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What is meaningful work? ARTICLE + INFOGRAPHIC 

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What is meaningful work? ARTICLE + INFOGRAPHIC 

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PRINCIPAL

January/February 2007

By Alfie Kohn
[For a more detailed look at the issues discussed here - including a comprehensive list of citations to relevant research and a discussion of successful efforts to effect change- please see the book The Homework Myth.]
After spending most of the day in school, children are typically given additional assignments to be completed at home. This is a rather curious fact when you stop to think about it, but not as curious as the fact that few people ever stop to think about it.

It becomes even more curious, for that matter, in light of three other facts:

1. The negative effects of homework are well known. They include children's frustration and exhaustion, lack of time for other activities, and possible loss of interest in learning. Many parents lament the impact of homework on their relationship with their children; they may also resent having to play the role of enforcer and worry that they will be criticized either for not being involved enough with the homework or for becoming too involved.

2. The positive effects of homework are largely mythical. In preparation for a book on the topic, I've spent a lot of time sifting through the research. The results are nothing short of stunning. For starters, there is absolutely no evidence of any academic benefit from assigning homework in elementary or middle school. For younger students, in fact, there isn't even a correlation between whether children do homework (or how much they do) and any meaningful measure of achievement. At the high school level, the correlation is weak and tends to disappear when more sophisticated statistical measures are applied. Meanwhile, no study has ever substantiated the belief that homework builds character or teaches good study habits.

3. More homework is being piled on children despite the absence of its value. Over the last quarter-century the burden has increased most for the youngest children, for whom the evidence of positive effects isn't just dubious; it's nonexistent.

It's not as though most teachers decide now and then that a certain lesson really ought to continue after school is over because meaningful learning is so likely to result from such an assignment that it warrants the intrusion on family time. Homework in most schools isn't limited to those occasions when it seems appropriate and important. Rather, the point of departure seems to be: "We've decided ahead of time that children will have to do something every night (or several times a week). Later on we'll figure out what to make them do."

I've heard from countless people across the country about the frustration they feel over homework. Parents who watch a torrent of busywork spill out of their children's backpacks wish they could help teachers understand how the cons overwhelmingly outweigh the pros. And teachers who have long harbored doubts about the value of homework feel pressured by those parents who mistakenly believe that a lack of afterschool assignments reflects an insufficient commitment to academic achievement. Such parents seem to reason that as long as their kids have lots of stuff to do every night, never mind what it is, then learning must be taking place.

What parents and teachers need is support from administrators who are willing to challenge the conventional wisdom. They need principals who question the slogans that pass for arguments: that homework creates a link between school and family (as if there weren't more constructive ways to make that connection!), or that it "reinforces" what students were taught in class (a word that denotes the repetition of rote behaviors, not the development of understanding), or that it teaches children self-discipline and responsibility (a claim for which absolutely no evidence exists).

Above all, principals need to help their faculties see that the most important criterion for judging decisions about homework (or other policies, for that matter) is the impact they're likely to have on students' attitudes about what they're doing. "Most of what homework is doing is driving kids away from learning," says education professor Harvey Daniels. Let's face it: Most children dread homework, or at best see it as something to be gotten through. Thus, even if it did provide other benefits, they would have to be weighed against its likely effect on kids' love of learning.
*
So what's a thoughtful principal to do?

1. Educate yourself and share what you've learned with teachers, parents, and central office administrators. Make sure you know what the research really says - that there is no reason to believe that children would be at any disadvantage in terms of their academic learning or life skills if they had much less homework, or even none at all. Whatever decisions are made should be based on fact rather than folk wisdom.

2. Rethink standardized "homework policies." Requiring teachers to give a certain number of minutes of homework every day, or to make assignments on the same schedule everyweek (for example, x minutes of math on Tuesdays and Thursdays) is a frank admission that homework isn't justified by a given lesson, much less is it a response to what specific kids need at a specific time. Such policies sacrifice thoughtful instruction in order to achieve predictability, and they manage to do a disservice not only to students but, when imposed from above, to teachers as well.

3. Reduce the amount - but don't stop there. Many parents are understandably upset with how much time their children have to spend on homework. At a minimum, make sure that teachers aren't exceeding district guidelines and that they aren't chronically underestimating how long it takes students to complete the assignments. (As one mother told me, "It's cheating to say this is 20 minutes of homework if only your fastest kid can complete it in that time.") Then work on reducing the amount of homework irrespective of such guidelines and expectations so that families, not schools, decide how they will spend most of their evenings.

Quantity, however, is not the only issue that needs to be addressed. Some assignments, frankly, aren't worth even five minutes of a student's time. Too many first graders are forced to clip words from magazines that begin with a given letter of the alphabet. Too many fifth graders have to color in an endless list of factor pairs on graph paper. Too many eighth graders spend their evenings inching their way through dull, overstuffed, committee-written textbooks, one chapter at a time. Teachers should be invited to reflect on whether any given example of homework will help students think deeply about questions that matter. What philosophy of teaching, what theory of learning, lies behind each assignment? Does it seem to assume that children are meaning makers - or empty vessels? Is learning regarded as a process that's mostly active or passive? Is it about wrestling with ideas or mindlessly following directions?

4. Change the default. Ultimately, it's not enough just to have less homework or even better homework. We should change the fundamental expectation in our schools so that students are asked to take schoolwork home only when a there's a reasonable likelihood that a particular assignment will be beneficial to most of them. When that's not true, they should be free to spend their after-school hours as they choose. The bottom line: No homework except on those occasions when it's truly necessary. This, of course, is a reversal of the current default state, which amounts to an endorsement of homework for its own sake, regardless of the content, a view that simply can't be justified.

5. Ask the kids. Find out what students think of homework and solicit their suggestions - perhaps by distributing anonymous questionnaires. Many adults simply assume that homework is useful for promoting learning without even inquiring into the experience of the learners themselves! Do students find that homework really is useful? Why or why not? Are certain kinds better than others? How does homework affect their desire to learn? What are its other effects on their lives, and on their families?

6. Suggest that teachers assign only what they design. In most cases, students should be asked to doonly what teachers are willing to create themselves, as opposed to prefabricated worksheets or generic exercises photocopied from textbooks. Also, it rarely makes sense to give the same assignment to all students in a class because it's unlikely to be beneficial for most of them. Those who already understand the concept will be wasting their time, and those who don't understand will become increasingly frustrated. There is no perfect assignment that will stimulate every student because one size simply doesn't fit all. On those days when homework really seems necessary, teachers should create several assignments fitted to different interests and capabilities. But it's better to give no homework to anyone than the same homework to everyone.

7. Use homework as an opportunity to involve students in decision-making. One way to judge the quality of a classroom is by the extent to which students participate in making choices about their learning. The best teachers know that children learn how to make good decisions by making decisions, not by following directions. Students should have something to say about what they're going to learn and the circumstances under which they'll learn it, as well as how (and when) their learning will be evaluated, how the room will be set up, how conflicts will be resolved, and a lot more.

What is true of education in general is true of homework in particular. At least two investigators have found that the most impressive teachers (as defined by various criteria) tend to involve students in decisions about assignments rather than simply telling them what they'll have to do at home. A reasonable first question for a parent to ask upon seeing a homework assignment is "How much say did the kids have in determining how this had to be done, and on what schedule, and whether it really needed to be completed at home in the first place?"

A discussion about whether homework might be useful (and why) can be valuable in its own right. If opinions are varied, the question of what to do when everyone doesn't agree - take a vote? keep talking until we reach consensus? look for a compromise? - develops social skills as well as intellectual growth. And that growth occurs precisely because the teacher asked rather than told. Teachers who consult with their students on a regular basis would shake their heads vigorously were you to suggest that kids will always say no to homework - or to anything else that requires effort. It's just not true, they'll tell you. When students are treated with respect, when the assignments are worth doing, most kids relish a challenge.

If, on the other hand, students groan about, or try to avoid, homework, it's generally because they get too much of it, or because it's assigned thoughtlessly and continuously, or simply because they had nothing to say about it. The benefits of even high-quality assignments are limited if students feel "done to" instead of "worked with."

8. Help teachers move away from grading. Your faculty may need your support, encouragement, and practical suggestions to help them abandon a model in which assignments are checked off or graded, where the point is to enforce compliance, and toward a model in which students explain and explore with one another what they've done - what they liked and disliked about the book they read, what they're struggling with, what new questions they came up with. As the eminent educator Martin Haberman observed, homework in the best classrooms "is not checked - it is shared." If students conclude that there's no point in spending time on assignments that aren't going to be collected or somehow recorded, that's not an argument for setting up bribes and threats and a climate of distrust; it's an indictment of the homework itself.

9. Experiment. Ask teachers who are reluctant to rethink their long-standing reliance on traditional homework to see what happens if, during a given week or curriculum unit, they tried assigning none. Surely anyone who believes that homework is beneficial should be willing to test that assumption by investigating the consequences of its absence. What are the effects of a moratorium on students' achievement, on their interest in learning, on their moods and the resulting climate of the classroom? Likewise, the school as a whole can try out a new policy, such as the change in default that I've proposed, on a tentative basis before committing to it permanently.

*

Principals deal with an endless series of crises; they're called upon to resolve complaints, soothe wounded egos, negotiate solutions, try to keep everyone happy, and generally make the trains (or, rather, buses) run on time. In such a position there is a strong temptation to avoid new initiatives that call the status quo into question. Considerable gumption is required to take on an issue like homework, particularly during an era when phrases like "raising the bar" and "higher standards" are used to rationalize practices that range from foolish to inappropriate to hair-raising. But of course a principal's ultimate obligation is to do what's right by the children, to protect them from harmful mandates and practices that persist not because they're valuable but merely because they're traditional.

For anyone willing to shake things up in order to do what makes sense, beginning a conversation about homework is a very good place to start.
RESOURCES
We are awash in articles and books that claim homework is beneficial - or simply take the existence or value of homework for granted and merely offer suggestions for how it ought to be assigned, or what techniques parents should use to make children complete it. Here are some resources that question the conventional assumptions about the subject in an effort to stimulate meaningful thinking and conversation.

Barber, Bill. "Homework Does Not Belong on the Agenda for Educational Reform." Educational Leadership, May 1986: 55-57.

Bennett, Sara, and Nancy Kalish. The Case Against Homework: How Homework Is Hurting Our Children and What We Can Do About It (New York: Crown, 2006).

Buell, John. Closing the Book on Homework: Enhancing Public Education and Freeing Family Time. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2004).

Dudley-Marling, Curt. "How School Troubles Come Home: The Impact of Homework on Families of Struggling Learners." Current Issues in Education [On-line] 6, 4 (2003).

Hinchey, Patricia. "Rethinking Homework." MASCD [Missouri Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development] Fall Journal, December 1995: 13-17.

Kohn, Alfie. The Homework Myth: Why Our Kids Get Too Much of a Bad Thing (Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2006).

Kralovec, Etta, and John Buell. The End of Homework: How Homework Disrupts Families, Overburdens Children, and Limits Learning (Boston: Beacon Press, 2000).

Samway, Katharine. "'And You Run and You Run to Catch Up with the Sun, But It's Sinking.'" Language Arts 63 (1986): 352-57.

Vatterott, Cathy. "There's Something Wrong With Homework." Principal, January-February 2003: 64.

Waldman, Ayelet. "Homework Hell." Salon.com. October 22, 2005.

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PRINCIPAL January/February 2007 By Alfie Kohn [For a more detailed look at the issues discussed here - including a comprehensive list of citations to relevant research and a discussion of successful efforts to effect change- please see the book The Homework Myth.]

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French I Verbs Choice Board

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French II Units Choice Board

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THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CHOICE BOARDS AND LEARNING MENUS

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THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO CHOICE BOARDS AND LEARNING MENUS

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Note: I've broken this guide into three distinct parts. All of the resources shared in the examples section can be accessed for free, including those I used from NextLesson when you sign-up for a one-month trial. Other free resources are shared on my Remote Learning Hub. Please share your examples and resources in the comments! Part 1: Why Choice Boards? Why Now in Emergency Remote Learning? Part 2: Step-by-Step Process for Developing Your First Choice Board Part 3: Examples of Choice Boards in Action
Why Choice Boards? Why Now in Emergency Remote Learning?

Take a moment and think about your favorite learning experience ever. What did you enjoy about it? Why did you get so much out of this experience compared to the thousands of other learning experiences you've had over the years?

Chances are you had a great teacher, a safe environment for learning, and a special connection that put this experience over the top.

As teachers, we want every student to have their best learning experience with us in our classes, yet our problem is that we often try to find the "something special" that will be the same for all of our students.
That's probably not going to happen.
Students (just like teachers and anyone else) learn differently. Some enjoy group work; others prefer to work alone. Some understand better through auditory learning, while others understand better through visual learning. The list of learning differences in students goes on and on.

As humans, we each have specific sets of circumstances that allow us to learn best. This set of circumstances changes over time, and although it is fluid, a teacher does not have much control over what is going to allow a student to learn best that day -
Unless we give choice.
One of the basic tenets of differentiated instruction is that it allows a teacher to reach many students at different levels of understanding. By differentiating what we teach, and how we teach it, we are able to reach the entire classroom instead of the small group of students who are going to follow along with direct instruction.

When we differentiate, we build the choices/options into our instruction, and conversely the learning process. That's a lot of work for the teacher. It can be a lot of planning when we differentiate instruction. But what is our main goal for any learning activity?

Most would say our goal should be to have students demonstrate their understanding of the concept/skill covered in the learning activity.
For any learning activity, our goal should be engagement and empowerment.
Engagement vs. Compliance

We know the best learning experiences happen when the learner's attitude, attention, and commitment to the process is at an all-time high. This combination is what Phil Shlechty calls "Engagement" in his fantastic levels:

The issue with engagement is that many of us were taught that a classroom should look like the "strategic compliance" level cited in the graphic. This is the "well-managed" classroom that many teachers strive to replicate on a daily basis, and the type of classroom that is often praised in classroom observations by administrators around the world.

When you first walk into a classroom that may be loud, with kids all over the room, using different learning tools, some in partners, some in groups, and some alone, your first thought may not be engaged.
If you're not sure what engagement looks like, begin asking these questions:

1. What type of attitude does the student have towards the learning activity? What is the evidence?

2. What level of attention does the student have towards the learning activity? What is the evidence?

3. What level of commitment does the student have towards the learning activity? What is the evidence?

When you ask these three questions, as a teacher or administrator, the answers will lead you to an understanding of student engagement, compliance, or withdrawal.

How Choice Impacts Student Engagement and Instruction

The reality of most schools is that certain content must be taught. Our goal is to figure out how to teach the same content through a student-choice of instructional experiences.

The key to this approach is getting all students engaged. That means all students must have high attention and high commitment.

One of the best and most manageable ways to do this is through choice boards, playlists, and learning menus.

As a teacher, I used the station-rotation model a lot, and I really believe it has the power to keep students engaged, moving, and working through different types of content.

However, when I asked my students about stations I sometimes received feedback that they didn't like them. Why?

Well, many students said that they only liked a few of the choices and some of the other choices were boring to them. Interestingly, the options they liked and the activities they thought were boring varied widely depending on the student and class.

I had my "Aha!" moment about choice-boards during a fall football practice. As a coach, you want to make sure the players are not only engaged but also focusing on skills that pertain to their position and role on the team. During the station part of our practice, the quarterback and receivers went to one station, the lineman to another station, and the running backs to a different station.

I thought, Why can't I do this in class?
The difference would be allowing students to choose which activities/stations they wanted to participate in, and giving them an opportunity to go deep with the content based on their preferred instructional activity.
When I brought this idea back into the classroom, my students were excited. They now had the power to choose, and from that choice came a level of ownership previously missing in station activities.

Developing Your First Choice Board

Here's an example of what a "choice board" activity might look like:

First, you take the content/unit that is built into the curriculum. In this case, let's use "photosynthesis" as our example.

Next, as a teacher, you have to decide what instructional resources and methods you are going to use to deliver this content.

Instructional Resources and Methods Options:

1. Direct instruction (full class)

2. Direct instruction (small group)

3. Direct instruction (conference)

4. Read material (textbook)

5. Read material (articles)

6. Listen to material (podcast or audio)

7. View material (video)

8. Listen/View/Read material (interactive presentation with audio)

9. Photosynthesis online simulation

Traditionally, we'll choose one or two of these methods and create a lesson plan or activity based on what we believe is the best way to teach this topic/content.

Sometimes, we'll take four or five of these methods and create a station activity.

Here, you can pick five or six activities and let your students choose two or three that truly pique their interest.

It is important to note that there must be an assessment of some type that you are working towards. In this case, we'll use a photosynthesis lab as our final project-based assessment.

In order for students to successfully complete the lab and analyze the results, they'll have to understand:

1. What photosynthesis is and why it is important.

2. What the process looks like.

3. Key terms and vocabulary for the content.

4. How this connects to other units in science that you've covered.

The "Choice Board" activity provides this information in a variety of formats and experiences. As students choose their activities, you'll get a better grasp of what types of activities work for them, and which ones they find engaging.

Throughout the activities, students should be recording what they are learning, and what they understand through a guided set of notes.

The end result is that all students should be prepared to successfully complete the photosynthesis lab activity.

Previously, in a traditional classroom setting, students may have not been engaged through a presentation or did not connect to the instructional delivery method. Here, they have the choice to go with what works best for them as a learner.

A Step-by-Step Guide for Your Classroom: Choice Boards

1. Identify a unit/concept or skill and what you want students to know/do/make in order to demonstrate their understanding/proficiency.

2. Create or choose an assessment/performance task that allows students to demonstrate mastery.

3. List various instructional methods, resources, and strategies to prepare students for the assessment/performance task.

4. Choose four-six instructional methods to turn into choice-board activities. Each activity should be a similar length in time and cover common material. Here is where you can add different types of technology or hands-on experiences to the learning process.

5. Create a workflow for the students to follow. Have notes and formative checks as part of the choice-board design process. Allow for reflection during each activity when planning how long students will complete the activity.

6. Introduce the different choices to students and describe what the goals of the activity are (as well as the assessment this is leading up to).

7. Let students pick activities based on their interests/needs.

8. As the teacher, a few of the activities/options might need more guidance than others. Make sure you aren't just "managing" this activity, but instead truly acting as a guide and expert learner when the opportunity is available.

9. Once the choice-board activities are complete, put students into small groups to "jigsaw" their reflection. Bring students from different activities together to reflect on their learning experience and share (this can be written, audio, or video reflections - think Flipgrid).

10. Listen to reflections and check the formative pieces for each activity to see if students are prepared for the assessment. If not, feel free to go through one more activity together as a class or talk about any topics/concepts they did not understand during the activity.

11. Give the assessment/performance task.

12. BONUS OPTION: Make your assessment into a choice-board with multiple performance tasks that allow students to demonstrate an understanding of the content and skills.

As you can see, the process takes more time on the front end from the teacher, but you'll know that students are prepared for a performance task by going through this activity.

When I began using technology in the classroom, these activities also turned into online experiences that could be done at any time. My ultimate goal as a teacher was to see my students succeeding and demonstrating their understanding of concepts and skills at a high level. The simple act of "giving students choice" changed how my students viewed our assessments, and how they prepared for assessments.

Examples of Choice Boards and Learning Menus

The Tic-Tac-Toe Choice Board

Here's what Catlin Tucker has to say about the Tic-Tac-Toe Choice Board option in her article, " Designing Your Own Digital Choice Board " (she has fantastic resources on this approach):
The classic 9 square model is ideal for a tic-tac-toe approach to a choice board that requires students to complete any three activities in a row across the board. Teachers can organize a choice board so that each column focuses on a particular skill or standard. Elementary teachers, who are teaching all subjects, may combine reading, math and vocabulary activities on a single board. On the other hand, a secondary teacher might design a board focused on one aspect of their curriculum, like reading or writing. As teachers consider what types of activities to design, it's important to keep differentiation in mind. Teachers can choose to differentiate by allowing students to decide:

what they will produce.

how they will engage with the information (learning modality).

which level of complexity they are ready for.

which activity appeals to their interests.

Some teachers choose to color code the squares and encourage stronger students to tackle more challenging activities. While others prefer to assign points to each box based on how challenging that activity is in relation to the other options.
Here are a few different examples for subjects and grade levels of the tic-tac-toe choice board:
Kindergarten Tic-Tac-Toe Choice Board - Math and ELA Kindergarten Tic-Tac-Toe Choice Board - Math
Kindergarten Tic-Tac-Toe Choice Board - ELA Catlin Tucker Example Tic-Tac-Toe Choice Board
You can also use varying technology tools and resources when having your students do activities on the choice board. I love Catlin Tucker's example choice board where the activities are tied to various high-tech and low-tech options for learning, curating, and creating.
6-12 Tic-Tac-Toe Choice Board - Novel Study by Kasey Bell
And here is a great example of what this might look like in 6-12 from Kasey Bell (who also has amazing resources available on choice boards and learning menus):

Learning Menu Choice Boards

Learning menu choice boards are different because they provide options in a specific order (like you would have when ordering a few courses from a menu).

The teacher directs the menu process, but the student is given control over his/her choice of options, order of completion, etc.
Spalls Digital Cafe Learning Menu
Here is an amazing example from Tom Spall, with a rubric, and the ability to modify the menu.
Shannon Miller Geography Choice Board While collaborating with one of our 3rd-grade teachers this week, I decided to pull together the resources we were finding focusing around geography into a new choice board. She is going to share this with all of the 3rd graders next week in their continuous learning plan to give them some choice of videos, interactive sites, games, and even the BrainPop Make-a-Map site to learn more and freshen up on their knowledge around geography.
Tom and his team take this menu idea a step by developing five different choice boards that could work in any classroom once edited and used with your content/skills/activities. Check out these three examples and Tom's article on his blog for all the links to resources and templates!

YOUR Choice Board Examples

I'd love to include your examples in this guide to choice boards! Please share in the comment section so other educators can be inspired and have practical resources to use giving students choice in their learning!

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The Ultimate Guide to Choice Boards and Learning Menus

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Note: I've broken this guide into three distinct parts. All of the resources shared in the examples section can be accessed for free, including those I used from NextLesson when you sign-up for a one-month trial. Other free resources are shared on my Remote Learning Hub.

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Kitchen tables and sofas may have replaced classroom desks and cubicles, but that hasn't stopped student engagement. As you transition to distance learning, we hope the ideas below help you continue to build community.

If you're new to Quizizz, here are a few reasons why it's a great tool for remote learning:

Whether you're playing live or asynchronously, students always see questions on their own devices-no need to huddle around a big screen.

Students can play on any device without logging into an account.

It's easy to start using and free for teachers, students, and parents.

We've put together a guide with community tips below and want to start with two new resources that we've added in response to the spread of COVID-19.

An expert-approved quiz to tackle the coronavirus

We noticed that many teachers and students were creating quizzes about COVID-19. As a result, we created a quiz and had it reviewed by an expert to ensure that it supports the best practices recommended by organizations like the WHO and the CDC. Thanks to Donald G. McNeil Jr., a science and health reporter at the New York Times, for taking the time to review the quiz.

To use the quiz with your students, click here.

We've extended the assignment due-date limit

We'll cover assignments below, but we're excited to share that we've doubled the assignment due-date limit through the end of the school year. Share assignments ahead of time and extend deadlines whenever you like!

We've extended our possible assignment deadlines.

We've tried to organize this guide around a few strategies that are relevant no matter what tools you're using. Beneath each title we've shared a few tactical examples of how you can fit Quizizz into your remote learning strategy. The content below is organized as follows:

Define how everyone communicates and stays organized

Set up self-paced assignments - personalizing them as needed.

Build community by scheduling live games

Fight fun with fun

1. Define how everyone communicates and stays organized

One of the biggest barriers to maintaining engagement beyond the classroom is keeping everyone in the loop. No matter what remote learning tools and resources you plan to use, ensure that every student knows where to look for assignments, updates, and suggested resources.

Using existing tools like your LMS, Google Classroom, email, and communication apps like Remind may help ease your transition to distance learning-no need to learn something new if you don't have to.

However, we have noticed teachers adopting and sharing a few new types of resources.

Video conferencing tools like Google Hangouts and Zoom.

Quick guides for parents.

Simple daily activity planners for students.

Whether you'll continue having graded assignments or are simply sharing suggested activities, we've seen a lot of teachers add structure during uncertain times with simplified planners for students and families.

We were inspired by examples like this and made a simplified template that you can copy as well.

No matter what tools you use, you can link to your games on Quizizz. We've added a few into the template so that you can check them out for yourself.

2. Set up self-paced assignments-personalizing them as needed

Many of you are already familiar with assigning Quizizz for homework, but here's a quick breakdown of how it works.

1. Pick an existing quiz or create your own.

2. Click "Assign HW"

3. Set a Deadline and click "Host Game"

4. Share the code or join link wherever you need to!

You can share a join link via email, our Google Classroom integration, any of the tools listed on the modal, or anywhere else you like.

As students respond, you'll instantly get their data in the "reports" tab. If you're using the Google Classroom integration, results will automatically be posted to your Classrooms.

You can set up as many assignments as needed and differentiate by sharing different assignment links with different students or by creating a scaffolded list.

Educators like Ben Cogswell use series of assignments organized in a spreadsheet to create "playlists" that students advance through at their own pace.

If you don't already have the content you're looking for, search for a keyword or browse quizzes by subject or class. Chances are, another teacher has your back!

If you're looking for content, you can always search for a topic or browse public quizzes by course or subject.

3. Build community by scheduling live games

While asynchronous work is great for its convenience, working and learning remotely can be isolating. The good news is that you can still host live games so that everyone plays together and reviews answers as a group.

The simplest way to do this is simply to host a live game and share a link or join code with your students. Everyone sees questions on their own devices and you'll still see the leaderboard (and can play along if you like).

Mix up your game mode to add variety!

As an added bonus, use a conferencing tool like Google Hangouts or Zoom to share your screen so that everyone can see the leaderboard and the game summary as you review questions.

Even if someone can't join using the conference link, they'll still see questions on their own device.

A live game hosted over Zoom. You can still host live games even if you don't use a conferencing tool!

4. Fight fun with fun

Once students transition home, you're competing for attention against Netflix, TikTok (we know this happens in class sometimes too), Instagram, and more.

When keeping students engaged is more challenging than ever, here are a few recommendations from our community:

Ask students to create their own quizzes on a given subject

Encourage students to use the "Challenge Friends" button and join each other's games. Click here for more ways to use Challenge Friends.

Show parents and guardians how to find a game and play as a family

Try a "just for fun" quiz suggested by students. Just don't say we didn't warn you if you're not a K-pop expert.

We'll keep sharing ideas and resources as you continue to inspire us. If there's anything we can do to help, reach out to us at support@quizizz.com and on Twitter here.

We're here for you and more committed than ever to building the most engaging learning experience possible. Let's motivate every student.

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Kitchen tables and sofas may have replaced classroom desks and cubicles, but that hasn't stopped student engagement. As you transition to distance learning, we hope the ideas below help you continue to build community.

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site

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Teacher's Guide

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Flipgrid is Microsoft's video discussion platform for educators, learners, and families! Engage and empower every voice in your classroom or at home by recor...

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Share the innovative ways you're rocking Flipgrid with your students and become a Level 2 Flipgrid Certified Educator!

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Getting started with Kahoot! - user guide

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New to Kahoot? Learn how to create, play and host learning games on our platform.

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edpuzzle "video lesson" "flipped classroom" "flipped learning" "online learning" education edtech "teacher platform" "educational videos" "learning videos" "...

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Edpuzzle is your all-in-one video learning platform for student engagement. Easily create interactive video lessons for your students that can integrate right into your LMS. Get real-time data on who watched the video and how many questions they answered correctly. In this channel, we'll share video tutorials, Edpuzzle LIVE workshops, interviews, tips and tricks, and more!