Texting in MS English

This year in Mrs. Konold's middle school English classes they began texting away! Now, the class isn't using their cellphones. They are using Active Expressions which are handheld devices that work with Promethean Boards. These handhelds have little screens on them with multiple buttons.

Mrs. Konold didn't get picked to use these handhelds. She went to a training on Promethean Boards this summer which was presented by Mrs. Brandt, Mrs. Heiberger, and Mrs. TeKrony. At this training, Mrs. Konold was told that using the Active Expressions would make life easier for her as well as the students. They said it would make taking quizzes easier for the kids, and grading them easier for her.

Mrs. Konold uses the handhelds mainly for vocabulary quizzes. She said, “I'm saving paper and saving time.” To do this, she just types the quiz into a program that projects it onto the Promethean Board and the students get their handhelds out and answer the questions. To answer the questions, the students can either push a button to just give the letter or they can text in their answer. As for grading purposes, things have gotten a lot easier. She said all the answers just pop up in a Excel sheet. She also once gave a chapter test with the Active Expressions. Just like the vocab quizzes, they got to text their answers in.

The Active Expressions are all over the elementary. As of right now, Mrs. Konold is the only one with them in the middle school. Some students in the class said the Active Expressions were awesome! Mrs. Konold said every class uses them and everyone likes them. The students said “They are really fun to use!”