Socrative

For my first official blog (introduction excluded), I decided to discuss something I know quite a bit about, and that I use frequently in my classroom - Socrative. Socrative is an online student response system. My absolute favorite aspect of this website is no hardware is necessary. Okay...I guess maybe it is necessary, but it doesn't have to be purchase for the website. Teachers can create questions, quizzes, races, etc. from any computer or device and students can respond from any device as well. Plus, it's not just a question and answer format. Students can compete together or individually to "race" others by getting the most answers correct. "That's awesome," you might say. "What a great idea," you might say. But then, of course, the next statement is, "How much does it cost." That's the best part...it's absolutely free. Seriously!!! I'm not messing with you, and it's not April Fool's Day (in fact it is Father's Day). Teachers can sign up for free and get unlimited access to this amazing technology to use in their classrooms. A few pointers and tips I have found handy:

1. Make sure to choose the correct tag when entering the website (Teacher or Student).
2. You can set your own room number, so when I changed mine from the randomly generated number in the system to my initials and actual room number, it made it much easier for my students to find my room.
3. Sometimes when I have my reports emailed to me after the completion of an activity, I don't receive the report because it can't make it through the district's firewall. When this happens, the reports can be accessed from the website and printed or saved as a PDF.
4. I have noticed that when students are accessing from different types of devices (ie: several on laptops and others on iPads or other tablets), it takes longer for all students to enter the room for me to start the activity. Be patient...it does happen!

I find this to be an extremely easy website to navigate, and the benefits to the classroom are phenomenal. Hope you enjoy this gem of a teacher tool, and happy teaching. Remember...we could be the soccer offical who made the terrible call in the Brazil/Croatia game. Ha! It's World Cup time and I'm married to a soccer coach...there will be more soccer jokes to come!!


Find an easy link to the website here:  www.socrative.com