Great post and video on Quick Quizzes from John:
Ben,
I have just posted a short video in which I describe how I write, administer and grade a quick quiz. I have figured out a way to grade each one in about 5 seconds, for those who don’t have access to Scantron. You can also see my rules poster and word walls in the background.
John
11 thoughts on “Quick Quizzes”
Thank you, that was helpful. I am really bad at getting grading into the grade book. It is my achilles heel. This will really be helpful in making sure I can get them in. I have decided that every free minute I have at school I will spend on grading until I am caught up.
I need to get a laser pointer. Any suggestions on brands? A kids gave me a cheap cat pointer but the beam isn’t strong enough.
My husband bought me a laser pointer at Lowe’s hardware. It’s also a flashlight. I forget the brand and left it at school. I’ll get back to you on it. It has a nice beam but I’m thinking of switching because one has to press down hard on the button and I’m getting a callous. But maybe you want to search a hardware store.
Thank you so much, John! I go one faster than you…much of the time, I have the students grade themselves. We do the quiz, and then I re-say the quiz, and kids answer. About every third or fourth time, I collect quizzes and grade them myself.
I love the visual of the transferrable word wall. I am always making excuses for not having one. You’ve just negated them all!
Same here with the word wall – I always thought a word wall had to be just that, a WHOLE WALL full of words. Here, you just have a bunch of 8 1/2 x 11 sheets taped together and, voila, your word wall. Now I really can’t use it as an excuse anymore that I am sharing the room with a Spanish teacher and don’t have any wall space for myself. I also like your rules poster – the one I use seems way to wordy, I might take this time off from school to revamp some of my classroom visuals. Thanks for sharing, this was/is really helpful!
An alternative to a laser pointer: hire a Vanna White student(s) to point to distant Word Walls for you. This has been a nice way for me to have one or two students helpfully run out of their seats and dramatically point to the words I wanted to use. My Word Walls include a list of verbs for things we might do in class. It also helps me slow down because the students take a few seconds to find the words, and the whole class seems always to watch attentively.
It’s working so well I don’t want to buy a laser pointer anymore.
I love this idea!
likewise love the idea–I’ve been pointing to words myself, but that’s a much better idea to have a student or so do it!
I’m glad my video helps. I am working up to recording myself teaching, but in the meantime I hope to record a few more descriptive videos.
I have done self-grading in the past, but sometimes it is more time-consuming, in that you have to monitor the students more closely during the grading.
My rules poster is 24×30 poster size, which I uploaded to Staples’ website (go to “blueprints” in their print center website), and they will print the posters for $3. The word walls are 4 or 6 sheets of 8.5 x 11 paper taped together and laminated (my school has big awesome laminating machine). I enlarge the font, so it’s no more than 5 words per page. This way, all students can see it. I use masking tape, and transfer the poster to my office wall when I’m not teaching. I teach one class once a week in a room downstairs, so I just keep spare posters in that room, and put them up when I go in.
I order the laser pointers from Amazon, or a hardware store. Remember that watch batteries are very expensive–like printer cartridges, they can cost more than the pointer. I like the Vanna White job, though I do a lot of pointing. I also have a stick with a pointing hand on it. But with the laser, I can be anywhere in the room. Great for choral reading, and I can stand at the back of the room, or right next to a squirrely student.
John, would you mind sending me a copy of your rules poster (I tried to read from your video but it is too blurry) as a reference? Or post it here? My e-mail address is brigitte dot kahn at verizon dot net. Thanks so much in advance!!!!
Brigitte,
Here is a link to the rules, and the rubric I use to grade students every two weeks.
http://www.johnpiazza.net/csb_latin_interpersonal.htm
At the top of the poster I have written: “How to demonstrate that you are ACTIVELY learning Latin”
way off topic but Wal-Mart (assuming you shop there) has laser pointer key chains for $2.47 that come with 3 batteries loaded and a back up set. They are wonderful actually and also have a small flashlight…
In Maine they are at every check out counter…
Also, thank you John for doing this video…. I appreciate your time, effort and generosity.
I continue to be so grateful for this group.
skip