As 2021 comes to a close (and whoa, what a year it was), I am reflecting on what new tools and games I tried this year. In this post I will share my top 5 favorite things I tried in 2021.
Classkick
Classkick was a life saver last year, although I haven’t used it at all this school year. I first blogged about the tool here. It’s great for hybrid and virtual learning, but not as necessary for fully in person learning. I love how you can monitor student work in real time.
Kami
Kami is similar to Classkick in some ways, but the great benefit is that it syncs to our Canvas grade book, which is a huge improvement over Classkick. The basic premise is you give a document to students and they fill it in with text, photos, and/or drawings. I also use it to create a virtual whiteboard with instructions and a word bank for formative assessments which I don’t need to sync with the grade book. Because we are fully in person this year, I walk around the room to assess their answers.
Gender Inclusive Language
This year I realized I needed to be more inclusive with the language I teach students, especially with regards to gender. I began introducing new vocabulary that applies to gender non-binary students and incorporating examples of it in my lessons and activities. I first blogged about gender-inclusive language here.
Virtual Bingo
Virtual Bingo isn’t anything earth shattering, but the easiness of it compared to regular Bingo and the amount of time saved from passing out cards and chips and then collecting them all made it a big hit for me. I first blogged about Virtual Bingo here.
Gimkit Draw That
Gimkit Draw That has to be the most fun game students have ever played in my classroom. A student picks a vocabulary term from a list then draws it, and then the other students have to guess what it is as letters slowly appear on the screen. I first blogged about Gimkit Draw That here.
What new things did you try this year? Here’s to a great 2022…we all deserve it!
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