Beautiful BYOD
How can I teach my students in my BYOD district?
You Have One New Tool in Your Toolbox
How are you going to use it? In general, think of the things you normally do in your classroom. Ask yourself the simple question, "Is there a technology tool that would work here and be better?" If not, stick with what you are doing. But if you see something today that you know your students would love, give it a shot!
- Delivering content
- Research
- Collaboration
- Review and practice
- Projects
Delivering Content
As difficult as it may be for teachers to let go of their lecture format, studies show students learn better in a more immersive format. You can still be in complete control by converting your existing Power Point slides to a Nearpod, or by steering students through each phase of the lesson by using a website such as this one (try Smore, Tackk, or Weebly).
Research
Can you say Google? That's the first thing that comes to mind, but it's so much deeper than that. Challenge students to document their research correctly and provide strong guidelines to direct their findings to meaningful results.
Collaboration
Google again leads the way with Google Drive, but there are also other methods of sharing documents, including Dropbox and Box. Teachers can collect documents from students using one of these and sharing a folder with students. Or, set up a shared whiteboard space for brainstorming using AwwApp, a free online resource. This is also a great place for a math teacher to begin to work a problem, then ask for any student in the class to take over without having to go up to the board.
Review and Practice
Kahoot!
Extremely popular with students, Kahoot is exceptionally reliable on a wide variety of devices, offers over four million public Kahoots in its library, and produces very little drain on a wireless network.
Quizalize
Make review games to play on any topic, then play in class or assign as homework. You can get your free account at Quizalize.com.
Quizizz
Increasing quickly in popularity, Quizizz is similar to Kahoot but has all questions directly on the student's device. It also has a feature none of the other quiz sites have: you can search for individual questions, building your own review as you go.
Quizlet
Quizlet allows the flexibility of creating a study guide as a series of flashcards, then transforming the same data into a test or fun game-style activity. Many teachers use this as an actual test site.
Socrative
Socrative is known for its "Space Race" activity, where students individually or in groups race their rockets against each other. However, it can also be a serious review or test site.
Spelling City
Spelling City is my kinda town! If you, as a teacher, are struggling to create sentences using vocabulary words in different ways, just type in the word and let Spelling City do the rest. It also lets students practice their spelling words in a fun game environment.
Study Stack
Stacks of flashcards for study fun - make your own or find a stack just right for you. You can create a free account at Study Stack.
ThatQuiz
A favorite with math teachers, ThatQuiz can be customized by question type and difficulty level.
Poll Everywhere
Kids can text their responses to teachers' pre-made poll questions, or teachers can ask them on the fly. Check it out at Poll Everywhere.
Project Based Learning
There are so many wonderful, FREE, tools now available for students to create their own content. Replace that aging poster, papier-mâché, or popsicle stick project with something more engaging for the kids and less costly for their parents.
This Smore Created for You by:
Rita Ayers
i21Zone Specialist
Chalkable
Email: rayers@chalkable.com
Location: Fairhope, AL, United States