Multiple Attempts? You Crazy!

All teachers have their opinion on formative assessments...some take tons of quizzes for grades...some only give feedback...some don't give grades at all (in any form). I fall into the camp of giving grades, but I give grades in a certain way.

I believe that formative assessments should not truly affect someone's final grade as they are 'forming their learning'... or as my assistant principal explains it "evaluation FOR learning."

This year, I have made an effort to truly reflect on how I grade everything, but I have put a strong emphasis on formative assessments because they are more commonly given than summative assessments (at least they should be lol)

Here is the process I have started using, and I am seeing great results...

• I create a quiz using www.quizizz.com

• I create a test (either create my own questions or I pull from tests other teachers have created)

• Once I create the test, I make a 'copy' of that test for each class I have...this allows me to keep the results 'period specific' for feedback and ease of grading. See below for instructions on how to create 'copies' of one test

1. Create a test and open that test from your dashboard

2. Create a 'homework' version of your assignment. The 'homework' version simply

keeps the assignment open for a longer period of time (versus just a class period)

3. Creating the 'homework' version gives you some options...for formative

assessments, I usually give them till the next Sunday, and I allow them to take it

AS MANY TIMES AS THEY WANT to get the highest grade possible.

4. In homework mode, you'll notice you have to set a deadline for the quiz to end. By

default, it can only be extended two weeks...If you want to extend it further, you just

come back to this page and choose another date...

5. DO NOT CLICK 'HOST GAME' yet...THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART...click on 'show advanced settings' to open the good stuff...

6. Since I am giving them unlimited attempts to get their highest score, I of course

make sure 'unlimited' is checked, but I also make sure "show answers in-game" and

"show answers post-game are turned off...this is important because these settings

mean they will get their score, but they will not know which ones are correct and

which ones are wrong. To me, this is where the meta cognitive magic happens. If they take the test once, they get their score and then they are done. If they do great,

awesome. If they do terrible, that sucks...either way, they are done with the content.

Allowing them multiple attempts and not knowing which answers are right forces

them to truly evaluate each question and answer. It forces them to argue about

which answer is right and WHY answers are wrong. I also sometimes allow them

to work in partners or groups (which is a WHOLE other set of meta cognitive

goodness, but I'll save that for another post.)

Also, giving them multiple chances gives students hope. They know they CAN

get a higher score...it helps to keep kids from shutting down. For those who

say, 'that's not how life is...you don't get extra chances..." we are talking about

formative assessment and not summative. I liken formatives to sport practice...you

can do bad in practice, but you still get to practice if you make a mistake. You

practice to get better and show off what you can do (also, you DO get multiple

attempts in life... teacher license tests, driving license tests, pilots license test,

lawyer BAR exams...Anyway, here is the next step you need to take...

Once you have the setting how you want them, click 'host game.'

7. Once you click 'host game,' the above screen is shown. Notice the deadline and the

code the students need to join the game... (they can download the app, or go to

www.joinmyquiz.com or join.quizzizz.com to access the testing platform

8. Once your game is running, you can go back to that quiz's page where you clicked ' 'home work', click on 'home work' again, and create a duplicate copy of the test...doing so will give you another code, but the beauty is this allows you to give the SAME test but just give it to another class because they now have their own code. I give all my classes their own code because it makes it easier to add their scores into my grading program.

The above pic shows all the quizzes I currently have open (some of them are extra credit...again, these quizzes are great for extra credit because...

1. I don't have to grade anything...I look through the data, but no grading for me! :-)

2. They do all the work

3. They are working through the content at their pace, and they are not being told which answers are correct and which ones are wrong (again, meta cognitive goodness)

Notice that you can see how many people are taking a particular quiz along with the c class average. Clicking on a quiz gives you TONS of more data, but we won't cover that

here lol.

Also, notice how in the above picture I have every report connected to a class period.

Once you create a 'homework' quiz, Quizizz automatically creates a report and updates

that reports as kids work through the quiz. I suggest changing the name of each report

as soon as you create the quiz so you don't get confused with which quiz goes with

each report. This just keeps everything nice and simple when it comes to looking

through the data.

That's it! I really don't have a need for paper quizzes anymore because this is just so

easy...

Hope this was helpful! :-)

rn