of the keynotes participants were given the opportunity to engage in real-time polling activities via Promethian's ActivExpression student response systems (SRS). The simple act of punching in some buttons to express our opinions on a given topic, and then moments later seeing those results published to the big screen, took the keynote experience to an entirely new level. I think it essentially served my own innate desire, at least on a superficial level, to express my opinion to the larger group.Strangely, looking back on my teaching career I can remember numerous occasions, especially as a first/second year teacher, in which I overpowered the voices of my students. Like many new teachers a majority of my energy was focused on figuring out how to manage a room full of rowdy urban teens. And partially out of fear and lack of experience I attempted to control misbehavior by standing in the front of the room and lecturing. For some reason, this approach seemed to pacify a majority of the students -- it also bored them. I remember countless times staring into a sea of blank faces as I lectured passionately about Romeo's unrequited love for Rosalyn or the difference between simile and metaphor. Then one day a wise student interrupted me and said, "Mista, can I ask you a question?" For some reason 'mista' is the defunct title for all male teachers in NYC.
"What's up?" I said, amazed he wasn't transfixed, like the rest of the kids, by my riveting explanation of Dickinsonian poetics.
"Why do you talk so much?" asked this brilliant scholar. This was long before my introduction to the debates over teacher-centered versus student-centered instruction. But thanks to one brave kid and a lot of inner soul searching I decided my teaching style needed a tune up. This is where I preach to the wonders of project based learning, and how it transformed my classroom into a community of learners engaged in constructivist learning experiences. The fact is, once I began relinquishing more control over to my students with an emphasis on collaboration and production -- real "teaching magic" began to occur.
This brings me back to the notion of clickers and how they, with the right amount of planning and creative thinking, can support active, participatory learning. The SRS systems also provide teachers with a better sense of where his/her students are at on the learning continuum.
A few weeks after BLC I received an email from a special education teacher, Ms. P, whom I attended the conference with. She said: "Dan, the BLC conference really got me excited about the possibilities. I was especially excited by the clickers because I think they would provide an AMAZING opportunity for quick assessments/differentiated instruction. The problem is we don't have any student response systems in the building. Do you know of any alternative web-based, free tools that mimic classroom response systems?"
Here was a teacher that saw the potential but did not have the available resources or funding (clicker systems cost anywhere from $2000 - $4000) to follow through on her vision. I knew this was a make or break opportunity. Right away, I dug into my PLN and started searching around for a tool that could fill this need. Within minutes, I found this post on Classroom 2.0 which led me to the discovery of duh, duh, duh: Poll Everywhere, a free (up to 30 users) polling tool that allows for SMS or web based responses. Needless to say, Ms. P. was very happy, and after a few back and fourth emails she was up and running. Below is a snapshot of how Ms. P used Poll EveryWhere to help prepare her students for the NYS Regents:
And here is an example of how I used it recently during a PD session with NYC teaching fellows preparing to enter the classroom:
Feel free to participate in this poll as well. So far 15 people have responded. I am curious to see how the results will shift as more people voice their opinion. Simply text your answers to "99503" and then punch in your vote. For example, if you believe Digital Citizenship is the most important skill text in "16881" as your response. If you have a SmartPhone take the poll at http://poll4.com.
Have you used Poll EveryWhere or similar response systems in your classroom? If so, did you see an improvement in student engagement and understanding? Let me know what you think.
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