SMART Response "Clickers"

A great way to get formative assessment is utilizing on-the-spot quizzing or surveying software and products.  If you have iPads for the classroom services like Socrative and Kahoot work really well between teacher and students.  However, if you lack a 1to1 device like an iPad, another useful product is the SMART Response handheld devices.  Students can easily and quickly respond to formative assessment by entering their answers or text via a handheld device.  SAD1 has about 8 or 9 cases that are readily available for classroom to use.

When introducing a new learning goal, have your students paraphrase the new goal in their own words to get some feedback on your students' understanding of the goal's purpose (Marzano, pg 75).  These, also, work very well with on-the-spot questions.  The software is integrated with SMART's Notebook software, where you receive the results and are able to visually collect data with a pie chart or bar graph.  Preparing in advance, you can assign each student an ID which will allow you to track student progress.

If you are interested in using these, or just doing a trial run, let me know and I would love to stop by and help you get set up for this.

Magaña, Sonny, and Robert J. Marzano. "Communicating Learning Goals, Tracking Student Progress, and Celebrating Success." Enhancing the Art & Science of Teaching with Technology. Bloomington, IN: Marzano Research Laboratory, 2014. 75. Print.