Post-it Queen

I am definitely the Post It queen of my department. My desk is constantly littered with a minimum of 12 different pads of brightly colored notes. I have a pad that I leave in each group's "supply basket" for daily group work (because you never know when you will NEED them!). I got heart-shaped post-it's from my high school best friend as an engagement gift to help keep me organized as I planned the wedding. You get the picture.

To throw gas on the flame, I was gifted over 15,000 Post-its as part of the Reddit Teacher Gift Exchange (THANK YOU!) 2 years ago. They have become a regular part of my class games, activities, and assessments. 

My favorite way to use them right now is together with the (free!) Post-it Plus app. I post questions around the room that the students need answer in pairs or groups and ask each set of students to post their answers, one per note. 

Today's was a pre-assessment on laws of exponents as we movie into our logarithms unit in Pre-Calculus.

I posted 6 problems, one on each of the major laws. I could instantly look at the Post-its and get a general idea of where the strengths and weaknesses in prior knowledge exist. Kids all got it right, we can briefly discuss and move on.

Our biggest problems seemed to be rational exponents, so from there we can delve further into the type of misconceptions the students have. 

Here is where the app kicks in! You use the app to take a picture of the post its (Pro-tip: Ask the kids to use pen or marker- pencil doesn't photograph very well), as seen here.

From there, the app creates a "board" of the notes so you can scroll through them and assess student misconceptions. It's anonymous so kids are more willing to be wrong, which I love. 

From there, I've had kids do group responses to common errors, identify patterns, and do "find my mistake" activities. I'm sure there is so much more I could do, just haven't tried yet.

It's a fun formative assessment that the kids instantly think is "cool" because of a simple app.

The "board" of answers through which we can scroll!

Happy Hump Day!