Giving Students Choice in "Getting to Know You" Activities

Each semester, I try to get to know my students as people first and learners second. One way I get information about them as learners is through a Google Form like this one. Once I gather responses from my students on the first day of class, I can begin to adjust my teaching practices to better meet the needs of the learners in my class.

This semester, I'm teaching a course for pre-service teachers on assessment, research, and decision-making. This is my first time teaching the course, and I always get excited about teaching a new course. I'm certain that I learn more than my students the first time around. In all of my courses, I try to model effective teaching and assessment practices for the future teachers in my classroom. In this assessment course in particular, I will be emphasizing fair and meaningful approaches to assessment and instructional decision-making. For the first class meeting, I'm giving students choice in how they participate in a "getting to know you" activity. I'm fortunate to have an iPad cart to use in class and plan to use it during almost every class meeting. Many of the choices below were designed to give students time to get familiar with the iPads. However, I've also provided some non-tech options for students who would prefer to create something in a different way. I can't wait to see what they create.