ActivExpression

When I was in first grade, I was awe-struck by the overhead projector.  What a machine!  It could display words typed on a clear page and you could use special colored markers to write on the screen and it would show up in black on the screen. 

As I look around my room I see no overhead projector.  In its place, sits an Elmo and on the wall, a Promethean board.  To usher students from one lesson to the next I open my desk drawer and pull out an iPod.  When students want to read along to stories on CD they turn on one of the netbooks.  To blog with other students across the school, my students scoot up to my desk computer and log on-line. 

What amazing advancements in technology in such a short span of time!  I never would have imagined the possibilities when I was 6, sitting in first grade, in awe of the overhead projector.

In December our school received 2 sets of ActivExpressions.  These hand-held voting devices work with the ActivInspire software and the Promethean board to allow students another method to communicate with the teacher and with each other.  I can formatively and summatively assess students knowledge and understandings of concepts with a few quick key strokes on the computer.  Results are visible to the teacher (in several graphs and charts) while students have anonymity amongst their peers.

This coming week we plan to use our ActivExpressions to record data for a class survey and graph as well as check students understanding of nouns and to solve math problems with anonymity.  As the teacher, I will be able to see who answered each problem correctly and who may need more work with each concept.  Students will have the comfort of answering questions without fear of other students judgement.