Quizlet's New Features

Many of you are probably already familiar with Quizlet, a site where you can create flashcards for studying.  Recently, Quizlet has come out with a new feature called Quizlet Live that I'll highlight today, and I'll also mention a few of its other components you may not be aware of yet.

The basis for Quizlet begins when you create a study set for your students.  Anything that can be visualized on a set of flashcards can be made into a study set.  You can type each word and definition into Quizlet, or you can import from a saved document.  This set will be utilized for all of the other games and features within Quizlet.  You and your students can get an account using your Google information.  


You can then create a class for your students to gain access to your different study sets, or share what you've created with other teachers.

There are several different features within Quizlet, other than the standard flashcards (though that is where I would have your students start so they can be the most successful).  Students can practice spelling the words (Speller), matching the words with the defintion (Scatter), play arcade-like games (Gravity)- there are several options.

Live is the newest addition to Quizlet and is the game you will see Mrs. Biggs' students playing in the video below.  In this game, students are randomly assigned to a group.  The study set that you created is then input into a set of vocabulary tiles.  Each student group is then given a definition, and each student in the group is given a tile with a set of possible answers on it.  The group has to discuss all of the options and decide which person has the correct answer in front of them before they select their answer.  If they choose incorrectly, they go back to the beginning of the animal race.  Speed and accuracy are the name of the game.  You can reshuffle the groups at any time, and no two groups are looking at the same definition at the same time.  From the video, you can see that the anticipation is palpable!

Watch a short, two-minute video of Mrs. Biggs' 8th grade English classes studying poetry terms.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Insert Learning

Image
InsertLearning is a Chrome extension that lets you turn websites, Google Docs/Slides, or PDFs into interactive lessons, and it is the perfect companion to your blended learning lesson plans.   Click here to give it a try or watch the tutorial below: To start using InsertLearning, visit the website and simply click "Add to Chrome" and you will see it appear in your toolbar.  Sign in using your school Google account info and follow the prompts for a short tutorial. With InsertLearning, you can highlight text, insert a question or a discussion topic, add sticky notes with links to outside sources (YouTube, etc.), and more.  All of this can be done on any website, Google Doc, PDF, etc.!! If you find a news article or other resource, you can click on the Chrome extension to make it interactive and then add it to Google Classroom. You can search by keyword and explore the Dashboard for already-created content or create your own lessons*.  Resources to embed as
Read more

Classroom Screen: Widgets Galore!

Image
Classroom Screen was created by a teacher in the Netherlands because he couldn't find all the tools he needed for his classroom in one place.  It's a website that displays multiple widgets at a time; ideal for bell work, exit tickets, group work, and more. The widgets available are: Traffic light (think Macbook usage) Timer Stopwatch Clock & calendar Work symbols (ex. talk to your partner, work silently, etc.) Drawing tools QR code generator Classroom noise level Random name picker Dice See them in action here: All of these options are available on the website where you can upload your own background or choose from one of the stock photos.  Think about when you have multiple groups working and they need separate instructions: divide the webpage in half and use different widgets for each group.   I can see this website being used for students when they come in to journal or complete bell work and then for the end of class with action items and/o
Read more

Readsy

Image
Readsy  is a free website that " help[s] you skim large amounts of text by focusing your eyes on one word at a time without having to move them."   It was created by a computer science undergrad at Princeton.  Readsy is a great tool for struggling readers or others that get overwhelmed by a lot of text at one time.  Retention and comprehension should not be affected. To get started with Readsy, visit the site and have some text in mind to use, or you can choose a sample and Readsy will choose text for you.  You can copy and paste a URL (news article, blog post, etc.), copy and paste text (Google Doc writing sample, or student work), type into the site itself, or upload a file.  Once you have copied/pasted or uploaded your text, click "Readsy". Readsy defaults to 300 wpm, but you can adjust that speed to be slower or faster as needed. Here is a two-minute overview of Readsy in action: Next week, we will talk about the companion website: Spritz
Read more