What's Up With You?

Grade Focus
Grade 4, Grade 5, Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8, Grade 9, Grade 10, Grade 11, Grade 12
Age Level
9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17
Subject
Art, Business, Computers, Geography, History, Literature, Math, Science, Social Studies, Vocational Arts
Technology Integration Activity
 
Estimated Time of Completion
1-2 class sessions, as time permits
Author: LearniT TeachiT Last modified: 02/13/2011

Introduction

In this lesson students will use Polleverywhere.com to get to know each other in the class.  

Prerequisite Experience

Familiarity with SMS Text Messaging helpful but not required.

Teacher Prep Time

Fifteen minutes to watch an educators introduction to Poll everywhere. 

About one-hour to set up a Poll Everywhere account (free).

Project

In this lesson students will use Poll Everywhere.com to get to know each other. 

Assessment/Grading

Rubric

Time Management Tips

For younger students consider using a free trial of Textmarks (https://www.textmarks.com) to initially send the Poll Everywhere text number to their cell phones.

Provide students the questions the class period before they will SMS Text their Poll Everywhere responses to allow them time to formulate their answers.

Lesson Plan Details

Engage

Students will think about themselves in a positive light, boosting self-concepts, as they use their cell phones to text responses to a poll about themselves. The final display is so powerful, that you don't want to think of starting a semester without it.

Explore

Students get to know each other and the teacher by sharing their favorite things with one another. The Poll Everywhere tool allows you to use SMS Texting to engage your students while providing helpful information about your students and to each other. Short answers to poll questions will also give you an idea of each student's vocabulary level.

Students will:

  1. Develop collegial relationships with classmates
  2. Create a base of knoweldge about one anothers personal values, wishes, and dreams
  3. Introduce classmates to the rest of the class

Watch this video to orient you and your students to Poll Everywhere.

Explain

Begin by setting up the class account for Polleverywhere.com.

Using the Polleverywhere.com multiple choice questioning function, create the following questions for students to answer.

Note: You can create as many choices as you like. Some sample questions might include:

    a. In what month were you born?

    b. How many siblings do you have?

    c. What did you do during vacation?

    d. What is your favorite food?

    e. How many hours of TV do you watch each day?

    f. How many text messages do you send each day? 

    g. What is your favorite subject in school and why?

Have students text their answers for each question to Polleverywhere.com(99503). 

Use these student answers to start conversations to get to know the students.

Elaborate

After your students have finished texting their responses to the Poll Everywhere site use a video projector to display the results from their web page to the students.

Ask students to expand upon their poll responses where appropriate. Let them ask follow-up questions to one another about their responses (as appropriate).

Let your students know that you're going to archive their answers from this session and that you'll conduct this same poll at the end of the school term to see if some of their answers have changed.

Evaluate

  • Has some of the students' shyness worn off?
  • Are they more willing to speak to each other and to you?
  • Have you memorized some names?
  • Do you have an idea of who is extroverted and who is introverted?
  • Do you now have some idea of who your stronger writers/spellers are?

Extend

Have your students create their own "getting to know you" questions for each other.

Ask your students to have their best friend or a parent complete the Poll Everywhere questions and review them in the next class session to learn about them.