Tool Review

 A tool that I use every week is called Kahoot! It is a game based tool to find out what your students know about a topic. It is multiple choice and the students need to have a device to play (we have 1:1 Chromebooks). I learned about Kahoot a couple of years ago at a CUE conference in Palm Springs. After that I was hooked. I have taught it a couple of times to staff members and other teachers. So far everyone I know who has used it, loves it. Most people can figure out how to use it pretty quickly. It's very user friendly. I think I started to use it within a week of learning about it. I have used this in my classrooms (2nd and 3rd grade) and in staff meetings to talk about a subject. I always use it as a tool after the learning occurs, but I have also seen it used as a "What do they already know?" tool. 

The strengths of  Kahoot are:

1. You can see instantly if the students understand the question being asked. Between each question it has a break to show the "stats" so I take this time to explain the answer especially if they didn't understand it well. If they did I can move on.
2. Their screens turn red if they didn't get the answer correct or green if they got the answer correct which makes it easy for me to see which students need reteaching.
3. There is a search that you can find pretty much anything you are teaching, so you don't have to create one each time.
4. It's fun and engaging for the students. My students get so excited when they see Kahoot on the schedule. 

​The Weaknesses of Kahoot are:

1. It's multiple choice. Some people aren't crazy about that.
2. Students have to read the choices on the board, it doesn't show up on their screen. I read them aloud so students who can't see it or do not have the skills to read it can still participate. 
3. Some students get nervous when there is a timer (plus they get extra points for answering correctly fastest). I have also seen students give up after they got one wrong and it bumped them down out of ranking. 

Kahoot is definitely not perfect but it is one of my favorite tools to use weekly. 99% of my students get excited about using it also. I will continue to use this tool. ​

---