The 6th grade teachers organized a winter vacation jeopardy game using Quizdom.  Students played 2 rounds of jeapody answering questioned based on the 6th grade content.  Subjects included Math, Science, Social Studies, English and Poke Fun at the Teachers!  Once again, the students enjoyed the game of Quizdom Jeopardy while actively engaged in learning.   The students were very well behaved and had a wonderful time playing.  Congratulations to Caitlyn Applin for “winning it all” for her homeroom by answering the final jeapody question correctly!  The 6th grade team would like to extend our sincere thanks to Mr. Simpson for his time and effort spent bringing fun and technology to our team and students.  Also, we would like to wish everyone a safe and healthy holiday.

My Third Grade class participated in their first Qwizdom experience on Tuesday, December 16, 2008, for approximately an hour and a half. The students were extremely excited about their individual remotes, the projector, and the laptop being in the room. The set-up took a few extra minutes, with assigning the numbered remotes, but I can foresee it going much quicker next time now that the students are familiar with the procedure and that they have an assigned number.

The Qwizdom focused on vocabulary words from three stories read in our Reading Street Text. The students had had multiple exposures to the words and this Qwizdom was used as a way to assess what they remembered. The presentation featured multiple choice questions, while the students completed a written component at their seat in order to back up each answer.

One of the students favorite parts of Qwizdom was the random selection piece. Students were randomly chosen by Qwizdom to read a question, give their answer or explain what they were thinking. This was a great teacher tool as well, allowing all students to be chosen and I didn’t have to keep track of who was or was not reading. It also allowed me to differentiate who was reading what pieces.

Overall, the Qwizdom was beneficial for my students who are reading below grade-level. It allowed students to participate in the same manner as others, and it didn’t make them stand out from the rest of the class.

When it was all done, the students had been assessed, everyone had a good time, and there was no correcting and no grading on my behalf! The Qwizdom print-outs made it easy for me to see who performed well on this assessment and who needed additional instruction and exposure to the vocabulary.

Every time my class sees Mr. Simpson in the hallway, they ask when they are using Qwizdom again!

We had the opportunity to share how Ferryway School teachers use the longer school day to provide increased student opportunities to use technology to support 21st century learning in their classrooms. Mass2020 asked the Ferryway team to present at the state’s annual Expanded Learning Time summit based on our success integrating technology. During, Way Beyond Filmstrips: Using More Time to Integrate Technology Across the Curriculum, one of our effective technology integration strategies was modeled when audience members learned to use the Qwizdom Student Response System as they followed along with our projected PowerPoint presentation.  We’ve been using Qwizdom for the last five months to create interactive instruction that engages ALL students.

Principal, Thomas DeVito started the session by describing our school’s leadership goals. Moving beyond filmstrips, the audience watched a DVD of our recent George Lucas Educational Foundation profile, Turning on Technology. (Watch a streaming version on Edutopia.org)  Bob Simpson then explained how technology is used as a bridge to increase educational opportunity, to enhance enrichment, and as a tool for professional development and instructional improvement.  Fifth grade teacher, Margaret Briatico, detailed the development of the Saugus Iron Works project and showed its impact on student learning.  Finally, ELL teacher, Paul Teixeira discussed how he adapted another online curriculum project, Biome Breakthrough, to enhance language development and learning for his students. He also shared his experiences helping forth grade teachers integrate inquiry-based science and literacy instruction utilizing Qwizdom.

Experience the presentation for yourself.  Watch the multimedia version featuring slides, narration, and audience feedback.

Insert Adobe Presenter Presentation.

Download Ferryway School ELT summit handout (1MB PDF)

The students in the 6th Grade have been learning about the process of urbanization and the patterns of inequality that exist in urban areas.  As a review for an exam on this topic, I created a quizdom lesson using multiple choice,  and true/false responses.  Again student engagement is incredible.  I noticed this time that the students are now settling in with the “newness” and are really concentrating on the self-assessment that the program offers.  When students answer correctly you can see the immediate positive feedback.  When students struggle with an answer, the teacher can pace the lesson and use each question as a “teachable moment” correcting the misconceptions about the concept.  This is probably one of the most useful aspects for using Quizdom for both the teacher and the students.  My lesson also involved modeling good test taking strategies.  If the lesson is projected onto the white boards you can mark up the question showing students how to find and use the context clues within the question to help determine the correct response.  When projecting charts and graphs, students that have clearly mastered the concept can be called up to mark up the board sharing their strategies to other students that may find the concept challenging.  Overall, another successful day in Social Studies bringing technology into the classroom.  This could not have been possible without the help of Mr. Simpson and Mr. Teixeira.  Again, many thanks from the 6th Grade Team and the students!