Kahoot: A Quiz App That's a Real Home Run

Editor's note: Our favorite library media specialists, the Link Ladies, are back with a home run! With the World Series on everyone's minds, this app-based activity using the Storyworksplay "When Girls Ruled Baseball" will be a hit with your students. We've heard from many teachers that Kahoot has been super successful in their classrooms, and we believe this step-by-step plan will convince you, too. And if you're already familiar with Kahoot, you can skip this one and just grab the Link Ladies' ready-made Kahoot here!

It’s the bottom of the 9th inning, bases are loaded, you are up to bat… SHE swings… SHE hits… it’s… going… all… the… way...

The app

Kahoot, free in the iTunes store

Why use it?

Kahoot lets you create interactive quizzes or assessments to help you quickly find out what your students learned from a text or activity. The activity that follows focuses on assessing comprehension, but the beauty of Kahoot is that you can make it about anything you want.  Advanced features: Your students can even ask questions within the quiz for further interactivity. And you can add pictures or YouTube videos to your Kahoot Quiz.

Skill Focus:

• Comprehension
• Assessment
• Teamwork

Time:

1 class period to read and discuss the read-aloud play

10-15 mins (depending on the number of questions in your quiz)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

What you’ll need:

• The read-aloud drama in the October/November issue of Storyworks, “When Girls Ruled Baseball”

• iPads with the Kahoot app

How to get started: We have created a Kahoot for you to use with this article. To create your own custom Kahoot, sign up for a free account:

Now you are ready to start your first Kahoot:

Give it a title and consider adding an image to go along with it:

Give it a title and consider adding an image to go along with it:

You can decide how much time the students get to answer each question:

Make sure to select one (or more) of your answers as the correct choice:

Then click Next, and you are ready to add another question. When done, click Save and you are ready to play! 

The Lesson:

This particular read-aloud play, “When Girls Ruled Baseball,” gives students great insight into this part of the WWII era. Assign each student (or those students who wish to read aloud) a character in the play. Conduct a reader’s theater using “When Girls Ruled Baseball” as a script. In our class, following the read-aloud, we held a brief discussion about how women playing baseball was a real situation during WWII. We discussed things that surprised us about how women filled in while the men were deployed and how this helped America.

The Lesson:

This particular read-aloud play, “When Girls Ruled Baseball,” gives students great insight into this part of the WWII era. Assign each student (or those students who wish to read aloud) a character in the play. Conduct a reader’s theater using “When Girls Ruled Baseball” as a script. In our class, following the read-aloud, we held a brief discussion about how women playing baseball was a real situation during WWII. We discussed things that surprised us about how women filled in while the men were deployed and how this helped America.

Discuss with your students that while this is a fictional play, it is historical fiction and there are true facts about this time period within the context of the play. It is their job to “pull out” those nonfiction facts. They will compete in a Kahoot Quiz to see which team can find the most facts. Separate your class into teams (we suggest groups of fewer than 4 students, so that everyone can participate). You can have your students participate individually as well to more accurately assess each one’s comprehension.

Each team of students will need to have an iPad with the Kahoot app open. They can also access the quiz from any internet browser using Kahoot.it.

Kahoot will prompt them to enter the game PIN. You will have the teacher version of the quiz open on your computer. When you begin the quiz on the teacher computer, it will generate a game PIN for your students to enter so they can join the game. Here’s what your computer will look like:

After entering the code, students are prompted to enter a nickname. Students can create a fun name for their team, or you can assign them numbers to keep anonymity (it shows the scores as you go, so you should decide if you will use this feature to promote competition or if you want to keep it anonymous).

When all students are ready, you can click Begin Game on your computer. The quiz question will be displayed on your screen. Students choose the corresponding color/shape for their answer choice. Each question has a short timer; you can decide the length of time for each question. Here’s what your screen will look like:

And here’s what will appear on your students’ screens:

As students/teams answer, their iPad will reveal if they got the answer correct. After all answers have been entered, your computer will show a bar graph indicating how many students had the correct answer. Click Next to go to the next question. Again, here’s what you’ll see on your screen and your projection:

As the quiz continues, students/teams will see a “score” next to their name after each question. The score factors in the number of correct answers and how quickly the answers are entered.

At this point in our class, students were up out of their seats! They were ready to read the next question and working together to make sure they knew the right answer.