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See how an experienced business educator uses Quizizz to drive student engagement and achievement.
I’ve been fortunate enough in my teaching career to teach business from Level 1 through to Level 5 in varied educational settings, from Secondary Schools to Universities. After working 10 years at a University an 80-mile round trip from home, the commute was eating away at the work-life balance we all strive for. So, when I was offered a job leading the Business Department at a school mere 6 miles from home, I jumped at the chance.
Stepping back into a secondary school classroom after a decade was certainly a baptism of fire. Systems were more robust, expectations were higher, and I undoubtedly needed to step up my game!
During those first frantic weeks, I walked past an Early Career Teachers (ECT) classroom, drawn in by the catchy music. I paused and looked through the door. He appeared to have a rabble of 30 Year 7 or 8 students totally engaged in learning. I caught up with him at the end of the day and praised him for the amount of engagement in his lesson. Whilst initially taken aback, he told me about this amazing platform called “Quizizz.” Being somewhat of a luddite up until this point, I can honestly say I’d never heard of it.
A quick “Google Search”, brought me to the Quizizz Website that promised to “motivate any student.” Would it work with my disengaged Year 10 & 11 students, who’d been through six teachers before I arrived and were convinced I’d stay no longer than six weeks?
From there, the power of Quizizz in my classroom was born. Students actively engaged in a variety of business topics, and the multiple-choice questions allowed me to replicate the exam format. For the students, it brought a competitive element into the classroom, and for me, the reports function allowed for active monitoring of any misconceptions at both class and individual levels. These misconceptions became starters for the next lesson, saving me hours of trawling through students' books.
After a term and a half of regularly embedding Quizizz into each topic area, Year 11 managed to scrape a 33% pass rate – an improvement on the previous year’s 6% before I arrived. The following academic year, Year 10 improved that pass rate to 53%. Quizizz played a significant role in that improvement. There was still work to do to ensure that the Business Curriculum scored as highly as other optional subjects.
Unfortunately, lockdown struck, bringing a whole new raft of problems. Lessons moved online, students didn’t attend regularly, and I was never convinced that those who showed as present were actually there! After six online lessons, on average each student had completed two of the six topics, but not the same two!
Looking for answers brought me back to Quizizz, this time to the new “Lessons” offering. I liked the idea that I could lead a lesson, but more importantly, it allowed students to participate in guided learning during lockdown. I saw the use of my dwindling capitation as an investment and opted to go “Premium,” which allowed me to embed media clips. With the help of a talented Associate Teacher, Quizizz lessons were implemented into our online teaching repertoire. This allowed us to dictate which student did which lesson and gave us a report of their progress, highlighting anything incomplete and, of course, those dreaded misconceptions.
Students eventually returned to the classroom, and the Year 9 who had been potentially missing in action during the formative months of their Business Education were now in Year 11, preparing for a live exam. During a chat about revision strategies, one particularly academically challenged individual piped up, “What about those Quizizz lessons we used in Lockdown?” Yes, what a fantastic idea!
Once again, Quizizz to the rescue — a revision platform that engaged students and provided me with reports on who had completed what revision, highlighting areas needing more work.
More lessons were quickly written. It takes me about 30 minutes to write a decent revision offering containing an opening quiz slide, up to three theory slides, a media clip followed by a series of questions to check for understanding, and at the student's own suggestion, a couple of practice exam questions.
The reporting feature allows me to manage which topics have been covered by which students and to quickly step in to provide additional support where needed. The introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into Quizizz has made the process significantly quicker and it even lets you choose the age of students it is suitable for, another time saver for teachers!
My results last year were the highest ever, with a 91% pass rate. Quizizz significantly contributed to this success by engaging students throughout their three years of studying for their Business and Enterprise Qualifications. It also saved me and my associate teachers time, allowing us to intervene more quickly and effectively than using traditional methods.
As I continue to grow the Business Education provision within the school, we’ve moved from the one original group of 28 students when I arrived at the school to at least 3 groups in each year. Growing demand has led us to offer a Level 3 Business Course to our 6th form. Despite their maturity, they love nothing more than a cheeky game of Quizizz. Shouting out the wrong answers to confuse their classmates has become the new norm in my classroom. It's now hard to remember my luddite days; Quizizz has not only improved my exam results but also turned Business Education into one of the most popular subjects in the school.
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