size.

My third graders enjoyed creating the newsletter and they were pleased with the finished product.

Using the Moodle Glossary to Share

For our project the students created a "Properties of Matter" PowerPoint and then uploaded it to our class Moodle. They shared their PowerPoints with the class and after receiving  feedback from other students, (I likes/I was unclear) the creator revised their original project.
The students LOVED this project and seemed so honored to be an "author" of a Moodle item that classmates and their families could see. We did this at the end of the matter unit, and it worked well as a review for the test. For this project I limited the graphics to Clip Art to save time. The students had worked with a partner earlier this year to create a Native American PowerPoint and using internet sources was very time consuming for some pairs. I'd have to say work rate and trouble with saving correctly was still an issue that we could improve on for our next try. I'd also have the goal of getting everyone to publish something.

Daily math review

We use the clickers to start our math lesson.  I use them to do a quick check to assess whether or not they understood the lesson from the day before and to do a quick assessment of what they already know about the lesson I am teaching that day.

Blends and Digraphs

We use the clickers every day and several times a day.  I especially like to use it first thing in the morning when they arrive to create an "urgency" for learning.  We are still at the beginning stages of answering yes/no, numerical, and short answer (1-2 words) questions.  My biggest challenge has been getting used to the timer (setting it properly and at the right time).  My students LOVE using the clickers, and they want to use them more often.  So do I!  Can't wait to learn about how to use them other ways!

We have been learning about blends and digraphs and highlighting words in our shared reading that contain blends and digraphs.  After reading a big book and locating these words, my first graders went back to their desk and "texted" me a word they know that begins with a blend or digraph.  The two pictures below are evidence of the results and one student texting his answer with the clicker.



Tap Water vs. Bottled Water

My students watched a video on Tap water vs. bottled water and then use the clickers to help me determine how many kids wanted to sell bottled water in our hydration station. This is where the challenges occured. I asked students to answer yes or no to the question "should we still sell water bottles?" I recieved all different kinds of answers...like yessss, yes, yeah, yipee, N, no, nooooo, na, maybe. So I tried to be more specific...I asked them to put ONLY Yes, NO. Again I received different answers...so I tried having them put just y and n. They couldn't follow these simple directions either. So I never did get a chance to find out how many wanted to sell water bottles and how many didn't. My other challenge is usage of the clickers. At this time I am only able to use clickers in the Health room and we are not in there on a consistant basis. So I used the clickers and then Colin asked us for pictures of learning. Needless to say, I didn't get pictures of learning. I will try again.

Boyd's Class with Clickers

We have been using the clickers each day. We are still in the basic stages of voting yes or no or giving few word answers. The students are very engaged when using the clickers. They love seeing the graph and analyzing the graph. My only challenge right now is wanting to do more and not knowing how.

Here is one example of we used the clickers. Today they used the clickers to vote if Phil, the groundhog, would see or not see his shadow. They also used the clickers to tell us what they thought of him seeing his shadow. Of course we talked about the results and what it means to us to have 6 more weeks of winter. After the clickers, they had a writing assignment about Phil the groundhog.