BACKGROUND

Jodi McCullough is a physics, chemistry, astronomy, and geometry teacher at Lisbon High School in Columbiana County, Ohio. She teaches approximately 600 students in grades 7-12, and her average class size is 14-27 students.

About three years ago, Jodi applied for an AYP (annual yearly progress) grant. AYP is a federal designation for schools indicating whether or not the school meets the annual yearly progress on of government-established indicators, usually improvements in state standard testing. Jodi won the grant and purchased TurningPoint software, 32 ResponseCard IR keypads and an IR receiver for her classroom.

THE CHALLENGE

Since Jodi’s classes include teens of all levels, Jodi McCullough wants to create a successful learning venue for every student. She enjoys finding ways to maintain the interest of her students and track their improvement. She notes that creative methods of engagement are important no matter what the class size.

“I think TurningPoint is a great way to evaluate student progress and to keep students actively involved in the classroom,” she said. “There’s a big movement now in engaging students in the learning process. Many books are written about teaching to big lecture halls and how to keep kids from falling asleep in your class. These books recommend these kinds of systems. I think the high school can benefit from student response technology too.”

THE SOLUTION

Once Jodi recieved the grant and was able to implement TurningPoint in her classroom, she quickly became an avid spokesperson for its value. She says that when kids walk in the classroom and see keypads on the desks, they can’t wait to get started.

“It keeps kids engaged. They pay attention, and they answer questions because they can see their responses,” Jodi raved. “‘I teach all levels of students, and they all love it.”

Jodi was extremely pleased with the ease of the implementation process. In her years as an educator, she has dealt with a lot of technology-oriented companies, including some where getting questions answered was extremely difficult. “The staff at Turning Technologies has been wonderful, and whenever I needed help, they walked me through it.”

Jodi uses the system in a variety of ways. She has found it to be very effective for reviews before exams. As a part of her chemistry curriculum, the class will often watch a short video clip, followed with a TurningPoint interactive question, moving back and forth between the two technologies. This technique helps Jodi verify that students are watching the video. She also alternates her approach to handing out the keypads. Some days she passes ResponseCards out randomly. Other times she assigns specific devices to each student so she can track answers. Not surprisingly, she has found that she gets even better responses when the students know she is tracking individual participation.

To Jodi’s surprise, she learned that she had successfully engaged many students with disciplinary issues in other classrooms. During a routine teacher evaluation, the assistant principal observed her classroom. Jodi never realized that she had a “rowdy group” because her students were generally well behaved. But the assistant principal was amazed at their behavior as he had seen many of these students in his office as disciplinary referrals. It was enlightening for him to see these teens effectively engaged, on task and enthused.

Using TurningPoint has also built an environment where kids enjoy their anonymity but push for correct answers from all of their peers. “The kids really start rooting for 100% on each question,” Jodi explained. “And when there’s a question they think everyone should get right, they become inquisitive. ‘Who got that wrong?’ They get on each other! Of course I’m the only one that knows.”

Lisbon High School teachers have also become extremely curious about the technology, asking how others are integrating TurningPoint in their curriculum. When a teacher recently asked, “How could I use that?” a group of teachers proceeded to list the many ways they enjoy using it. “I think many people don’t realize how it could help them and gain insight from others’ examples of how to use it effectively across curricula,” Jodi added.

CONCLUSION

Since the grant a few years ago, the school has continued to purchase more systems and the superintendent even bought one for the school board. Jodi is full of compliments about not only the software, but Turning Technologies as a whole.

“I really think Turning Technologies has something. They’re on the ball,” she said. “They’ve got a system that’s easy for teachers to use. Many teachers use PowerPoint®, they know it, and they don’t have to learn a new system with TurningPoint. It’s easy to create the slides; you can embed regular slides and throw in a question slide, and you’re done!”

Jodi quickly summarizes the importance and impact of TurningPoint’s student response system to her classroom,. “I just love the system. If you were to take it away from me, I would buy it out of my own pocket.”

For more information about purchasing a Turning Technologies’ audience response system for your school or district, contact us at 866-746-3015.