Hard to believe that another school year has started. Only seems like yesterday I started my new journey in becoming a Technology Integration Teacher and here we are 3 years later. As I write this, teachers have already been back for a week and we have had students for 3 of those days.
This year, in my opening tech training to the high school staff, I demonstrated three new concepts/tools for possible implementation into curriculum: Kahoot!, Plickers, and Google Classroom (more to come in a future post). I was not surprised to see the excitement from the teachers when they were demonstrated.
Kahoot!
This web 2.0 tool, hands down, is my new, absolute, favorite game based learning tool. I first learned about this when I attended the ISTE 2014 conference in Atlanta this past summer and wondered why I had not discovered it sooner.
Why I love it you ask?
- Teachers create a free account
- Teachers can create their own or use public Kahoot! game quizzes
- Kahoot! works on any platform to include mobile devices
- Kahoot! is very engaging, competitive and fun
- Teachers can get a print out of results
How to Start:
A teacher creates a quiz topic. Then they determine what questions to ask. With each question a picture is associated to it to help give clues for the participants. In most cases, there are four choices for participants to choose from and the teacher can decide how long each question should be for participants to respond to the question.
Implementing into the Classroom:
Before playing the game, participants enter a code on their device to get into the quiz. Once everyone is in, the teacher starts the quiz game. The first question is displayed on the board for the participants to read the question and figure out their answer. Once the participants have an answer, they click on the appropriate area of their screen on their device to lock in their answer. What is important to note is that participants earn points based on how fast they locked in their answer assuming it was answered correctly. After time is up, participants individually see how they are rank on their screens and the top five are showcased for everyone to see on the board. Then the teacher starts the next question. This process is repeated until the quiz game is done.
I have made 9 Kahoot! games already within the last 2 months to help reinforce information that was shared during tech trainings. In every scenario, teachers were engaged, competitive, and showed excitement for learning. There were even some instances where teachers were saddened that we stopped a game quiz early due to time constraints. All they wanted to do was continue to play the game.
Uses for Kahoot! in educational settings:
Beware, Kahoot! is VERY ADDICTING. Kahoot! is just another example of how technology can help make learning fun but yet reinforce material at the same time. Guarenteed, if you have not tried Kahoot! you will love it as well as your students. I look forward to hearing how teachers at BHS decide to use Kahoot! in their own classroom.
Of course, if you have any questions, you know where to find me!
A teacher creates a quiz topic. Then they determine what questions to ask. With each question a picture is associated to it to help give clues for the participants. In most cases, there are four choices for participants to choose from and the teacher can decide how long each question should be for participants to respond to the question.
Implementing into the Classroom:
Before playing the game, participants enter a code on their device to get into the quiz. Once everyone is in, the teacher starts the quiz game. The first question is displayed on the board for the participants to read the question and figure out their answer. Once the participants have an answer, they click on the appropriate area of their screen on their device to lock in their answer. What is important to note is that participants earn points based on how fast they locked in their answer assuming it was answered correctly. After time is up, participants individually see how they are rank on their screens and the top five are showcased for everyone to see on the board. Then the teacher starts the next question. This process is repeated until the quiz game is done.
I have made 9 Kahoot! games already within the last 2 months to help reinforce information that was shared during tech trainings. In every scenario, teachers were engaged, competitive, and showed excitement for learning. There were even some instances where teachers were saddened that we stopped a game quiz early due to time constraints. All they wanted to do was continue to play the game.
Uses for Kahoot! in educational settings:
- Reinforce a new concept
- Review for assessments
- Advisory activity
Beware, Kahoot! is VERY ADDICTING. Kahoot! is just another example of how technology can help make learning fun but yet reinforce material at the same time. Guarenteed, if you have not tried Kahoot! you will love it as well as your students. I look forward to hearing how teachers at BHS decide to use Kahoot! in their own classroom.
Of course, if you have any questions, you know where to find me!
