Students take out your cell phones!  Now that’s not a statement you hear too often in the classroom. Usually, it’s just the opposite, we’re asking our students to put their cell phones away. What if we used these devices to our benefit?

I recently viewed a video of a high school teacher that allowed her students to use their cell phones as an end of day activity. I thought what a brilliant idea, get your students engaged, empower them to take ownership of their learning, and speak to them in a language that they are most comfortable with… texting.

I wanted to share it with you… www.teachingchannel.org/videos/texting-to-assess-learning. The concept is simple, you have students use their cell phones to text in some informative assessments of what they learned or take-ways for the day.

You can use an app like Poll Everywhere (www.polleverywhere.com) to facilitate this activity.  If you’re not familiar with Poll Everywhere, it’s an app that allows you to ask questions and poll your audience’s response. The app will generate a text number for students to submit their answer to. Once students have entered their response to your question(s), you will see real-time answers displayed.

This activity can provide you with real-time answers, help identify what students learned or didn’t learn. Technology keeping students engaged and helping us assess our student’s comprehension, now that’s what I call a win, win!