Chromebook Fun: Formative Assessment

As I gear up for a long-term subbing job, teaching ninth graders world history, my focus over the past couple of weeks has been creating activities and formative assessments for students.  Here are several quick examples that I've created on a Chromebook.

1.  PowToon 

In this example, I've created a PowToon presentation to showcase a debate between two Enlightenment thinkers.  I like the idea that this tool can be used to help students frame a conversation between historical characters. Another thing that I really appreciate about this tool is that students can easily access Creative Commons licensed images and easily copy a link to add to a Works Cited page.  I added the music using YouTube video editor.  Since I am using the free version of PowToon EDU, the resolution is not fantastic.  

2.  Fake Text Generator

 

http://ifaketext.com/img/fau943cn.jpg

This text generator tool would be a great formative assessment tool, providing an engaging way for students to demonstrate their understanding.  In my example, two historical characters engage in a quick conversation about their political views.  This would be a great warm up or exit activity.   

3.  Padlet Wall

In this example, I have created a Padlet wall to invite students to share their imaginary text messages.  I love the way I am able to embed a Padlet onto a Google Site and moderate all comments before they appear there.

Created with Padlet

4.  ToonDoo

Students can create cartoons at Toondoo.com and embed them to a blog or website or save an image to their computer for other projects.

By Switchback42 | View this Toon at ToonDoo | Create your own Toon

5.  Flippity Quiz: European History Review 

In my last example, I have linked to a Jeopardy-style quiz that I created using Flippity.net.  I learned about this from Richard Byrne's blog and put it immediately to use.  I envision using this as an in-class review for students, but I could easily give them the link to practice on their own, or better yet...invite them to create their own review games and digital flashcards!  (Note:  Unlike a Google Slide Jeopardy template, you cannot arrow back on a Flippity quiz if you make a mistake. I also discovered that reducing the number of columns causes the template to stop working correctly.)

PowToon in the Classroom

PowToon EDU is a fun way to create animated presentations using creative templates.  While I was out sick, I decided that PowToon would be a perfect way to communicate with students from home while they have a sub. 

Here is my first PowToon. I think that students would really enjoy the process of using this for school projects!  

You may embed your work directly from the app or upload it to YouTube, which I personally recommend.  When I pasted the embed code, my presentation was not viewable on an iPad.

Here is my second PowToon, using a different template.  These presentations could easily be added to ThingLink projects, too!

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I've left the original embedded presentation here, at the bottom of this post, to serve as an example (in case you are viewing it from an iPad.