Quizlet

Quizlet is a site that allows teachers to create quizzes for students in order to determine student learning. Quizlet empowers students to take charge of their learning. Teachers can create their own deck of cards, or choose from a variety of provided cards to help students learn.

Students can save certain cards to continue to practice and review. Teachers can implement different types of questions and study skills with students.

Quizlet helps teachers meet ISTE for Educators standard 6b: Manage the use of technology and student learning strategies in digital platforms, virtual environments, hands-on makerspaces or in the field.

Quizizz

Quizizz is a site that helps teachers gamify formative assessments. Quizizz works similarly to Kahoot, which is an app I have mentioned on other parts of this site. Teachers create quizzes for students in order to determine what students have learned, and therefore help teachers plan next steps for learning. The data is collected on the site and teachers can view what skills and targets students understand, and on which ones students need more support.

This helps students achieve ISTE for Students 1c: Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.

Flipgrid

Flipgrid is a tool that many teachers use for an interactive formative assessment activity. In Flipgrid, the teacher posts a topic like a question or learning standard. Teachers can include a wide variety of resources in the topic to provide support for students. The students then respond to the topic through a video.

Students can provide examples of how they met the learning target in the video though a demonstration of the skill or explanation of their learning. Students can also use Flipgrid to post videos of self-reflections.

During the emergency closures of schools in the spring of 2020 due to COVID-19, I used Flipgrid with my students for a wide variety of purposes. I asked students to give an emotions or feelings check in, to share what they did over the weekend, or to explain how they solved a math problem. Our SEL teacher had students post videos about why they think their teacher was awesome for teacher appreciation week.

Flipgrid helps students demonstrate ISTE for Students 1a; Students articulate and set personal learning goals, develop strategies leveraging technology to achieve them and reflect on the learning process itself to improve learning outcomes.

RAZ Kids

RAZ Kids is an online reading program for elementary students. Students can read a story independently, or listen along to a story. Students also have the option of recording themselves reading the story in the app. Once the students have finished listening to a story, they are asked to take a short comprehension quiz. The quizzes have both multiple choice and long-form answer questions.

The teacher can see many types of reports in RAZ Kids. For example, a teacher has the ability to assign a book to the whole class. When assigning the book, the teacher can give permission for students to listen to the book, or read independently. The teacher can also decide whether or not to assign the quiz.

After the students have completed the assignment, the teacher can see how students performed on the quiz. Results can be broken down by class, question, or individual student. This helps the teacher target students and skills for reteaching.

Many teachers use RAZ Kids daily during guided reading. When teachers log in to RAZ Kids, a graph report appears with information about the reading comprehension skills of the class.

ISTE for Students 1c: Students use technology to seek feedback that informs and improves their practice and to demonstrate their learning in a variety of ways.

Voice Recording Apps

There are many apps that have voice recording capabilities. Here is one called Voice Recorder. Most Apple products come with Voice Memos already installed. This is a great tool that helps students with self-reflection. Students can record their performance and thoughts, and later reflect upon how they did. I like to use Voice Apps for independent reading practice with my second graders. I will have my students record themselves reading a passage. I will then have them listen to the recording as they silently read the passage again. Sometimes, I will have them mark mistakes they catch themselves making. Or, I will have them time themselves to see what their words per minute score is. Or, I will have them listen and reflect on how they read with expression (voice and emotion). This helps students compare their own performance to themselves.

Here is a blog post from an instructional coach who uses voice recording for fluency practice. Below is a Prezi presentation from the same teacher.

This tool meets the ISTE for Educators standard 7a: Provide alternative ways for students to demonstrate competency and reflect on their learning using technology.