Monday, September 15, 2014

Get Kahoot

While trolling Twitter a couple weeks ago, I kept seeing comments about something called Kahoot. What I was seeing looked like fun, so I started messing around with it.  What I found is an incredibly awesome review game.  

Here is what you need to play.
  • The teacher needs a free Kahoot account.
  • You need a teacher device an Internet connection, and it would be ever so helpful if this screen is large so your entire class can see it easily.
  • Each student needs a device with Internet connection as well. 
I tried it out on one of my 5th grade classes, and it was an instant hit.  The first chance I got, I sent an email to our entire faculty.  Here's what I wrote...

Kahoot is part quiz review, part game show where students can review content in a fun manner.  (I found this thing on Twitter, crazy as that sounds.)  I created a Kahoot asking questions about me, and I just played it with one of the 5th grade classes.  We had a blast, and they learned a few things about me.  (What state do I live in? What kind of dog do I have? What is my favorite sports team?)  Obviously, in your class you'll want to ask more important questions like "Whose assassination started WW1?" or "What fancy word means flipping a fraction?"  

In order to play, you need some sort of large screen (projector or flat panel) and a device for all students.  iPads work just fine, but students could also use their phones or the desktops in a computer lab.

If you're interested, hop on https://getkahoot.com/​ and get started.  If you want to check out my demo, let me know.  

That sent a firestorm of excitement through the entire school. I have had elementary and high school teachers trying it out in their classes, all with great success.  It just so happened that I was scheduled for staff devotions this past Friday, so I wrote a quiz about the Bible so everyone could experience it. 

Now that I've been living with this tool for a week or so, I see that it's so much more than a quiz review. It would be a good pretest to see what students do and don't know about your chapter. It would also be a great motivation to connect yesterday's lesson to today's lesson.  In fact, you could easily have students create their own Kahoots to review important material or to introduce themselves.  And it's fun. 

Let me suggest Kahoot for your classroom.  I think you'll be happy with the results. 


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