Plickers eliminate that time factor! They can be used in class for INSTANT feedback! Best of all, they're FREE! Yes, you read that right - FREE!!! Another huge advantage for Plickers is that the teacher is the only one who needs a device - so this is perfect for classes without access to technology, or schools that are not BYOD. :) And compared with traditional clickers, there's no set up time and no batteries to fuss with. And did I mention they're FREE?!
Students are given a "Plicker" which looks like a giant QR Code. They are numbered - you set up your class so each child is associated with a number. Each side of the card as a letter, a-d. You can write your questions ahead of time or do them on the spot. You can ask multiple choice questions or true/false. Your students won't be able to "cheat" by looking at other cards because they all look different and the letters are pretty small. This makes your results reliable, and also forces each student to participate!
You can download and print the plicker cards from www.plickers.com - 40 of them! You can laminate them or print them on cardstock. I have a class set that I have laminated, but I'm going to print another set for each student to glue into their Interactive Student Notebooks to save even more time.
When you're ready to ask your questions, you control it with a Smartphone. It projects onto the board through www.plickers.com in the "Live View". Students hold up their card with their letter choice on top. You scan the room with your Smartphone and as each card is read (instantly), their name is checked off on the screen. When you've scanned all the students, you switch to the graph view, and voila - you have a bar graph showing you how many students chose each answer! You also get the class percentage, and on your phone, you can see which students answered correctly and which did not.
It's really impressive how quickly the phone picks up their answers, and the distance at which it can read them! Students just need to be reminded that they have to hold the cards upright, without covering any of the black part and to hold them still. I used these the other day to go over our warm up and I was able to quickly discern which students needed to work on the concept in a small group, and which students were ready to move on.
The only draw back (for now) is that you can't print out a report with specific results per student. You can only get class results. They say they're working on this though.
To use Plickers:
1. Sign up at www.plickers.com with your name, email and password.
2. Set up your classes under the "Classes" tab & enter student names.
3. Write your questions in your "Library", and sort by folder.
4. Download the app "Plickers" on your device.
5. When your class is ready, open up the app, and select the class and select "Live View" on your screen.
6. Select the question you want to ask.
7. Click "Scan" (it has a camera icon).
8. Scan the room! You will see their names being checked off on the screen. I tell them to put their cards down after they've been scanned. On your phone you will see their name either in green (correct) or red (wrong).
9. On the screen, select graph. You can discuss the problem, and then select "Reveal Answer" and it will show them the correct answer.
10. Now go back to students and move on to the next question on your Smartphone. It will automatically change it on the screen!
11. On their website, you can view the results from the "Reports" tab. They also have a very extensive "Help" menu from that tab.
I hope you'll give these a try. Kids love the instant feedback, and the instant results are invaluable as an educator. Plus, they're fun!!
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