5/3/2022
As we near the end of the school year and those fourth quarter summative assessments draw near, I thought I would share a few of my favorite ways to review for a summative assessment. These activities can also be used to review for state testing and other end of year tests. I have included four digital review games and four no tech review activities that engage students while preparing for a test. All of these activities can be used to review for a traditional paper pencil test, but they can also be facilitated before other types of summative assessments like projects, presentations, and essays to support students as they prepare to demonstrate their learning.
Digital:
Kahoot: Opportunities for Collaboration
Kahoot is a classic. Most students are familiar with the game platform and love to play. Creating your own Kahoot game is simple enough, and once the game is created it is stored in your Kahoot library to be played again. Kahoot provides rapid feedback and ensures all students are quizzed on all content in the game. Students also have the opportunity to play individually or in team mode. Sometimes I have students share a chromebook and work in partners to compete in a Kahoot. When I do this I typically extend the amount of time students have to answer each question so they have an opportunity to discuss and collaborate.
Quizzizz: Opportunities for Collaboration
Quizzizz is another game platform I love. While Quizzizz lacks some of the features Kahoot offers such as varied question types, it offers student paced learning, fantastic data tracking tools, and teachers can easily convert a Quizzizz quiz to a printable worksheet. This is another game I sometimes have students share a chromebook and work together to complete.
Jeopardy Style Game Show: Who doesn't love a game of Jeopardy? Using the Flippity template makes it easy to create a Jeopardy style game using google sheets. Students can play on teams and scores are tracked on the game board.
Virtual Breakout: Flippity also offers a build your own Virtual Breakout. You can create as many locks as you need to facilitate a review. Each lock allows for a youtube video, google doc, image or website link to be embedded as a resource and students can work their way through the locks independently, in small groups or as a class.
No Tech:
Test Review Scavenger Hunt: Critical Thinking & Collaboration
This type of review works better for some content than others. Some question / answer
matches will be extremely obvious depending on the content. I have seen this activity demand critical thinking, problem solving and deep reasoning, but I have also seen it require only surface effort and knowledge. Like so many things, the application will determine the impact.
How To: Cut apart a study guide key. Post the answers around the room. Put students in
pairs or small groups. Give students the review questions and have them search for the
answers recording their matches on their paper.
Student Written Review: Critical Thinking & Collaboration
This protocol can be used to create almost any type of review including a Kahoot, Quizzizz, Jeopardy, Virtual Breakout or pencil paper review game or test review activity. It asks students to think like a teacher. They must first consider all of the content that was covered in a unit, assess what the most important learning was, and write quiz questions about that information.
How To: Give students a list of topics that will be included on the test. Have small groups
of students each write 3 or 4 questions for the review. You choose the best questions to
use in the review game or activity. In the past I have awarded prizes to teams with
questions that are closest to those that will appear on the test.
Picture This Test Review Game: Critical Thinking
This review is best for vocabulary. Playing to the strengths of visual learners, students examine pictures and make connections to key vocabulary words or concepts from the unit. Then students are asked to do some higher order thinking by writing a question that would have the word they identified from the picture as the answer.
How To: Put together a slideshow with a picture on each slide that represents one of the
key vocabulary words students will need to know for the test. Present each slide one at
a time. Have students guess the word represented by the picture and have them write a
question they think might be asked on the test that has the vocabulary word they
guessed as the answer.
Brain Dump: Collaboration
This review activity helps students be more aware of what they know, and where their opportunities for growth lie. A brain dump asks students to do just that, dump their brain onto a page to show what they know about the key concepts from a unit. After a brain dump, I always provide opportunities for collaboration and allow students to use resources to improve their understanding.
How To: Provide students with a printed or digital list of concepts that will appear on the
summative. Provide students with independent work time (I usually give 4 - 5 minutes
per concept) to write as much as they know about each concept on the list. Their brain
dump could include words, diagrams, examples, step by step procedures, etc. Then,
when time is up, have students take a few minutes to reflect on the concepts they seem
to have the strongest understanding of and those that present the most opportunities for
growth. Next allow students time to work in small groups to share their notes and help
each other develop deeper understanding.
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