Hi Everybody! New poster here. I tried doing a few searches around the web and this site but just can't seem to find what I'm looking for - and it seem like it should exist! Long story short. I've been teaching for only 4 years. I'm just at the time where I don't want to get too comfortable and think I know what I'm doing. I took the advise of a mentor and video taped myself teaching. One thing that bugged me is that I do a very poor job a selecting students to answer questions to probe for understanding. (to often call the same volunteers letting a few students run the show) I know many teachers do things like write names on pop cycle sticks and pull from a tin, thus that student gets to answer the question. What I'm looking for is something much more..... today! I'm looking for a computer application that would allow me to enter all of the names for a class, press a button and display a name on the screen thus calling that student. It would be nice if it saved this list so I could use this over and over without re-setting it (which is an issue I've seen with many web based apps) Also preferred would be that once a students name is selected it's taken off of the list. Until of course the next time I were to open the program. Anyone know of any programs that would do this? It would be great if it were a program I could download onto a computer and not need the internet to run as wifi is a bit "hit n miss" in my science lab. (sorry for the long first post :yawn
Perhaps you could make a powerpoint with one slide for each students name...scramble up the names dont put them in abc order...then just delete the slide and save a copy so that next time student a's name wont be first.....when you have exhausted all the names start again since you saved the original PP when you first started.
I should also add that this is fairly easy to do in Excel. The only part I can't get to work in Excel is to remove the student from the list once selected, thus being random it can sometimes go to the same student a bit more than I would like.
http://www.transum.org/Software/RandomStudents/Default.asp Saves the name in a cookie on your computer. Works well. There's also an iPhone app called Teacher Pick. It lets you choose whether to remove the name or not.
Thanks Sarge I'll take a look into that one. Any others out there? I know I can't be the only one that would love this idea! EDIT: does this website have any option for multiple class periods?? Looks like it may only work with one class.
without going into too much detail check out this thread: EDIT: darn new members can't post links..... just google have excel pick random cell and it will get you the formula to use.
A friend of my husband was working on this for me about 8 years ago. We had a prototype working, but it was on my laptop that got stolen. I keep a seating chart with pictures in a plastic sleeve, and if I want to keep track of who I'm calling on, I just make a little mark on a student's photo with a dry erase pen.
I think you should consider keeping students' names in the mix even after they're called on. Students whose names are called might check out once they know that they won't be called on again that period. I think you should keep them on their toes.
I agree that you should consider keeping the students' names in so there is a chance they'll be called on again. Many students feel "safe" and will shut off after they've been called on. I have a friend who uses http://www.superteachertools.com/. She seems to like it. I haven't had the chance to input my list and try it yet, but it's on my list of things to try.
I agree with Toak http://www.random.org/integers/ You can generate, say, 100 numbers between 1 and 25. There's no pattern to it, so #12 may be called on 3 times in the first 10 minutes, or not at all. So having answered one question doesn't make you "safe" until the class is over.
Nope, no smartboards for us - we are just shy of getting Title1 money. Still looking for a program to down load that's not online. The more I think about it I guess I just have to write my own program and put those 3 years of computer science to work from way back in the day!
