Answer Garden
Answer gArdenThe Answer Garden is an easy, quick way to gather information from a class in order to assess comprehension or prior knowledge. This was used at the Special Education Department Chair meeting to get responses from all of the participants in a short amount of time. After creating a question or a topic in an Answer Garden, I directed the teachers to the site, www.answergarden.ch/app and had them enter a code that would take them directly to the page with the topic. At that point, the teachers could enter in their responses (up to 40 characters). As they enter their responses, they would appear on the page. The more times that the same responses were entered, the larger those actual words became. This way I could see instantly which responses were more popular. In this case the teachers were also able to enter in more than one response. I was able to see instantly what the class was thinking and which topics needed further investigation.
I would utilize this technology with both adults and with students. With adults I would use it to get a quick group response. Unlike asking a question and calling on individuals to answer, the Answer Garden allows everyone to respond. This information can be used to plan future professional developments or to guide the conversation. In the classroom this can be used in a variety of ways. First, it can be used to assess student's prior knowledge such as asking a question, "What do you think of when you hear the literary term, setting?" The teacher can quickly assess what elements of setting students know and don't know in order to plan instruction. In addition, the Answer Garden can be used to initiate group discussion, explore the various definitions and connotations of vocabulary, or as a quick formative assessment in almost any subject.
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Answer Garden Examples
Reasons for Special Ed Litigation
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Elements of Setting
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