Tips for assessing with Plickers

Tips for assessing with Plickers

A few years ago, I discovered an amazing free app called Plickers, which allows you to quickly and easily assess your students with ONLY ONE device! Today, I thought I'd discuss tips for using the app. I just got done with an assessment for third grade recently, and realized there were some steps that make using the app much easier!

Before using Plickers, you'll need to do the following:

• Decide what assessment you want to use  (anything with multiple choices works; see some suggestions at the end of this post)
• Get your students' class numbers from their classroom teachers (I would start with one grade level, and email that entire grade level for their class numbers)
• Enter the students' names by number into the site (www.plickers.com)
• Print out the cards on the Plickers site (you can laminate them for durability. I've heard some complain about the shiny quality for the cards making them harder to scan but I haven't noticed any problems)
• Create your assessment (whether that be a slideshow, questions you'll write on the board or read to students, etc.) 
• Create questions (this will allow you to name the question, then choose the correct answer for each)
• Assign questions to each class

Here is a video of me entering in names, creating questions, and assigning questions, so you can see how it works:

Once you do all that, you are ready to go!

If you're wondering what the app looks like when you are using it with your students, here is another video showing the app in action:

Here are some tips I've learned along the way:

Include details in the name of the question

Instead of just calling each question by number (question 1, question 2, etc.), you could give specific titles, such as "audio, harp," for a question that asks students to listen to a harp and name its instrument family, or "rhythm pattern 1" for a question asking students to identify a rhythm pattern. I found this to be very helpful when giving the assessment, because I remember which each question is about and make sure to choose the correct one!

Have a test question

As I spoke about in both videos, at the start of the assessment, I always include a test question that asks students to show you A. This way, you can make sure all students understand how to hold the card. If they are showing you a different letter, the app will tell you which student is holding it incorrectly, and you can correct them on the spot. The same thing goes for if you have a student who answers D to one of the actual questions, and you only have A and B as choices. Go ahead and correct them then and there so they can show you whether they think it is A or B.

Hold the phone vertically

Seems simple, but if you hold it horizontally, it reads the cards the wrong way! (And side note, although you can download the app onto your iPad, it freezes up quite a bit, so I would suggest only downloading the app onto your iPhone or Android!)

Start easy

With my third graders, I used questions that asked "strings" (A) "or not" (B). So students only had two choices to choose from, which was a nice way to start using the cards!

Make sure your phone is charged!

I have little to no service at my building, which  drains my phone's battery. On the day of the assessment, when I went to use it at the end of the day with my third graders, I had no battery and my phone died! Ack! So with subsequent classes, I made sure to make a note to charge my phone at lunch time so I had enough battery by the end of the day.

Make note of how many people are in the class

If you have a couple students who are absent, and you normally have 25 students, you'll be looking for 23 students to be answering each time. The app will tell you how many people have answered, so it's good to know how many you have in the class.

Make sure to hit the checkmark after you've gotten everyone's responses

I messed up with one of my questions, and received input from everyone and didn't hit the checkmark. Then, when I said, "okay, I got everyone's card," students dropped their cards and then the app changed some of the students' answers. So as soon as you have everyone's answer, hit that check mark!

Make sure students aren't covering their card

It's really easy for students to cover the black part of their card...and then then answer won't scan! Make sure their fingers and thumbs aren't covering the black part  at all so the system can register their answer.

Use an assessment that has already been created

You don't necessarily have to go and create anything new! Here are some freebies you might consider trying.

For doing a formative assessment during preparation of half note:

For assessing identification of ta and ti-ti patterns (have the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd pattern be assigned as A, B, or C):

For assessing staff reading of sol and mi:

I hope this has been helpful, and I hope that you try it with your students! Please comment below if you have any other tips to add!

Props in the music classroom

Props in the music classroom

As a music teacher, we have the opportunity to buy some really fun things for our classroom! Perhaps you've seen tennis balls or ribbons in another music teacher's room, and you've wondered how they incorporate those props into their music classroom. Here are my five favorite props for the music classroom:

#1: Stretchy band

I first saw a stretchy band as a way to incorporate movement into an early childhood music class. There are truly SO many possibilities for using the stretchy band (which you can purchase here.) My favorite way of using it so far is to help students learn how to stay in a circle during a circle dance. My second graders will be performing "Seven Jumps" for their performance this week, and the stretchy band is a GREAT tool for this (as otherwise, with that dance, kids might lose their balance!) Here is a video of "Seven Jumps" without the stretchy band; you can purchase the music on iTunes (my favorite recording is by the Shenanigans).

There are also some great ideas for using stretchy bands in this blog post. Check out this blog post for directions on making your own small stretchy band.

#2: Tennis balls

I was very fortunate to work with the Dalcroze professor, Tim Caldwell, during my undergrad at Central Michigan University, and he introduced me to using tennis balls in the music classroom. My favorite way to use them is to practice meter. Students can each have a ball, and as you play music on the piano, they can bounce and catch. If you are playing in 2/4, they would bounce, catch, bounce catch. If you are playing in 3/4, they would bounce, catch, tap a shoulder. And if you are playing in 4/4, they would bounce, catch, tap one shoulder, tap the other shoulder. 

They can also bounce and catch with a partner, which is a bit more challenging, but super fun! Check out this book for more games like this.

#3: Playground ball

I bought this fun playground ball at Five Below; read this blog post about other fun finds at that store.  I first starting using a playground ball with Tim Caldwell as well, to have students pass the ball in a circle either without music or with music, at different tempi. This is a more challenging task then just keeping the beat on their laps, and can teach them to internalize the beat! I have two favorite singing games for ball passing; they are "Ye Toop Doram," which you can find here, and "Sandy's Mill," which you can find here.

#4: Toy microphones

Truly, there is something about a toy microphone that kids just LOVE! These can be found at Target or the Dollar store, and can be used when students are singing by themselves. Even though the microphone doesn't actually amplify students' voices, they still love holding the microphone! The red prop in the picture that looks like a phone is called an auditory feedback phone, and can be used with your students who are struggling to match pitch, as they can hear themselves sing when they put it to their ears! You can purchase one here.

#5: Ribbons

A few years ago, I saw my friend Jayne Wenner present a session about folk dancing with props, and she presented a Chinese ribbon dance using ribbons like the ones found above. (You can purchase the smaller ones here and the larger ones here.) Jayne had us learn several different ribbon dancing moves and put that to music. I just had my fifth graders choreograph their own dance by first learning all of the moves, then learning a dance I choreographed to the piece "Chinese New Year," then mixing up the moves in whatever order they decided to the same piece. They LOVED this and so did I! For a list of typical ribbon dancing moves and more ideas for choreographing, check out this article, and click here for the music I used.

My friend Tracy King also has some GREAT cards you can use with ribbons or scarves; you can purchase the set here. Put this with whatever music you want and you have a great listening/ movement lesson!

What are your favorite props to use in the music classroom? Feel free to comment below, and happy teaching!

Flexible Seating in your Music Classroom {Part Two}

Flexible Seating in your Music Classroom {Part Two}

A couple months ago, I wrote about all of the flexible seating I purchased for my music classroom. Today, I'm blogging about how I've introduced the flexible seating in my classroom.

I have lots of fun seats in my room now, so of course, the students want to try them out! I decided when I first started that I would only use them for small groups and centers--otherwise, it would be a bit of a mess for whole group instruction, with students sitting at different levels. Here are a few ways I've let students try out the seats:

Star Students:

I choose two star students at the end of every music class, and they roll a die on my SMART board to find out what their reward is (i.e. prize box, Wild Ways certificate--which is a school-wide incentive, sticker, etc.) One of the rewards for 2nd-5th grade is "Special Seat." In the past, I only had one comfy saucer chair, but now I have lots to choose from. The students are always super excited to roll this! The student who receives this is allowed to try out more than one seat during the class, as long as he/she is not distracting when switching between seats. (I've had to have a few conversations with students about appropriate bouncing on the exercise balls vs. distracting bouncing!)

Scoot:

I tried out the game "Scoot" with my 4th and 5th graders this year. The premise of this game is that they have a card at their seat with a certain number, and they answer that number question on their worksheet, and then scoot to the next question when it's time. I decided to do this with seats....so that each child was sitting on an exercise ball, a disc seat, etc., and then when they scoot to the next seat, they get to try out another seat! They really enjoyed this, and it made the assessment a bit more interesting and fun! Here is a picture of my 5th graders doing "Scoot":

I've included a "Scoot" for tika-ti in my "Planning in a Snap {September}" set, and just posted a set for tika-tika and half note:

Centers:

Centers are a great way to try out seats! I've done this in two ways. First, I tried having different seats at each center, and then students rotate to the next center and try out a different seat. With another grade level, I only had seats at one center. I had the students working on worksheets sit in wobble seats, and then when they rotated they had to leave the seats there. Let's face it, sometimes worksheets aren't quite as exciting as iPads or instruments, so this was a great way to make that center a bit more engaging!

Free Day:

In my music room, each class has an opportunity to receive 4 points every music class: 1 point for walking in quietly, 1 point for good effort, 1 point for listening well, and 1 point for lining up quietly. After they've filled up all their boxes on their chart (which typically takes about 8 or so lessons), I let them have half of the class (25 minutes) to vote on what they'd like to do for the rest of class. Several of the classes chose to sit on special seats while playing instruments, and I happily obliged! Of course, they had to be careful to choose a seat that was appropriate for that instrument, but it was a fun way to give them a reward!

Overall, I've really enjoyed having the seats. The students get SO excited to try them out, and as I wrote about in my last flexible seating post, it honors them as learners.

How have you introduced flexible seating? Feel free to comment below, and happy teaching!