Saturday, December 29, 2012

Stick Pick - An app that lets you differentiate as you call on students

I just discovered an amazing app for my iphone/ipad that I can't wait to use with my students when we get back from vacation.  It is called stick pick. When I first saw the app I thought it was a glorified stick container - you know the ones that you use to make sure you are fairly calling on your students.  It was cute, but I wasn't sure I wanted to spend my money on it. 

But... then I looked a whole lot closer and realized that it was way worth the $2.99! Not only does the app let you pick students randomly (or intentionally - see the little peek icon?), but you can set each student up with an appropriate level of questioning - instant differentiation. Questions can be based on Bloom’s Taxonomy, English as a second language skills, and a degree of difficulty can be chosen for each learner.

When you pick the student, a list of questions  is shown that are tied to the learner's individual ability level.  You can change the level at any time.

I also love that you can use it as a record of assessment.  When you click on the student's stick you can also record their answer using this rubric.
This is perfect for me because our school is focusing on Marzano scales, so it shows my principal during my evaluations what I am doing to measure student learning.

The app also keeps track of a student's progress overtime.

I can't wait to use this with my students!
Do you have any ideas for using it? Have you used this app before?

5 comments:

  1. Kelly,
    This sounds super! It is one app that I will be trying out with my kiddos next week. Thank you for sharing! Oh, I am thinking of connecting putting my iPad on my document camera so I can project the picking process the first time so the children can see the way it works.
    Camille
    An Open Door

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    Replies
    1. I love that idea! My kiddos will love watching it on the screen - they already get a kick out of class dojo.

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  2. Hi Kelly,
    This sounds like an awesome app. Definitely worth the $$. I already pick students by using real sticks but my students would love this app. I love how I can track the students' reponses. We already use the Classroom Orgainzer App to check out books from my classroom library on my iphone so they will really love this! Thanks for sharing!

    Wendy
    4th-5thgradehappiness.blogspot.com

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  3. Hi Kelly,
    I'm the creator of Stick Pick! So nice to read a fellow educator, like yourself, sees the value of this tool. Thanks for sharing it with your readers. Hopefully in the next month, I'll be releasing an update that optimizes it for the iPad! (And it's being released on Android, too. Keep up the good work! Nice blog!

    -Buzz Garwood
    Stick Pick

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Kelly,
    I'm the creator of Stick Pick! So nice to read a fellow educator, like yourself, sees the value of this tool. Thanks for sharing it with your readers. Hopefully in the next month, I'll be releasing an update that optimizes it for the iPad! (And it's being released on Android, too. Keep up the good work! Nice blog!

    -Buzz Garwood
    Stick Pick

    ReplyDelete