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Pandemic teaching forced us to get creative and the wealth of digital self-checking activities now created and available is, in my opinion, one of the greatest outcomes. With a little bit of tech skills you can create these activities on your own and there are so many great ones available for purchase or free download on sites like TeachersPayTeachers. And if you hop on your favorite TPT authors' or Instagram teachers' email lists I guarantee you'll get some freebies sent to you often! (Shameless plug for mine here!) There are tons of different activities that can be found out there and no single activity is better than the other. But I do believe it's best practice to use a variety, so I want to share my favorites:
Self-Checking Forms allow students to complete tasks and see their results instantly. I like to create self-checking forms in two ways: 1) where students are directed to check their work simultaneously while completing the assignment; 2) where students can see their results when they submit the assignment. The former is great for formative practice in the middle of the unit while the former is great for summative assessment practice. I have some forms in my TPT store for Algebra 1 and I love this post by Kacey Bell of Shake Up Learning, which shows you how you can create your own "choose your adventure " style forms for differentiated practice!
Conditional-Formatted Sheets allow your students to instantly check their work since the sheets are formatted to change color based on the answer provided. For example, I made this Color-Coded Worksheet using Google Sheets where correct answers result in the cell turning green and incorrect answers result in the cell turning red. Over the last few months I've seen so many people take formatting Sheets to the next level and there are many templates available to purchase to make it even easier! Two of my favorites are: the "Look and Find" activity template from @dammans_algebra_room and the Bingo activity template @mrs.padillasmathclass. If you're really interested in learning more about these activities then @helloalgebra is your girl. Her website can take you to resources and courses that will teach you all you need to know about Sheets formatting. Two of my favorite Sheets activities in my store are this Bingo Game for practicing solving equations and this Mystery Picture Reveal for identifying key parts of a parabola!
Self-Checking Slides can be used in two different ways: hyperlinking so students can self-check based on what they click and "hiding" answers so students can check them when they're ready. An example of the former would be these Task Cards - where students can click through to view the task presented on the digital card, then click to check their answer. You can also use hyperlinking to send students to a slide that says "incorrect answer, go back and try again". In my digital slides activities students often check their work by moving shapes that are "hiding" the answer key underneath. This strategy is as simple as screenshotting an answer key or uploading a photo of the answer key and placing an image or shape over it.
Here are all of my self-checking activities on my TPT store! Are on on my email list? When you sign up you get freebies sent straight to your inbox, including self-checking activities!
Share your questions, comments and experiences in the comments below!
Share your favorite self-checking activities!
What is your favorite activity and why?
How would you make these activities even better?
What questions do you have about these activities?
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