Formative assessment plays perhaps the most important role in monitoring our students’ progress. Summative assessmentonly tells us what they didn’t get. That’s too late. Formative tells us what they DON’T get. That’s just in time.  It’s always nice to know what our students are thinking when we’re working through a lesson, but it’s not easily done. Until now, that is.

LetsGeddit was created by teachers for the sole purpose of diagnosing understanding issues on the spot during instruction. The great thing about the product is that it works with any web enabled device (smartphone, iPod, iPad, Chromebook, laptop, etc). And it’s pretty simple to utilize, too. If you are using Chromebooks, it is already loaded as an app once the student logs in with their school email account. Any other device just needs the student to go to letsgeddit.com and start from there.

Basically, you use it as a quick quiz tool, a climate tool, or even an exit ticket. The built in private hand raising and note sharing tools allows even your quietest students a chance to have a voice with you during the instruction without fear of ridicule or embarrassment. They can rate their level of understanding through an easy to use bar system or they can even add a note asking for more help with the concept. This is a great way to differentiate your instruction on the fly.

The kids can join the class with a Class Code you give them, and they create their accounts using their Google Apps information. Very easy to do, and only takes a minute at most. Watch the videos below to become familiar with the tool and decide if it’s for you. Let me know if you want help setting it up for your classroom. I’m confident when you see the value of the data it shares through the formative assessments, you will want to start using it that first week of school. Be sure to Follow GedditHQ on Twitter. They’re always happy to answer your questions about what their tool can do for your students.

Great Intro

Excellent How-To Get Started

Geddit – Teacher’s first experience (Shows a little about the reposts/data are viewed)

There are times you could use a timer that’s easy to use and easy to find. So, why not put it as a widget on your blog. You can add one to your blog by following these steps.

1. Go here to find the timer.

2. Click on the gear icon in the bottom left of the timer window to go to the settings for the timer. 

3. Highlight and copy the embed code given in the new window. 

4. Go to the Dashboard of your blog.

5. Click on Appearance in the lefthand menu. 

6. Click on Widgets in the lefthand menu.

7. Make sure you can see the widgets already in your Sidebar. You do this by making sure the arrow to the right of your Sidebar name is pointing up (just click on it). 

8. Drag a Text Widget from the left side list into the now expanded Sidebar on the right. Drag it up and down in the list to place it in the order you want it. 

9. Paste the code you copied earlier into the big box of the new Text widget.

10. To make sure the new timer fits inside the sidebar of your blog, we need to make it a little smaller. You do that by changing the width and height numbers in the code you just pasted. Basically, cut them in half. Change the “468” to “234” and the “420” to “210” to make it small enough.

11. Now, hit the Save button below the box you just pasted the code into.

12. Enjoy the new timer on your blog. You can change the time on it by clicking the minute or second digit you would like to change. Also, this timer has some predetermined times with music to go with it. Just use the dropdown box above the timer numbers and select the appropriate time/song.