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Introducing Blooket - A New Game Based Learning Platform

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Learn 5 Games for the Virtual Classroom- Gimkit, Quizlet Live, Quizizz, Flippity and Kahoot in 8 min

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Piecemeal, pen-and-paper, day-by-day curriculums didn't allow for flexibility or scalability

Difficulty designing curriculums and lessons for new grades as the school expanded, particularly for new teachers and substitutes

Lack of alignment and sporadic collaboration, based on individual preference, ability, and time

Solution Results

An accessible and flexible online platform to help with planning

Ability to bring over successful lessons from previous years-no more starting from scratch for new teachers or substitutes

Ability to check for vertical and horizontal alignment, providing curriculum consistency between grades, subjects, years, and teachers

At the beginning of every school year, Rebecca McGinnis would climb Mt. Everest without a guide. She would sit at her desk in front of her school calendar, with just paper and pencil, to try to map lessons for the coming months.
She was a new teacher, too. So, on top of wrapping her head around the school year ahead, she was simultaneously striving to survive knowing the whole process would repeat the following year.

"It just seems very overwhelming...I definitely had feelings of, is this even something I can accomplish? Am I on pace? Am I on track? Is this an appropriate amount of time?" recalls the Social Sciences teacher at New Hope Christian Academy.

McGinnis was one of the teachers working at New Hope before the school first discovered the online lesson planner and gradebook used by 600,000+ teachers worldwide, and eventually the complete Unified Classroom ® Curriculum and Instruction solution.

McGinnis was still relatively new to teaching when tasked with designing curriculums and lessons for high school classes that no teacher had previously taught at New Hope. That wasn't easy, she says.

"I was given the pacing guide that was in the text, and beyond that, it was just my own structure. I did look up a couple of other sample pacing guides from other schools or other curriculums, but it was very much a rough, pieced-together thing," she says.

And those pieced-together curriculums were pen-and-paper creations-meaning that, although they served her well at the beginning of the year, things could go off track quickly when she had to adjust for snow days, changes in schedule, or anything else that came up in the classroom.

While veteran teachers or those who had good pedagogy may have been penning their curriculum maps, like McGinnis, many were planning day-by-day only. And, being a relatively small school, not every teacher had a counterpart to reach out to for help. "They might be the only ninth-grade social studies teacher or the only fourth-grade math teacher, so they may not have somebody to bounce ideas off of," says Kim Shepherd, New Hope's Elementary Principal.

New Hope needed a solution that would:

Start new teachers off with confidence

Provide a way to plan for new grade levels and subjects

Offer a more straightforward method to organize the entire school year

Encourage consistency in planning across the faculty

Allow teachers the ability to adjust curriculum in response to unexpected changes

Provide a solid starting point for planning each year and each class

Even with co-teachers, collaboration was sporadic, based on individual preference, ability, and time. "There wasn't a lot of consistency across the board. We were just kind of surviving at that point, picking and choosing what we could do."

Those day-by-day plans became cumbersome for administration, Shepherd adds. She would receive planning packets every week, but not everyone was on the same page. She did what she could, but "felt sometimes like [she] was just dumping some books in their lap and saying 'good luck'-there wasn't a great map or a plan to give them."

To further complicate matters, this happened when New Hope was going through a higher-than-usual period of turnover. The school was hungry for a more reliable approach to curriculum mapping and lesson planning that would also start new faculty on the right foot.

Step by Step, Win by Win

The following year, New Hope adopted Unified Classroom ® Curriculum and Instruction across the board-from preschool to 12th grade.

"I think what stood out most was the simplicity of it," Shepherd remembers. She saw immense value in the way teachers could input their curriculum and lesson details and produce an organized plan-color-coded and scheduled. She also appreciated the accessibility and flexibility of an online platform (also available on iPhone, iPad, and Android devices) to help with planning anytime, anywhere.

But most importantly, she saw the potential to solve many of her school's challenges. For example, "the curriculum mapping feature was huge because we knew that was an area that we were lacking in," she says.

McGinnis was among the first to jump on board. "Unified Classroom ® Curriculum and Instruction made it very easy to set up the whole structure of the year, the curriculum, the standards. And then you could very easily visualize what that would mean," she says. "I could put in how many lessons I typically do and literally see where the blanks are, see where the holes are in the standards."

"The unit view makes it really easy to move things around. I can put on the test and quickly bump it down if I feel like an activity might actually take us two days," she says.

Rather than thinking about every single class for the whole day, she was able to hyper-focus on just one class or one unit at a time, which made her planning process much smoother.

She no longer felt like she was flying by the seat of her pants. Instead, she was aware of the gaps in her curriculum and her class's progression throughout the year. "It's a very good feeling to be able to sit here and say, I covered what I was supposed to cover this year because [we hit] the standards checkpoint and I'm on pace with what I had set out," she says. "I know where I'm supposed to be, and I know where I am."

And Shepherd appreciates the consistency that's growing between grades, subjects, years, and teachers, particularly among some of her elementary classrooms where teachers educate across up to seven or eight subjects a day.

No more starting from scratch-teachers can bring over successful lessons from previous years. They're free to make changes based on their style or the students in the classroom.

That saves teachers time and energy, especially as curriculum maps and lesson plans improve over time, and it also helps new teachers by giving them a strong starting point. And it aids substitute teachers, too, who now have easy access to a well-thought-out resource that keeps students learning continuously.

With Curriculum Map Comparisons, teachers and administrators can check for vertical and horizontal alignment, too, Shepherd adds. "To be able to look at second grade and third grade and fourth grade together and look at where we are introducing multiplication and how it's being taught at each of those grade levels, is a really cool feature that I'm hoping to use more."

As Shepherd puts it, "the things that we knew were issues-substitute plans, vertical alignment, ensuring daily lesson plans are significant and sufficient-Unified Classroom ® Curriculum and Instruction addressed."

Looking Forward with New Hope

For Shepherd, consistency has been one of the most valuable outcomes over the past seven years with Unified Classroom ® Curriculum and Instruction.

"Bringing Unified Classroom ® Curriculum and Instruction...brought in a level of confidence. I knew the work I was doing. I was not starting over next year," she says. And you'll find that same boost in confidence and consistency-along with the benefits that come from it-across the students and faculty.

"The students benefit from teachers being more confident and more secure in their plans. By nature of having solid lesson plans, it made the classroom experience better for the [students]."

"Rather than everybody doing their own thing, and it being hit-and-miss in the effectiveness of grade levels and coverage of standards, I can much more confidently say now: yes, we are teaching all of the fifth-grade science standards," she says. She knows what's covered because she can see it on the curriculum map.

But for McGinnis, the most significant payoff is her confidence when she enters a new school year. "I knew the work I was doing, I was not starting over," she says.

"It makes it more efficient and boosts my confidence-and then the attention can be put on other things that don't make that initial beginning of a school year or a new class as overwhelming."

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Learn how one Ohio school moved from paper-and-pencil-based curriculum management to a flexible, accessible solution built to accelerate learning gains and save teachers time.

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Setting up project-based learning with young students can be a challenge, but it’s worth the work, according to first-grade teachers from across the U.S.

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WHEEL OF NAMES Games and Activities for Teachers | Fun Ideas for Virtual Spinners!

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Taji Allen-Sanchez, a sixth- and seventh-grade science teacher at San Francisco's Aptos Middle School, is one of a growing number of teachers who believe that traditional methods of teaching aren't preparing students for life beyond school. Lectures and direct instruction can be used to convey information to students, but they don't enhance skills like teamwork, problem solving, and curiosity that employers are increasingly looking for.

"If you just give students answers, they're not going to understand [the science]," he explains. "Really, any kid can memorize information, but can they apply it to an actual real-world application?"

A 2013 survey of over 700 business leaders bears out Allen-Sanchez's point: Half of the respondents reported that many job applicants who were technically proficient lacked the communication, decision-making, and problem-solving skills necessary to do the jobs they applied for. Far too many college graduates touted high grades and test scores, but lacked key skills to be successful in the workplace.

"It's not a matter of technical skill," explained one employer in the survey, "but of knowing how to think."

New Research Shows the Power of PBL

In an attempt to foster those necessary skills, Allen-Sanchez uses a combination of project-based learning (PBL) and performance assessments to encourage his students to gain a deeper understanding of science. The curriculum he uses came out of a Stanford project looking at how PBL, paired with performance assessments, can boost student learning. The results so far have been promising: The three-year project revealed significant growth in state standardized English language arts (ELA) and math tests for students in the program. Significantly, teachers also reported seeing higher rates of participation and engagement for their students.

The program's focus on academic discourse was especially helpful for English language learners, who outperformed their peers on the state's measure of language proficiency.

Research shows that by organizing learning around meaningful goals, PBL can be an effective way to cultivate a "need to know" attitude in students-students are motivated to deepen their understanding in order to solve a problem that is meaningful to them. Concepts are better understood when students see a need for their use because that need encourages them to apply what they're learning to relevant situations, leading to a better sense of understanding.

In schools participating in the study, students took an active role in their classrooms, asking questions, solving problems, conducting experiments, and participating in group discussions. The students felt that their assignments were more interesting, challenging, worthwhile, and enjoyable than did students in classrooms with a traditional science curriculum. Researchers also observed higher rates of students staying on task and paying close attention to the teacher and their peers.

Redefining How Students Learn

Project-based learning can be a catalyst for transforming science learning, helping students move from asking "what?" to also asking "why?" and "how?" In a traditional classroom, students often focus on memorizing facts to pass a test. At Aptos Middle School and other schools across San Francisco, PBL is being used to encourage scientific inquiry, putting students in the shoes of scientists applying authentic reasoning practices-such as experimentation and trial and error-in the classroom. While students still learn facts, they also learn to apply those facts in open-ended projects that they help design.

This transformation is driven by the 5E model, which eschews a traditional "scope and sequence" approach in which students progress along a fixed path of concepts and skills throughout the school year. Instead, instruction is organized around five phases:

Engage: Students' interest is piqued with novel ideas.

Explore: Hands-on activities deepen understanding.

Explain: Students describe ideas in their own words.

Elaborate: Ideas are applied to a broader context.

Evaluate: Students provide a rich picture of their understanding.

Allen-Sanchez explains that this model "really pushes kids to take an experience, really get immersed in it, learn about it through articles, and conversation, and discussion, and then get into more of it through the Elaborate by pushing what they already know to give more answers."

Students in Allen-Sanchez's science classes do more than just recite correct answers-they develop projects that utilize the 5Es. For example, students may work in groups to solve real-life engineering challenges such as working with a restaurant to design an energy-efficient kitchen. These students learn STEM concepts like the impact that windows and doorways have on thermal insulation, and they apply those concepts in complex situations: working with clients, managing projects, and executing the design cycle of prototyping, testing, and revising solutions to solve problems.

"We knew that we wanted to create a science environment in our classrooms that would disrupt the way that it had become: a course in which facts were learned and memorized," said Jim Ryan, the former STEM executive director for the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD).

Student Group Work

Despite the importance of team problem-solving in today's workplaces, only 8 percent of students could meet the demands of a highly collaborative environment, while 28 percent would struggle because they have only basic levels of important skills. Schools largely aren't addressing this skills mismatch-highlighting the need for more opportunities for students to work together to solve the complex problems that do foster the necessary skills.

At the beginning of every school year, teachers in SFUSD emphasize the need for students to work together, not just to complete challenging projects but also to help change beliefs and stereotypes about science identity.

"We recognize that students walk in the door of this classroom with issues of status behind them, that they recognize themselves as being a science person or a non-science person," said Ryan. "It's through student discourse and group work that they will start to dispel those beliefs about not only themselves but about their peers, and recognize that each of those students is bringing an aspect of smarts into the problem that they're trying to solve around science."

Throughout the year, teachers use group work to address the myth that scientists work in isolation. For Eric Lewis, the district's science content specialist, science "requires lots of people with lots of different specializations to work together to explain an idea and to come up with solutions for the big problems that we have today."

Teachers as Designers

To improve student learning, start with teachers-that's the philosophy driving project-based learning in SFUSD. In a landmark study, John Hattie found that teachers account for 30 percent of the variance in student achievement, beating other factors like quality of curriculum, class size, and school funding. So after Stanford developed the new science curriculum (which can be downloaded for free), SFUSD educators worked with the researchers to improve it, playing a key role as co-designers.

"In developing this curriculum, it was absolutely critical that it was a true partnership. One, not only between Stanford and San Francisco, but between teachers, designers, administrators, etc.," said Nicole Holthuis, a Stanford researcher and one of the creators of the curriculum. Teachers took the curriculum into their classrooms to test out and then gave each other feedback on what worked and what didn't.

The partnership seems to be effective: Lewis says that with the 5E model and PBL, "We're seeing more students getting their hands wet. We're seeing more students contribute ideas. We're seeing more students participate in many different ways."

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Boosting Student Engagement Through Project-Based Learning

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Taji Allen-Sanchez, a sixth- and seventh-grade science teacher at San Francisco's Aptos Middle School, is one of a growing number of teachers who believe that traditional methods of teaching aren't preparing students for life beyond school.

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Project Based Learning Done Right: 10 Misconceptions Plus 10 Resources to Raise the PBL Bar

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Let’s take a look at these ten areas, and also how we as educators can use PBL as a vehicle for authentic student-centered learning.

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(Image credit: Exploravision)

In the return to in-person classes, re-engaging students and making up for learning loss has been a primary concern for educators.

"We need students who are coming back to school now to experience learning as it should be, to be excited, to have ownership of it, and also experience success," says Dr. Arthur Eisenkraft, a Distinguished Professor of Science Education at UMass Boston, and the co-founder and head judge of , a STEM-based K-12 scholarship competition.

Eisenkraft is concerned that in the effort to "catch up" students, many educators will simply speed up what they've always done. "They'll say, 'They missed fourth grade completely, so I know what I'll do, I'll just run that curriculum by them twice as fast, and the heck with them understanding,'" says Eisenkraft. "That's the danger, to throw out all the good stuff we know about teaching and learning, and revert back to models that never worked."

Enter project-based learning (PBL), which focuses on having students solve real-world STEM-related problems by working on a project over an extended period (typically more than a week) that demonstrates they understand the content knowledge. It often involves hands-on work and builds skills, such as critical thinking, collaboration, and creativity, and ends in a tangible product or presentation that showcases the student's thought and decision-making processes.

Eisenkraft says PBL also gives educators the opportunity to ask students, 'What are you interested in?'

"When you do project-based learning, the students won't ask, 'Why am I learning this?'" he says. Rather than canned or uninspiring answers such as, "It's on the test" or "You'll use it later," PBL allows students to get involved in something that they can see the relevance of immediately and offers real-world applications.

"Project-based learning is more practical in that kids can get their hands on, so to speak, a project, and it cuts across disciplines, which is part of NGSS concepts," says Eisenkraft. "Even if you don't build something yourself, you are still solving a problem. There are a lot of projects that focus around an idea or concept."

(Image credit: Exploravision)

Project-Based Learning: Building Engagement

PBL to improve the understanding of basic concepts, encourage deep and creative learning, and develop teamwork and communication skills among students.

"Not everybody is motivated by the same stimulation, so project-based learning also allows us as teachers to come up with ways to motivate different students in the work we want to do," says Eisenkraft.

Even though science curricula and the NGSS may dictate certain subjects, students can have input. For example, Eisenkraft suggests when studying forces, go beyond the standard physics equation-type of problems involving angles and speeds.

"The project I do is to have students develop a sport that we play on the moon," he says. "So they're all coming up with new sports, and I can't predict which sport they're going to do, and I can't predict how it will go." PBL allows students to define the task, to wonder, and to have a different view, which is respected by the teacher, he adds. Having that kind of freedom while still following the curriculum is a good way to boost student buy-in.

By providing a hands-on opportunity and student-initiated focus, PBL also creates more memorable and effective learning experiences.

"I like to ask adults, 'What did you do for a science fair project in middle school?'" says Eisenkraft. "And if they do remember it, they can tell me all about it. It might be as trivial as, 'I made a volcano.' But they remember doing the volcano. Do you remember anything else from seventh grade science? Nothing."

Eisenkraft cautions that PBL shouldn't just be about making or building objects, but exploring the design and decision-making processes as well. "In middle school woodshop, everybody makes a birdhouse, and everybody makes the same kind. I'm saying, 'No, no, which bird are you making it for? Why are you making it, and how is that reflected in your design?' And then, no, the most perfect thing that you show me is not going to get an A unless you tell me what other three ideas you considered while making this that you rejected. Now, it's a real project. You've done it, you've told me what you did, but you also told me what decisions you made."

Project-Based Learning and Exploravision

To provide PBL opportunities, Eisenkraft helped launch , one of the largest scholarship competitions in the U.S., which is run by the National Science Teaching Association with financial backing from Toshiba and celebrates its 30th anniversary this year. The event challenges groups of K-12 students to solve global issues through technology, with the winners receiving $10,000 college scholarship bonds at maturity. The submission date is January 31, 2022, but educators should be organizing projects now.

Part of the competition is predicting what a technology may look like 20 years in the future, so now after three decades, organizers can look back to see if any old submissions came into being. "So, an example is 27 years ago somebody said, 'Oh, the newspaper in the morning, you'll just plug in this device you'll have, and it will have the newspaper on it, and then you can read it, and you can press a button and a page will turn, you will press another button it'll get bigger print if you want,'" Eisenkraft says. "Now, of course we have that on our iPhones."

In Exploravision, students are also asked to recognize that all technologies have positive and negative consequences, and to explore those ideas. "So we ask them to look at what's the downside of the technology, which requires them to really force themselves to confront what all the advertisements tell them, like 'Oh this technology will solve all the problems in your life,'" he says. "It doesn't work that way."

Introducing PBL into classrooms right now can be an opportunity to reimagine education and look at what's worked in the past versus old methods that maybe weren't the most effective.

"Exploravision is one opportunity to do project-based learning that satisfies these aspects of what students like about school," Eisenkraft says. "We don't want to come back to school now all excited, you know, the fist bumps and it's like, 'Wow we're back together,' but you don't want them to remember, 'Oh yeah, take out your pens and papers and copy this sentence from the board.' Maybe they forgot about those bad things in school. Let's not bring them back."

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How Project-Based Learning Can Increase Student Engagement

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(Image credit: Exploravision) In the return to in-person classes, re-engaging students and making up for learning loss has been a primary concern for educators.

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Flipgrid is a simple, free, and accessible video discussion experience for learners and families.

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Cooperative Learning with Placemat Consensus! - Ciera Harris Teaching

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Teachers always have lots of reasons to get that pain in the pit of our stomachs... Testing season, report card deadlines, group work... Oh GROUP WORK! Can you hear the tattling now!? Working together in groups can be the most rewarding experiences in many lessons but also can be some of the most challenging.

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Teachers can create a more student-centered classroom by ensuring that everyone has a chance to contribute.

We all want each of our students to feel heard and valued in our classrooms, with everyone engaged in class discussions. Some years the dynamic is just magically there. Others we must work harder to support the reluctant voices and subdue the dominating personalities in order to create equitable classroom conversations.

In the research, there are two dimensions of classroom talk: One ranges from interactive to noninteractive and the other from authoritative to dialogic. They combine to create four types of classroom conversations. With an equitable classroom, we are engaging in interactive-dialogic talk, which means the whole class is thinking together, making their thinking visible, constructing knowledge and understanding, and accessing prior knowledge.

This is significantly different from noninteractive-authoritative, in which the teacher is lecturing information from one point of view, or noninteractive-dialogic, which is still only the teacher talking but sharing different perspectives. Finally, with interactive-authoritative, many students are talking, but it's evident that there is only one correct answer or perspective.

Striving for interactive-dialogic talk has many benefits for the learning process. Students engaging in socialization of learning understand concepts on a higher level, since they are mentally involved in the active learning process. Interactive-dialogic talk engages students in externalizing, which requires them to access prior knowledge, synthesize their understanding, articulate concisely and effectively, and elaborate by assimilating new knowledge into existing mental schema.

Additionally, when students contribute to the collective classroom experience, it motivates and engages them by creating a sense of belonging as well as the satisfaction of being appreciated for their thoughts and ideas. They are a valuable member of the classroom learning experience.

Here are some strategies to create a culture in which all voices and perspectives are represented to maximize higher-level processing from all students.

4 Tips to Include More Voices in the Classroom

1. Anti-proximity. One of the most well-known strategies for classroom management is proximity. We all are aware of the power of moving closer to a student to help them be more attentive, participatory, or engaged, or even better behaved.

Sometimes to create equity it's better to move away from the student. In typical conversations, we tend to move closer or lean in when talking with a person. In the classroom, we see this when a student responds or asks a question, and the teacher moves closer to that student. In doing so, the teacher has unintentionally given a signal that this conversation is between this specific student and teacher only. Other students are quick to disengage in the conversation.

Instead, when a student responds, walk to the far side of the room. Now, the conversation includes all of the classmates in between the teacher and student who is currently speaking. The likelihood that others will actively listen and respond increases as they are physically included in the space of the conversation.

2. Body language. As with anti-proximity, the natural instinct is to change our body language to show that we're listening. We angle our shoulders forward and turn them to face the person speaking or even make eye contact. In the classroom, when a teacher does this, it signals to the other students that this is a personal conversation, and so they disengage.

Teachers can instead think about their body language when they respond to students, positioning their shoulders to open up and lift back toward the whole class rather than the one student. Keeping our head up as if we are looking at the far side of the room and having our eyes scan the entire room will also help signal to students that all are expected to stay in the conversation.

3. Anonymous input. Having a voice, sharing perspectives, and externalizing thinking does not always have to be in the traditional sense of a whole group classroom conversation with different students talking individually to the whole group. This can be intimidating for some students and also may not allow space for thinking for those who are introverted and tend to process deeply individually.

Allow students to participate anonymously. They will feel their ideas represented without any anxiety of being recognized. They personally will know that they were heard and contributed to the collective learning experience.

There are many apps that permit students to submit answers anonymously, but one of my favorites is Nearpod, which allows a variety of different types of questions, including open-ended, polls, multiple choice, and drawing, where students respond to a prompt with an actual drawing. The open-ended option allows teachers to select a single response and share with the whole class by pushing it to their devices, so that it's the only response they can see. Even if done anonymously, the student knows they are contributing in a valuable manner.

4. Thinking routines. Thinking routines like think-pair-share, the jigsaw discussion method, and turn and talk present students with different scales of conversations, allowing them to externalize their ideas with a small group before sharing with the class at large. This leads to collaborative efforts to construct knowledge.

One of particular value is the fishbowl triad discussion strategy. Students work in groups of three to prepare for the discussion. This relieves the tension of individual anxiety. During the actual discussion, there's an inner circle with only one representative from each triad who engages in talk, while students in the outer circle serve as active listeners. You can allow for members of the triad to exchange notes to the inner circle vocal representative or tap in by switching spots. This allows students to decide when they want to be a more active voice or prefer to be a supporting role in the conversation. Regardless, they still are involved in some manner.

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How to Engage More Students in Classroom Discussions

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Teachers can create a more student-centered classroom by ensuring that everyone has a chance to contribute. We all want each of our students to feel heard and valued in our classrooms, with everyone engaged in class discussions. Some years the dynamic is just magically there.

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HyperDocs are digital lesson plans that are designed by teachers and given to students. They provide access for students to all content and learning in one organized digital space. HyperDocs shift instruction by giving students the content to explore before direct instruction, and by asking students to apply their learning using the 4 C's: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity. We can't always do things the way we've always done them and we encourage you to consider, "What is it that I can do now that I couldn't do before?"

HyperDocs, a transformative, interactive Google Doc replacing the worksheet method of delivering instruction, is the ultimate change agent in the blended learning classroom. With strong educational philosophies built into each one, HyperDocs have the potential to shift the way you instruct with technology. They are created by teachers and given to students to engage, educate, and inspire learning. It's not about teaching technology, it's about using technology to TEACH.

Things you can do with a HyperDoc
A true HyperDoc is much more than some links on a document.

Creators deliberately choose web tools to give students opportunities to Engage * Explore * Explain * Apply * Share * Reflect * Extend the learning.

Digital collaboration is choreographed to give every student a voice and a chance to be heard by their classmates.

Critical thinking and problem-solving skills can be developed through linked tasks.

Students have an opportunity to create authentic digital artifacts to show what they know and connect with a wider audience.

What do HyperDocs Look Like?

HyperDocs are digital lessons designed by teachers and given to students. What platform you choose to design them on is up to you (we can teach you how)! How you choose to get them to students is also up to you (we have a course for that)! The most popular platform to use is by far Google Docs and Google Slides but those should never be the limiting factors in your amazing designs.

These icons lead to folders with sample lessons made by teachers just like you! Take a moment to explore them and get a sense of what they look and feel like. If you're looking for more, head .

Want to see a lesson being taught with a HyperDoc? Check out this Workshop Model lesson about commas using HyperDocs.

How to start using HyperDocs

Find a HyperDoc just right for your classroom and try it out yourself! The best way to learn about how HyperDocs work is to use one. Use one of our many samples or take a look at our templates.

After you find one you'd like to use, File > Make a Copy and edit the HyperDoc to meet the needs of your students and your learning environment.

Here is a video about how to modify HyperDocs. Here is the HyperDoc that is being modified.

If you'd like to learn more about getting Started with HyperDocs. We suggest our, "Getting Started Course Pathway" which is 100% and a great way to learn more about what a HyperDoc is and how to get started mastering the design and delivery of them. We also have a Remote Teaching Course Pathway that is also totally free. Click the images below to check them out!

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HyperDocs are digital lesson plans that are designed by teachers and given to students. They provide access for students to all content and learning in one organized digital space. HyperDocs shift instruction by giving students the content to explore before direct instruction, and by asking students to apply their learning using the 4 C's: critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity.

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How Students can use Wakelet Collaboration

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Don't do the work if you don't have to.Our templates get your students to work quickly.Download or make a copy. Adjust as necessary. Assign to your

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In the classroom, it's sometimes tough to tell which students are really engaged and which ones are just floating along for the day. A few nodding heads and smiles are always promising, but they don't tell you much - you need more than just behavioral cues.

Being able to identify and quantify student engagement helps you know what instruction is working and what needs to be adjusted.

7 ways to measure student engagement in the classroom

Photo credit: Classcraft

Classcraft provides an easy way to measure student engagement. You can customize the points (XP) awarded to students in your classroom and set up a point-based system that targets the engagement areas you're trying to measure. After using Classcraft for a while, the Analytics section will display how each student is doing compared to the rest of the class (in the screenshot above, the light gold represents the class average).

2. Classroom participation

Many teachers enforce a participation grade in the classroom. Depending on your school district and your particular class, this may or may not be feasible. Participation grades are somewhat controversial, mainly because students are earning points that aren't directly tied to knowledge. (This is the same argument people make about giving an effort grade for homework assignments.) But despite the controversy, participation grades are an effective method for assessing student engagement. After all, a student who's participating is more likely to be learning and retaining the information that's being taught.

Photo credit: Google Edu

3. Standards for a participation grade

In order to score students on their engagement and participation, you need to set clear rubrics and communicate your expectations. This may involve setting a simple scale that lists the frequencies of observed student behaviors (never, sometimes, often, always). Alternatively, it can be point-based (e.g., on a scale of one to ten). And it can even be a graphic or color-coded system for younger students (e.g., smiley faces vs. frowning faces, or red, yellow, and green levels of engagement). In any case, you need to be consistent and explicitly communicate your criteria for success.

For example, you can assess whether a student:

Remains seated throughout the class.

Does what is asked of him/her.

Stays on task.

Follows along during instruction.

Asks questions and participates in class discussions.

On the other hand, students might lose points if they:

Sleep in class (or put their head on the desk).

Work on other classwork during instruction.

Use a cell phone/electronic device without permission.

Distract others during class.

Don't follow directions.

Although many of these criteria relate to classroom rules and behavior management through a system of rewards and punishments, they're ultimately going to help you create an environment where all learners can be engaged. Because if you encourage attentive classroom behavior, you ensure that students are receiving all the necessary information to succeed in your class.

4. Informally assessing comprehension

Another way to tell if students are engaged is to see if they're beginning to more readily grasp the material that's being presented. A summative assessment such as a quiz, test, or more formal assignment is a good way to tell whether a student has learned and understood the required material. But before a summative assessment takes place, you may find it helpful to use many smaller, informal formative assessments. By checking in regularly to see if students are engaged and understanding the material every day, you can adjust your instruction style to match your students' comprehension.

Photo: Ben Mullin/Unsplash

5. Formative assessments

Formative assessments can take many forms. A very simple check of understanding is to ask students to give a thumbs up or a thumbs down to signal their comprehension of a particular lesson. This also helps you identify students who are paying attention because they'll need to physically show you their response - those who don't are likely distracted by something else. You can then ask follow-up questions to clarify material as needed. Optionally, you can also group students based on their responses. For example, thumbs-up students could work together on a sample problem while the teacher works with the students who are still having trouble understanding the concepts.

Another quick way of assessing engagement and understanding is to use exit cards. At the end of class, give students a small note card or scrap piece of paper, and have them answer two to three short questions. These questions should match the new material you presented and will help you determine whether your students understand the new information.

For example, if you delivered a lesson on algebra and techniques for solving equations, your exit card may contain a few sample problems for students to solve on their own. After a lesson on World War I, students might be asked to list, in their own words, some reasons why the war began.

You collect these cards as students exit the class. By quickly flipping through the cards, you'll get a good idea of who understood the lesson and who didn't. This is also a good way to assess student engagement because those who are thoroughly engaged are more likely to nail these questions than those who aren't.

6. Checklist

One method is to give students a physical checklist once a week and have them grade their own in-class participation. You can then verify or change this self-assessment as needed. Many times, students are quite honest about their classroom participation, so this is an easy way to evaluate engagement on a weekly basis. This method also helps remind students of your expectations for the class because it forces them to actively consider how they're being graded on participation.

7. Seating chart

If you're looking for more of an old-school method, you can use a seating chart to record student behavior and engagement. Some teachers just mark participation grades on a seating chart that's kept on a clipboard for ease of access. For example, if someone is talking during instruction, you might write a "T" for talking on the student's seating chart square. If a student is using their cell phone, you may record "CP", and when they are late for class, you can mark "L".

You can (and are encouraged to) develop your own system to make this easier. The best part? These notes can later be transferred to a participation mark in a grade book - you could even automate the process to make your life easier. A seating chart also serves as a log of student behavior in case parents ask you to clarify why you've been deducting participation points.

Practice makes perfect

Assessing student engagement can be a tricky task for teachers, especially since there are many approaches you can choose from for your classroom. In any case, remember that promoting student engagement will help students learn more and make your classroom management process much easier.

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How to assess student engagement - Classcraft Blog

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In the classroom, it's sometimes tough to tell which students are really engaged and which ones are just floating along for the day. A few nodding heads and smiles are always promising, but they don't tell you much - you need more than just behavioral cues.

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