Quizlet

​Among vocabulary technology, Quizlet reigns king and chances are you have at least heard of it if you use technology in the classroom. Starting off as a purely electronic flashcard design, Quizlet has made some amazing updates that help to gamify learning and put more ownership in the students hands. 

A free website, Quizlet harnesses the power of students and teachers a like creating public sets of vocabulary. Once terms and definitions have been entered, users have options on how to learn them and practice.
They can:

• Use digital flashcards starting with either the vocabulary side or the definition side. They have the option to remove flashcards from the "pile" if they feel like they knew the answer so that they can focus in on the ones they don't know. They can favorite certain terms by clicking on the star or listen to the word or definition by clicking the speaker. 

• Use the "Learn" feature to be given the term (and picture if there is one) and type in the correct vocab term to earn point. On the left tab Quizlet keeps track of how many you have left to practice and how many terms you got correct or incorrect. 

• Practice the spelling of the terms using the "Spell" feature. Quizlet plays an audible recording of the term and the user simply needs to spell the word correctly. 

• Take a practice vocabulary test using the "Test" feature. Quizlet will put together a test that may involve matching, fill in the blank, multiple choice, and true or false questions. 

• Play a matching game. Quizlet times you as you try to eliminate the terms and definition on the screen as fast as you can by clicking and dragging matching cards on top of one another. 

• Play an arcade style game to practice typing terms or definitions. The game, Gravity, sends asteroids towards your planet. The only way to stop them is to type the matching term or definition before it hits!

All of these features are really great for your students to practice vocabulary. I love the freedom it gives each student in choosing which feature helps them the most. 
One of my favorite things about Quizlet is that once you teach your students how to use it, they can make their own vocabulary sets to use! Teaching them how to use Quizlet can become a great tool they use in their future classes.

My FAVORITE thing about Quizlet is their full class game! If you are a Quizlet user but you have not played Quizlet Live, you need to!
Quizlet Live displays a website and code for students to enter the game and is best used hooked up to a projector. You need at least 6 students in order to play Live. 

Once your students have signed into the game, Quizlet will divide them into teams of 2-3 by assigning each group an animal. This animal will be displayed on your students laptop or iPad so they can easily identify what group they are in and find their other members. This game works best when students can move to sit next to their teammates. 

Once all of the teams are ready, start the game. On the projector you will see a display that looks like a voting poll. It will keep track of how many vocabulary questions each group gets correct as a race to 15. If a team gets 3 questions incorrect, their points disappear and they start back at the beginning. It creates some intensity and motivation for the students. On the student screens, a single term or definition will pop up for each team member. The trick is that each team member has a bank of terms or definitions but none overlap. When they first see the question, they typically scan their own bank then look to their teammates to see if they have the answer. This leads to a lot of discussion and/or debate about making sure they pick the correct term...they don't want to start back at the beginning!

A fast paced game that lasts only a few minutes, Quizlet Live is a great opener for the day or end to the class after some vocabulary work. Try it out if you haven't! It is sure to be the most fun you've had practicing your vocab!