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Maximizing Student Engagement with SMART Response Clickers
Teachers at Athena Middle and High School are using SMART response clickers! Mr. Titus, Mrs. Schrieber, Miss Northrup (University of Rochester student teacher), and Mrs. Derleth have been utilizing this interactive technology in their classrooms. The SMART Response system gives teachers the ability to instantly track quiz results and lesson comprehension to gain immediate insight into student learning and help increase overall retention and engagement.
Some activities that they have implemented in just a few weeks include the following:
- Warm-ups/Ticket out the Door: All students will have a clicker in their hand and be expected to answer questions on a warm-up and/or ticket out the door. These questions could be multiple choice, short response, true/false, etc. As each student answers the question, the teacher will receive immediate feedback on topic areas of strength and opportunities for improvement based on their answers. The teacher can use this information to modify and adjust his or her instruction based on the demonstrated student knowledge.
- Instant Questions: During a lesson, a teacher may want to assess if all students understand the content being taught. Often times a teacher will ask, “Does anyone have any questions?” and no one raises their hands. It is unlikely that all students understand what was being taught, but did not raise their hands or demonstrate knowledge of the topic. With SMART response, a teacher can have the students answer an instant and spontaneous question to gage whether all students can answer the question. If students need additional instruction or time on task, the teacher will instantly have the data to make that decision.
- Common Formative Assessments (CFAs): The CFA process has been embraced by many in the Greece Central School District. The CFA process means that teachers from the same grade or course ask the same questions to a similar group of students to collect data. This data is analyzed and discussed by this common group of teachers to improve their instruction. This collaboration will likely increase student and teacher learning. One of the struggles for teachers in this process is that compiling data into a meaningful form can be difficult and time consuming. The SMART response technology organized this data in seconds and can display it in graphs and charts.
Great job Athena! Students are more engaged and instruction is continuing to improve. You rock!