Teachers First - Thinking Teachers Teaching Thinkers

Edulastic provides free assessment tools to track learning and mastery of Common Core Standards and state standards. The program contains more than 2000 customizable assessments with automatic grading capability. Register to create an account, then begin using the assessment library and adding students to your class using a code, emails, or upload a data sheet. Be sure to take advantage of Edulastic's articles, training, and free webinar videos to learn about all the features included with this program. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable.

Create personalized crossword puzzles to embed on your blog or website with this easy puzzle creator. View the help for the directions and examples. It is as simple as typing a question on each line followed by an asterisk, then the correct answer. When complete, submit to view your puzzle online and choose from different options for sharing. Also, you can download puzzles as PDF documents.

Create multimedia and interactive ebooks that work on tablets and computers for free with ePubEditor. Create your account to begin, then follow prompts to upload images and text with optional image, video, or audio. Other options allow you to create quizzes with different responses such as multiple choice, matching, or drag and drop response. Allow others to edit and add to your book using the share editing option. When complete, publish and share your book using the created URL or download in different formatting options including epub and PDF.
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Earn, issue, collect, and display digital badges with Open Badges. Set up a Mozilla Backpack to earn your first badge. Once registered, follow to create and issue your badges with documentation features. Share with those seeking to earn the badge; they upload evidence of accomplishment. Once achieved, awarded badges are displayed on an individual's profile and can easily be shared online.

Quizlet Live is a classroom quiz game for groups created by the makers of Quizlet, reviewed here. Follow directions to create and share a quiz set and assign to student teams. At least six students are needed to create and play a Quizlet Live game. When students receive the code and log in, they find other team members and begin competing. Accuracy is encouraged over speed, providing a wrong answer will send teams back to start from the beginning of the quiz.

Build your own digital badges to award and share. Badge List offers the ability to design a badge using their built-in badge designer. You can also upload your own. Share with those seeking to earn the badge; they upload evidence of accomplishment using one of the five supported formats. Once achieved, awarded badges are displayed on an individual's profile and can easily be shared online. Since the free portion of Badge List is public, it is important for teachers to keep student identities anonymous. Use a code for the student name that is only known by the teacher. Also, be sure to obtain parent permission before using this tool with students. At the time of this review, stated by Badge List: "Badge List is currently developing simpler privacy settings to help K12 teachers protect student data. Until these features are released, teachers will need to take extra precautions to make sure that student data is safe."

Discover Spiral's free app for classroom assessment that will work on any device with a web browser. Sign up with your email and use Quickfire to ask a question and see answers in real-time. Engage your audience and knock down participation barriers with this free response system. Display answers anonymously. See their Support and FAQ page for setting up classes, the Teacher Dashboard & Admin, and more.

Learn something new each day with Highbrow's unique course delivery system. Sign up for a course, then receive an email each day with a five to ten-minute lesson. Each course is completed in ten days making learning quick and easy! Choose from many different course options in subjects such as art, literature, languages, history, tech and coding, photography, and several others. Highbrow only allows one course per user at a time to encourage complete focus on each topic. If you don't see what you like, choose the Create Course option and create your own learning experience using your expertise!

Quickly create and share quizzes using Go To Quiz. Begin by choosing from three types of quizzes to offer, each includes an explanation and examples of best use. Follow the steps to name your quiz, add questions and responses, and share your quiz. Go To Quiz will work on any device with a modern browser and an Internet connection.
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Finally, worksheets will be cool! Create interactive worksheets, or use one that is already developed and make it your own with wizer.me. After signing up with email get started with Add Task. Follow the prompts for creation; these include selecting text style and color, and choosing a background, adding student tasks (Text, Video, Link, Image), and more. Select question style: Open Question, Multiple Choice, Matching, and more. Then there are the more unusual type responses like Filling in a Table, Image Tagging, Embedding, and others, with promises of more to come. Share with students by posting the URL given, using a pin code on their worksheet board, or use your Google Classroom account. At the time of this review, wizer.me support was through email and real-time online chat. Wizer.me works on any device with a browser and Internet connection but works best on Chrome and Safari.

Track learning in real-time with Quizalize. Student answers are color-coded on the teacher dashboard for ease in identifying who needs more help. Create scrambled word, multiple choice questions, and ChapGPT quizzes, and each question can have a custom timer. View reports for each student's progress and learning gaps. Create a quiz or select one from Quizalize's growing library. Quizzes can be "gamified" by showing the teacher dashboard as a leaderboard to see progress against other contestents. Quizalize works on any device with a browser and Internet connection. Sign up with an email and password. Create a quiz, assign it to classes, get a code, give it to students, and let the fun begin! The free account provides 3 classes and 5 activities.

Develop rubrics to assess what you expect students to learn with Quick Rubric. Registration is free and allows for saving the rubric. Click Create a Rubric and add a title, brief description, and the maximum and minimum scores. Describe your indicators, add descriptors, and even include standards. At any time during the formation of the rubric add columns and rows. Save and share via URL or printing. The ability to copy and modify a rubric from your account is a great time-saver.
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Create an interactive categorization activity with The Vortex. Give the activity a title and begin adding categories. Add items in up to four different categories. When finished, drag and drop items as quickly as possible into the correct bin. Use the provided links to share the activity, embed into a blog or web page, or print it. Use password protection if desired to limit access. Click the question mark on the bottom right toolbar, and scroll down that page to find many templates for inspiration or use.
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SurveyPlanet makes creating surveys, polls, and quizzes quick and easy. Create an account with your email and see how many free features they have for you! The basics include unlimited questions and responses, color themes, various types of questions, a bank of questions for many different industries, and then there are special free features. Some of these are storage of your survey and results for a year, four types of results charts, duplication of surveys, survey embedding and much more. SurveyPlanet supports over 20 languages.
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All-inclusive student response is what Plickers is all about. Students do not need to have Internet access. Responders use individualized QR Code cards (print a set FREE from Plickers), to answer questions. You use your mobile device to read the QR Code cards that students hold up. Create an account and get started immediately. No need to wait for an email response. There is a demo to use, or see the Support page on the bottom menu for detailed instructions for adding classes, students, questions (with or without images), and folders to organize your questions by unit, topic, lesson and more. You can save student responses to your online Plicker account.
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Looking for a quiz tool that is better than all the rest? Quizizz is a free tool. It works on any device: web browser, iOS, Android and Chrome apps. You can access hundreds of ready-made learning quizzes or create your own. Join as a teacher, pick a quiz, and use the code for a virtual room to give to your students. Alternatively, you can create your own quiz on Quizizz, even importing questions from excel/CSV files with just a click of a button. Students use the code to enter and submit a nickname, code name, or numerical name (students do not have to register). Quizizz now has to be marked as trusted by an administrator to be able to use it with your Google Classroom account, even if you have been using it. With Google Classroom, students can join by signing in with their Google Account with just one click. Even better, if you assign a Quizizz through Google Classroom, all your data gets updated in your Classroom dashboard. You will get notifications when students complete assignments and their responses and grades show. Teachers can choose to make their quizzes public or private. Embed images with your questions. Check or uncheck the settings, including music. You can even duplicate an existing quiz to save into My Quizizz. A created Quizizz can have randomized or non-randomized questions.

Don't miss the memes that are displayed when students answer a question; these are sure to be a hit with students. You can also customize your Quizizz by creating your own Memes. Use images of the school mascot, students' pets, or favorite game characters to create a set of ten or more memes. Click the My Memes from the top menu, then the plus symbol. You are now ready to start. Be sure to Click "Start Game" after students have entered the code. Send the game link to students (or other teachers to use with their classes) by email, website, or social media. Set time limits of 30 seconds to 5 minutes for students to answer each question. This allows more time for more complex questions. Students earn points for speed and accuracy. Unlike other sites, both teacher and students can see the questions, answers, and the leaderboard throughout the quiz. Most other tools require the teacher to project the answers and leaderboard on a whiteboard. The leaderboard can be turned OFF in this tool as well. And, what is the best part of this tool? Two separate classes can play together using this tool. Quizizz works on any web-enabled device, including smartphones and tablets, and has an iOS app.

You can now email student reports to parents (even send the student reports to multiple/all parents at once), the main navigation bar has moved from the top to the left, and there is a search bar that you can access on all pages, and now you can search both your quizzes and your reports. Quizizz is now available in Spanish and will soon be adding other languages. Don't miss their new Jungle theme with music, backgrounds, and GIFs... oh my!

Typeform offers an interactive method to ask and answer questions online. Use the form builder to create visually rich and engaging questions. Drag and drop features make it easy to add and personalize content such as different question choices, images, backgrounds, and more. The "live" preview allows you see your typeform evolve as you create it. When complete, share using your unique URL or embed your Typeform using provided HTML. Go to the Help Center and under Dashboard, read more about your options for sharing your Typeform. Choose options for receiving and tracking visits to your form in your configuration settings. Track visitor behavior and demographics with your Google Analytics tracking code; you can also export your result to a spreadsheet in Excel (XLS) or CSV file formats, or Google sheets. Through Typeform you can have your Google sheet automatically update as answers come in--no need to export data manually.
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Looking for real-time feed back from your classes? Use tests and quizzes to get immediate feedback with this tool. You can even upload a document to Formative for students to annotate. Enter questions that require a variety of answers including true/false, text answers, or student drawings. It will even mark answers for you! Setup a marking key and view instant data on who is correct. Students can create an account to get access to the materials you create. The site works on all devices and integrates with Google Classroom. Formative is aligned to many standards including Common Core, Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and many other common standards. Create a free account. All assignments are organized in the dashboard. Click on New Assignment to begin and choose to start from scratch or upload a document. Choose the type of question and even add content such as text, whiteboard, or YouTube videos. Be sure to set up a key for automatic grading and watch the live results as they come in. Formative is optimized to work on any device with a modern web browser and an Internet connection.

This tool is a great way to take videos and add your own voice or add questions within the video. YouTube videos are viewable in edpuzzle even if your school filters block them! Search for educational videos from sites such as Khan Academy and Learn Zillion. Use the sliders to choose the video section, then insert your voice or comment on the video. Create a series of questions to go along with your selected video and insert them into the correct part of the video. There is no need for students to watch the whole video to access the questions at the end. Follow the on-screen directions to chop the video for the section you need, add your voice, and choose where to add text-based questions. Create a class and add students into the class either in the dashboard or after creating the video. Use student codes to access the video. At the bottom of the page, on the far right click the "Help Center" button. There is also a short demo video hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, find the video you want to use and embed it in edpuzzle. It will be viewable when used through Edpuzzle! The free plan has storage space for 20 video lessons.

Create and manage assessments, tests, and quizzes. Create surveys and polls using QuestBase. All can be administered online or printed. Take assessments using any online device or print choosing multiple versions and formats. Enter questions manually or import using built-in wizards. Choose from different question formats. Use pictures, movies, special characters, or math equations to personalize any content. Publish online, embed onto a website, share via email, or print finished tests. Other options include the ability to add timers, passwords, and privacy options.