Responsive Engagement Using Instant Data
several years ago—before the tablet craze began—my dis- trict’s technology director suggested that I use student responders in
my classroom. These tools, otherwise
known as “clickers,” are keypads students can use to respond to questions
in real time, automatically giving
teachers data from each student and
the class as a whole.
I shrugged off responders as a novelty and kept gauging student progress
by asking students questions. When
I picked one of the five or six who
would actually raise their hands, I
always knew if that student understood or not. Or I would get written
responses and not read them until the
end of class or even a day later.
Hand-Raising Not Accurate Feedback
I always strive to meet individual students’ needs, so it’s odd, in retrospect,
how often I would move the class or
group based on one student’s response.
At best, hand-raising gives us feedback
about how engaged the class is, but
even that can be an illusion, as a story
from my principal illustrates.
He told me of a former colleague
who would, on days when the principal observed his class, tell all the
students to raise a hand each time he
asked a question. If they knew the
correct answer, they should raise their
right hands, and if they didn’t know,
they should raise their left hands. At
the end of those lessons, the principal
would walk out of the room amazed at
how engaged the students were. It was
a brilliant ploy, but it was no indication of truly engaged students. I wonder how many teachers have similar
misconceptions about their students.
How can we really know how engaged
our students are?
Eventually, I realized that I needed
better formative data to accurately
measure engagement, so I decided to
consider responders. I investigated
their capabilities and even took the
initiative to test drive a few models. I
applied for a grant from our district’s
Innovative Grants program, which
provides funding for technology that
teachers might not otherwise have
access to. By the time I finished my
grant and wrote about how I would
use a set, I thought I had a great understanding of how responders could
help my students learn.
Not So Responsive
After receiving the grant, I selected
a set of responders and dove in. Unfortunately, after I learned how to use
them, I found the set wasn’t capable of
efficiently doing what I had intended.
I wanted to be able to poll my students
on the fly within the context of the
learning and students in the room.
Instead, the learning had to stop while
students logged in, and I had to use a
prepared format instead of being able
to create diagnostic questions based
on the interactions happening in the
room. It became too formal and time
consuming and felt more like a daily
summative assessment.
As a result, using the responders
became too cumbersome, and the set
started collecting dust. What a waste!
I was back to having (some) students
raise their hands and still found my
formative assessment lacking.
But I still had a vision of what re-
sponders could do in the classroom,
so I applied for and received a grant
from Turning Technologies. When
the sales rep demonstrated the set,
I turned to our technology director
and said, “Now that’s what I’ve wanted
to do!” The software’s ability to poll
students instantly without having to
set up a question format or answer
key astounded me. It was easy to use,
collected data, and did not require
students to log in.
Engagement Is Key
Responsive engagement involves
providing meaningful activities to
students, monitoring progress in real
time, and modifying the activity to
ensure success or provide a greater
challenge. To implement responsive
engagement principles, educators first
need to leave behind the notion that
the main reason to have responders—or another method of collecting
instant data, such as Google Forms
or Survey Monkey—is to save time
by not grading tests. My first set of
responders did that well enough, but
instant data can do so much more.
I’m not ashamed to say that I’m a
low-prep teacher. In fact, I’m proud of
it, as I think it helps my students learn
better. I have a clear idea of my objectives for the day, an excellent understanding of each student in my room,
and—thanks to all the people who
have helped shape my teaching—
effective practices at my disposal.
Before students start learning about
a topic, I ask myself, “How do I get my
students engaged with this?” I should
be able to witness the engagement and
then respond to it appropriately.
After learning the ins and outs of
the Turning Technologies NXT responders, I realized I could begin by
incorporating the software into methods I was already using. The ability
to get data on the fly is important for
innovative teachers, as it gives immediate feedback on the efficacy of their
practices.
