Transform Your Classroom Into A Game Show with Student Response Systems

What if class was like a game show where the teacher was the host and the students were contestants vying for the coveted prize of knowledge. That’s what learning is like for the fifth graders at PS 189 in Manhattan. Last year as part of the “Partnering with Our Digital Natives” grant, 5th grade teachers Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Terribile (his collaborative team teacher) attended professional development where they received a class set of student response systems which ultimately transformed the teaching and learning in their classrooms. Today unlike most classes studying main idea, as you enter the classrooms of these teachers it’s not unusual to hear students cheering for one another as they find out the correct answer after voting with their student response systems. When questions are answered wrong, this is not seen as a mistake, but rather an opportunity to learn more about the topic they are studying. Unlike game shows however, there are no winners or losers, only learners.

Here’s how they used the devices to transform their classrooms into a game show.

Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Terribile use the materials they’ve always used in the classroom but the clickers enable them to get everyone involved. Rather than giving one student the chance to respond to a question, every student’s answer is heard, all participate, and all are held accountable.

Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Terribile’s Class
Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Terribile gave test prep an update. Traditionally test prep consists of teachers handing tests out to students who quietly sit at their desks completing their tests and turn it back to the teacher. These are not fun times for students OR teachers. Fast forward to Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Terribile’s 21st century classroom and you see something very different. Quiet. Phew! Their kids are wooting, hollering and finding out instantly if they have a test answer correct. Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Terribile don't spend time at night grading and assessing his kids. He finds out right then and there who understands the question and who doesn’t and then guess what? They discuss the thinking that went into the right and wrong answers, really making meaning of what they did. Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Terribile instantly know if his class is ready to move on and is able to address and pinpoint issues as they occur. Because testing companies are stuck in the past and they make bigger profits using outdated paper tests, the teachers also provide students with practice on capturing their answers on paper as well while also using student response systems.

After class Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Terribile don’t have to waste his time grading papers. Instead they move right to analyzing the data to drive his future instruction. They can create groups focusing on areas of need and provide individualized support and practice for students in need. The results and support can easily be shared with students and their parents.

Mr. Rodriguez’s Class
Upon entering Mr Rodriguez’s class you’ll realize he teaches in a uniquely innovative way that at first outsiders can’t wrap their heads around. He truly embodies the 21st century game show host environment. You know what I mean. He talks both to his audience (students) and to the magic game show announcers and co-hosts. Think in a talk show when the host says,“Okay, Peter, tell them what they’ve won!” Or, “To help you in answering this question, we’ve brought in this expert on Gorillas. Ms. Goodall?” ...whose head magically appears in an animated box as she brings you to the Congo.

It’s fast paced. Everyone is involved and there are really cool interactive elements only available to a talk show host with a multi-million dollar budget. Right? Buzz. Wrong! Mr. Rodriguez literally embeds the use of the student response system with the interactive software from a program that his school has purchased called Compass Learning which creates curriculum and assessment solutions that motivate today’s students to engage, think & learn with fun, interactive, research-based instruction that appeals to students. Compass has already done all the work creating interactive animations that get students excited about learning. Mr. Rodriguez has set up his clickers so they correspond to the questions asked in the animations. The animated characters speak to the class. Mr. Rodriguez prompts the class to respond with their clickers, and instantly the class and Mr. Rodriguez know who understands the task at hand and who does not. Just as in Mr. Kennedy’s class, there’s as much learning when exploring the thinking behind the wrong answers and discussing how to get to the correct result as there is when discussing the correct answer.

While Compass Learning is designed as a program for individualized learning for students, using it in this way takes the experience from a solitary to a collaborative experience. While the lessons are interactive and engaging it’s much more fun for students to make meaning with their peers than it is for a student sitting alone with earbuds going through a lesson. Additionally, the connections and conversations that ensue are powerful. Mr. Rodriguez enjoys being able to assess and teach into students needs real time and he has built a culture of trust in his classroom with expectations that students will also work to teach their peers.

Mr. Rodriguez enjoys starting units with a lively whole class lesson using Compass Learning and student response systems. After that the class may go deeper in the content on their own at their own pace. Instructing this way has the side benefit of being a good option in a school that doesn’t have 1:1 access to technology. When the students don’t have access to a lab or laptop carts, they can still engage with the material and when they do have access they can explore on their own.

A suggestion Mr. Rodriguez, Mr. Kennedy and Ms. Terribile have for student response system providers and curriculum providers like Compass Learning and Teaching Matters who produces their Writing Matters curriculum is that they create assessments using student response systems. This would enable teachers to spend more time working with their students. The nice thing though is, once the lessons are created with Clicker software they can be shared, used for other classes, and recycled for the next year.

If given the choice of going to class or playing games we know what the typical student would answer. With student response systems, students and teachers get the best of both worlds with a tool that can transform any class into a game show while helping students to think, discuss, and make meaning of their learning.

Note: If you’re in a school without student response systems, you can still transform your classroom into a game show without having to purchase the costly devices using computers cell phones, and/or iPod Touches along with Poll Everywhere which provides educators with the ability to capture student responses for free.

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Are Interactive Whiteboards a Smart Idea when they Make Even the Most Innovative of Educators Look Dumb? – 10 Reasons to Ditch the Board

I had the good fortune to attend EdCampNYC this past weekend which was attended by passionate and innovative educators. All presenters were placed in rooms equipped with Smartboards. As I’ve witnessed at every other conference I’ve attended with interactive whiteboards (IWBs), they either weren’t utilized (such as at Alan November's yearly Building Learning Communities conference) or they made the sessions more difficult and glitchy.

Because the conference was held at a school, it had the usual IWB configuration. The Smartboard was front and center and not near the CPU/keyboard essential to effectively operate all necessary controls. What some presenters resorted to was a rather awkward set up with one person at the front of the room and another controlling the keyboard/mouse from elsewhere. Of course, teachers don’t have luxury of a second person or assistant, but this was what seemed to be most effective. In each session the board made these tech-savvy presenters (present company included) rather flustered and uncomfortable as a result of the glitchiness of them and/or awkwardness of having either two people at the helm or needing to run back and forth between the front of the room and the keyboard. Additionally, let’s face it. Smartboards just aren’t that intuitive. Folks often get frustrated as they intend to point to something on the board but instead the point results in unexpectedly being taken elsewhere or something they didn’t want to have appear on the screen pops up so the facilitators found themselves running back over to the keyboard and mouse.

I know all those people who feel the need to believe in the magic of the board are going to jump up and down saying how great they are at using IWBs and they will explain how they have transformed teaching with them, but the reality is they are doing that either 1) Because they begged their principal to get an IWB so they better stand up for the benefits it is supposed to provide or their school wasted thousands of dollars that could have gone toward personal computing for students. Acknowledging Smartboards are dumb is as difficult for them as telling a child there’s really no Santa Claus and the real stars are their parents. For all of those in this category, like the myth of Santa, you are attributing the magic of the board to the wrong player. While the board has tales of legend and lore behind it in reality IWBs are Not the Stars. They’re the Overpaid Extras with A Great Agent.

Five problems with interactive whiteboards

1. The keyboard doesn’t get the respect it deserves
An IWB devalues the keyboard which for many is an important component in driving a computer. Innovative educators such as myself rely on the keyboard in our presentations and interactions and using the pop up one on the IWB screen is not a viable option.

2. The pen gets more respect than it deserves
More and more innovative educators their often digitally savvy students are ditching the pen in favor of producing text with a keyboard. Drafting more often done by typing instead of hand printing or writing. For many of the digitally savvy the keyboard is mighterier than the pen.

3. Our eyes don't get the respect they deserve
As opposed to a set up with a laptop and projector that would enable the person facilitating to face the people in the room, the Smartboard, like the traditional blackboard results in teachers and students who are at the board often having their backs to the audience, or perhaps their side, to the audience. Additionally, because of this the person at the front of the room is often blocking what is on either on the board and/or the presenter often gets in the way of the projector.

4. The Promethean Shuffle and Smartboard Slide don't deserve respect on the classroom floor
While the shuffle and slide may look good on the dance floor, they usually have no place in the classroom, but educators are often led to follow this dance when interactive whiteboards are used to lead instruction. If you’ve seen someone use an interactive whiteboard, you know what I’m talking about as they slide from side to side to access the information they want on the board and shuffle out of the way of the projector. While interactive whiteboards are great at making a teacher feel like they’re taking stage, the front of the class is just not a place they should be doing that type of song and dance.

5. The time teacher's have for professional development does not get the respect it deserves
Time and time again when I point out that I see money wasted on IWBS I hear, oh…teachers aren’t using Smartboards well because they don’t have the proper training. You know what? I don’t know of any technology that people get more training for then Smartboards and they’re still not being used effectively. This is a result of two reasons.

1. Useful technology doesn’t need all this training. Adults and students just figure out how to use cell phones, cameras, iPads, Wii’s, computers, televisions, projectors, etc. Sure, they may need help to get started, but then they’re off and running, at least with the basics…
2. They are a catalyst for ineffective teaching. When you drop the board and let educators use just the laptop and projector the following happens:

i. Instruction can become people, rather than place-based,

ii. Instructors can have eye-to-eye contact with the students

iii. The focus is off the front of the room and on the learning.

iv. The class becomes more interactive when learning is happening around the room rather than with the one (or sometimes 2 – 4) people at the board.

When cash-strapped schools stop wasting money on training people on a mistaken expenditure they can put those funds to something more meaningful

5 Reasons Ditching Interactive Whiteboards is a Smart Idea
While being able to tap a board that will react has an upfront “WOW” factor, innovative educators instinctively know that it’s NOT smart to teach in the manner dictated by an IWB. Instead, they know that dropping the IWB enables them to do all the following which become difficult with Smartboards.

1. Focus on the students, not the sage on the stage.
2. Learning should come from anywhere, not just at the board in front of the room.
3. When addressing a classroom it is better to look at students faces then have them look at your behind or side.
4. Have access to the keyboard and mouse and be able to see where you are typing and clicking.
5. Have access to any peripherals you are using such as when podcasting, Skyping, etc.

If you love your interactive whiteboard, enjoy, but if you are an innovative educator who hasn’t bought into the hype, don’t feel compelled to spend a lot of time learning to use something that many innovative educators believe just isn’t worth it in general and in particular because most people using IWBs look like those in this slide show I created.

Getting Smart About Interactive Whiteboards (Smartboards, Promethean Boards)

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Getting Smart about the Real No’s No’s of Teaching with IWBs - A Photo Compilation

I was speaking with Marc Prensky last month lamenting about how interactive whiteboards were dumbing down instruction and sharing how teachers could be much more effective by ditching the boards and just using a laptop (or doc camera) and projector. Marc said, sometimes you need to show not tell.

That conversation came to mind as I ran across this slideshow from a presentation sponsored by Smartboard about using Smartboards in a 1:1 classroom. The presentation was filled with lots of examples of the dumb ways in which people use interactive whiteboards.

Even though Smartboard used these photos in a presentation to sell the device, they're their own worst enemy sometimes. I invite you to view this photo compilation which can serve as a model for what not to do when using IWBs.

Getting Smart About Interactive Whiteboards (Smartboards, Promethean Boards)

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You have read this article interactive whiteboard / IWBs / promethean / SMARTBoards with the title promethean. You can bookmark this page URL https://benncam.blogspot.com/2010/07/getting-smart-about-real-nos-nos-of.html. Thanks!