Plickers in PE: Using QR Codes For Quick Assessment

If you have not be exposed to the glory that is Plickers, then you are missing out on a PHENOMENAL resource for your classroom. I just learned about them in a professional development seminar prior to this school year, so I haven't implemented them in my PE classroom yet, but I use them daily in my health room!

Plickers are a QR code system that allows each student to answer questions placed on your projector/smart board. The question can be generated online or through your mobile device! Another benefit of Plickers is that it is free to use! Visit Plickers here to sign-up and download your free printable cards.

You can also purchase a set of laminated cards for $20. If you want to download and print the free cards to laminate yourself, you can, but it's important to note you can only use matte finish laminating paper. The traditional laminating sheets will cause the Plickers to malfunction due to the glare off the gloss finish.

Recommendations for creating your Plickers set:

1. Buying the matte laminated cards is a worthwhile investment. They are sold through Amazon. The only downside to purchasing them through Amazon (recommended from the Plickers site) is that they only sell the standard pack of 40. If you need more than 40 unique cards, buying two sets will not fix this issue.
   
2. If you decide to print the cards yourself, I recommend printing on card stock as opposed to traditional computer paper. This will help maintain the integrity of the cards for a longer period of time, especially if you decided not to laminate them yourself.

Getting Setup & Organized:

1. Build in an organizational tool in your gym. I am a huge fan of pocket charts for this purpose. They're easy to hang and make taking Plickers out and putting them back in a breeze. S&S has a great packet chart here. It's 20"x 24" and features 30 clear and 30 yellow pockets.
   
2. At the beginning of the school year, assign each student a number (per class period). When students enter the gym, they grab their card (huge help for attendance to avoid squad lines and down time). Take your phone, scan any leftover cards and instantly know who is not in class today.
   
   

   
   

   This will also keep students accountable for managing their attendance. If a student forgets to claim their card and is accidentally marked absent, it opens the door for the conversation about accountability and personal responsibility.
   
3. Teach students how to use the Plickers. (A) Each Plicker has a number on every corner of the QR code. This is the number I assign to students. (B) Each Plicker then has a unique letter on each side of the QR code (A, B, C, D) (C) You can ask true/false questions with A = true and B= false.
   
   
   
   TO ASSIST MY STUDENTS, I WRITE THE LETTERS ON THE BACK OF THE CARD. This prevents them from flipping back and forth for every question. You can see a sample of this below. Now, students can simply look at the back side of the card to know which answer they should be holding up.
   
4. Now, you can easily scan the QR codes with your phone to gather formative feedback while teaching in your classroom.

How to Implement in PE

Now comes the tricky part.. How do you keep track of all these cards while in physical education class!? So many of us in phys. ed are hesitant to use Plickers in the gym because it seems like too much of a headache, but in reality Plickers are easy to implement!

You can enter questions ahead of time or enter them real time as you see needs developing in class. You can do this online or on your phone. You'll then need to click on the application on your phone, select the appropriate question, and scan to collect your data.

1. Teaching a new skill? Great, Plickers can allow you to see who is grasping essential concepts and who still needs more practice.
   
   For example, let's say you're teaching how to plant your non-dominant foot beside the ball in a soccer unit. You want to see if all of your students understand why that's important instead of calling on a few kids who raise their hands. Propose the following question: True or False - placing your non-dominant foot next to the ball in a soccer kick allows you to direct the ball properly. Students would hold up their Plickers with A for True or B for False and you now know exactly who gets it and who doesn't. Now open up the discussion to help those students who don't understand why!
   
2. Formal Formatives? Don't have time for a sit down quiz, but want to see where your students are with rules or concepts of a sport? Read (or display) the question, give the answers and record student responses in no time.
   
3. Class Exit Tickets? Great, save paper, incorporate technology, and avoid grading by having exit slip questions plugged into your Plickers account.
   
4. Polls and classroom surveys are also possible with Plickers. This is perfect for testing a new game or drill to see how your students respond to it. For these types of questions, it's simple to mark every answer for a question correct or leave one as incorrect (personal preference of the teacher) to see if it's a hit or a flop.
   

This is just the tip of the iceberg for possibilities with Plickers! There are so many additional resources that you can find through Gopher and SHAPE America. These were just a few tips to help you get started and I would LOVE to hear how you incorporate Plickers into your own classroom!

The Balancing Act

It sure has been a while since my last post! Life has become so busy that blogging has been put on the back burner for quite some time. I had hoped spring break would allow me to become more active again, but sadly I was just as busy catching up on things that had fallen by the wayside during school.

Which leads me to a puzzling questions, how do all the other bloggers balance their lives? I'm young, with no kids or husband, and I barely find time to breathe, let alone blog! I would love to contribute more to the community, but I find it so stressful. I've thought of creating a day each week dedicated to maintaining my blog, but even that seems impossible some weeks.

To give some background, I teach middle school health and physical education, I coach the girls soccer team for my school, and I've started my summer job early as the program director for a YMCA camp! Teaching is obviously my priority, coaching adds another 7-9 hours a week, and then my camp job fills up another 8 hours! I feel like I'm about to pull my hair out and it's only the first day back in school!

Despite all this, a wise man once told me to always come with a solution so here it is. I will dedicate time to blog on Monday's. My week will just be starting, all of my lessons will be planned, and I'll have the weekend to determine a topic. I really want to be successful at this blogging thing!

Until next week,
xoxo The Sassy PE Teacher

What They Told Me as a New Seller

MILESTONE ANNOUNCEMENT: For the first time since opening my store in December, I had my first back to back sales day! That's right, my Valentine's Day Fitness Bingo sold yesterday and today! My store has officially sold five items in a little over a month. Big day!

As exciting as my personal story is, I really wanted to share something that I know a lot of bloggers write about, which is how to get started on TpT. There are countless blogs, forum posts, and YouTube videos jam packed with advice, but the ocean of information is so vast, I honestly feel like many people just glance over it and don't take it seriously. I was not that type of person and listened to everything they said...

1. GET ON THE FORUMS. If I could only give a new seller like me one piece of advice, this would be it! The forums are PACKED with information, advice, community support, and positivity. Everything you ever need to know is in the forums and if you can't find what you need, you can ask in your own forum and other sellers will flock to help you!
2. GO PREMIUM ASAP. I kept waiting to make a sale that never came and ignored everyone telling me to go premium from the beginning. I didn't want to "waste" $69.99 on something I didn't even know would be successful. I ended up going premium and TWO DAYS LATER made my first sale! The product was $5.00 and I kept $4.45. If I had remained a basic seller, I would have made HALF!!! I've now made five sales, which may not seem like a lot, but of the $27.00 in products I've sold, I've been able to keep $22.95 as opposed to $13.50. Overtime, that missed income would really add up. Believe in yourself, believe in your store, and go premium. You won't regret it {and everyone telling you this is telling you the truth}!
3. DESIGN YOUR COVER PAGES. Include your store logo so buyers can recognize your products in searches. Make them bright and colorful. Include picture examples of your product. Make them consistent.
4. INVEST IN QUALITY CLIP ART. It is worth it. Clip art will also become your new obsession... As will fonts. Remember to be practical and buy what you need and wish list others you may want so you don't blow a ton of money {I'm speaking from experience here folks, this current paycheck is tight due to overspending on clip art and fonts}.
5. PRODUCT DESCRIPTIONS. Make them short and simple, but ensure there is enough information so your buyers know exactly what they are getting. Include what is contained in the item, how you've used it, each of the components, and...
6. PRODUCT LINKING. In your descriptions, link to other products within your store so buyers keep shopping. I have started to link to entire product categories as opposed to a single product in order to expose buyers to more of my store! Remember to use the <a href= "" > TEXT< /a> code {minus the spaces} so your links are clean and easy to use.

Sadly, it is late and I still have to finish some lessons for tomorrow since my classes moved through material faster than anticipated! The joys of having dedicated children. I hope to come back and add pictures/examples tomorrow.

Until next time,

xoxo The Sassy PE Teacher

Newest Purchases and Future Plans

Happy Saturday!

I wanted to take a moment to highlight some products I have purchased recently from other TpT sellers. I have spent the majority of my day printing, cutting, laminating, and filling out the information for these products and I genuinely feel every teacher could benefit from both of these items.

First, this Teacher Binder by Blair Turner has changed my life overnight. Yes, it looks adorable and cute, but that is only the tip of the iceberg! The options for this planner are endless. She has a custom folder included in the download so that you can make the planner exactly as you need it. I am a huge proponent of being organized and am complimented by my peers on a regular basis about my organization, but this binder has put everything I have ever done to shame. My substitute information is now so clear and easy to see. My lesson plans will soon be all in one place as opposed to various files all over my computer. I teach two subjects over three grade levels, as well as a fourth single grade level, so finding a planner that fit my needs was not easy. Set-up, printing, and creating the binder was also simple and easy. If you have never thought of using a teacher planner created by TpT, there are so many products out there that are available to fit your needs. This planner only cost $8.00, while I've seen others cost as much as $16. The more expensive binders typically have digital planners included, which is great for a lot of teachers! I prefer a hard printed version so this product worked great for me, but like I said, there as so many amazing products like this on TpT! I may even consider making my own, but that will take me quite some time, especially if I want to make it a quality product.

Secondly, I am in the process of redecorating my classroom. One of my bulletin boards focused on the Green Bay Packers and quotes by our beloved Vince Lombardi. Sadly, the Packers season has come to an end, so I believe it is time to move on to my next great idea! Ever since I started selling and buying on TpT in December, I have become slightly obsessed with flag banners. The things I have seen done with them are so adorable and perfect for my classroom. I ultimately decided to go with a grey chevron banner from Aunties Sweet Life. I enjoyed the neutral color scheme so I can match it to any color combination on my new bulletin board. I finally printed and laminated the banner set this morning and the excitement to hang them is overwhelming. Thankfully, we have a work day on Monday and my grades are already submitted! I will make sure to post pictures of the final product so you guys can see the banner in action!

Finally, I'm going to begin work on creating sports themed digital papers. I had a request from a seller earlier this week about a product line dedicated to sports digital papers and I've been doing some research all week in regards to how to make professional digital papers. I look forward to creating those and sharing them on my store soon. My biggest challenge will be finding clip art that the sellers allow use for in commercial designs as opposed to teaching products with substance. Most artist clearly state in the TOS that they do not want their clip art being used as more than 50% of the product and I would require more than that. If anyone knows of a clip art designer who allows their designs to be utilized in other design products, please let me know!

Until next time,
xoxo The Sassy PE Teacher

TpT Seller Debate: Traditional Size vs Square Cover Pages

Per usual, I was taking my daily stroll through the TpT forums and saw a new{ish} post about cover pages and whether or not it's better to keep them as traditional full pages or if it might benefit the seller to convert them to square pages. Since I am still relatively new to selling, I really feel like I need to make this decision now, as opposed to later on when I have a larger number of products.

So tonight, I want to end the debate... Traditional full page or squared covers? YOU TELL ME! Leave your vote in the comments below and check out my two cover options below.

Traditional Size

Square Size

Product Descriptions and Why They Matter

Day Four: Roads are perfectly fine, but to be safe we've been given yet another snow day. There is only so much lesson planning and TpT production a girl can handle! Needless to say, my sixth grade nutrition unit is going to be BANGIN! I can't wait to see how it goes with my students and hopefully upload it for TpT.

Speaking of TpT, I just spent the majority of the day updating my product descriptions. Why? They are the second most important piece of making a sale and mine needed a lot of work. Prior to the sitewide fix, none of my descriptions where the same, they were a tad bit messy, and I think they were losing me business. I took the liberty of looking at a number of top sellers to see what their descriptions looked like and wowsers, could I tell the difference. I tried to take inspiration from each of them to create a formula that worked for me. I wanted to take the time to share that with you!

The examples for this post will be taken from my Circulatory System Review Game.

1. The initial "grab" for my products was often a paragraph long, jumbled, and a total turn off to buyers. I took the time to shorten these introductions to keep potential buyers reading:

This Circulatory System Review Game is based on my circulatory system unit formed, with help, from Teen Health: Course 3 by Glencoe and is the prefect review game for students! 

2. After the shortened hook, I jump right into what my product is offering. I prefer to see a list format so I can go through and see exactly what I'm purchasing as buyer, so I incorporated that into my own descriptions. I also put the category in bold style so buyers can easily distinguish what they're looking at. I also include my initial pitch on commercial and personal use here, as well as a tip for buyers to view the previews before purchasing so they know exactly what they are getting:

INCLUDED ITEMS (1):
PowerPoint Presentation 
• Four Question Categories {16 Questions Total| Four per Category}
• Editable Final Jeopardy Question
• Easy Hyperlink Navigation


This set is available in a single PDF file for personal use and cannot be redistributed. Please view the thumbnail and downloadable previews to see some of the included images prior to purchasing.

3. It is said everywhere in the TpT forums to link additional products in your descriptions so potential buyers are exposed to more of your products. It is so true! I did, however, realize I was doing it all wrong. I used to link single items that were similar to the product within the description, but I've now seen that many top sellers link to an entire category of similar products! For example, in this product, I've decided to link to my health category and my integrated activities category:

RELATED PRODUCTS:
CLICK HERE to see my other health activities.
CLICK HERE to see all of my integrated physical education products.

4. Remember how I eluded to personal versus commercial use within the included items section? Well here comes the follow up, next is my terms of use section. I give a brief description about the terms and provide a link to my TOS page in my store. I uploaded it as a free download so potential buyers are able to easily see what my terms are. I also include a brief return policy:

TERMS OF USE:
Please review my TOU prior to purchasing. You may use these images for commercial or personal use, so long as you abide by those terms. You can view my TOS by clicking here. Since this is a digital file, and therefore provided as an instant download, no returns or refunds are available.

5. This next section is something I added. When it comes to providing credit, most sellers do so within their products, but I don't like this method. I feel like buyers won't scroll down to read them and the sellers who helped me create this product deserve more attention than that. So I include a credits section that links directly back to the product I used from that store:

CREDITS:
COVER BANNER
COVER FONT

6. We're almost done {promise}. Next up is file details and this is pretty standard, but a lot of the top sellers include this. I'm assuming it is because they have a higher volume of buyers and they've had multiple people contact them for tech support opening files. I hope to become a high volume buyer some day, so why not get into the habit of including this now, so I won't have to come back and do it later:

FILE DETAILS:
This product is contained in a .ZIP file. Please ensure you know how to extract/unzip the file to use it prior to purchasing.

7. A salutation is always important to ensure your buyers know you appreciate their business and the time it took them to read your descriptions. It's all about showing customers that you appreciate them!

HOPE TO SEE YOU SOON!
I hope you enjoy using this product in your own classroom as much as I have in mine! Be sure to check in to my store frequently for more freebies, design, and PE inspired products!
The Sassy PE Teacher

8. Finally, a lot of buyers may not realize that they can obtain credits from TpT for all purchased products. It's always a good idea to remind them of how to do this... It's also great for you and your store because it requires them to leave feedback on your items! Since we know your items are well made, well thought out, and amazing in general, we know your buyers will leave positive feedback! Although, even if they don't leave the best feedback, what they do leave can help you make your products that much better in the future:

*****************************************************************************
Customer Tips: 

How to get TPT credit to use on future purchases: 
•Please go to your My Purchases page (you may need to login). Beside each purchase you'll see a Provide Feedback button. Simply click it and you will be taken to a page where you can give a quick rating and leave a short comment for the product. Each time you give feedback, TPT gives you feedback credits that you use to lower the cost of your future purchases. I value your feedback greatly as it helps me determine which products are most valuable for your classroom so I can create more for you.

Be the first to know about my new discounts, freebies and product launches: 
• Look for the green star next to my store logo and click it to become a follower.

Voila! You will now receive email updates about this store.

*****************************************************************************

9. Keywords. I am new to this realm of TpT, but most of the top sellers have this stuck down on the bottom of the product. It doesn't benefit the buyer, it only benefits your store. TpT uses keywords within your product for search results, among many, many other factors. Adding keywords is not going to automatically put your product on page one of the results in a search, but it will help TpT searches identify your product as a factor for which order it posts something in.

keywords: health, health education, circulatory system, test prep, review, powerpoint, game, Sassy PE Teacher

Well, there you have it! These are the nine steps I have found to be useful when creating my own product descriptions and I hope they can help as you create your own store or go back and recreate your product descriptions.

Until next time,
xoxo The Sassy PE Teacher

 

Jonas and TpT

Winter storm Jonas has come and gone. Here in the Richmond area, we are seeing abandoned vehicles everywhere. The roads in the apartment complex are impassable, there is no status and no hope for the main roads... We are beginning to lose hope. Digging out is impossible. HAS JONAS NO MERCY!?

But in all seriousness, we are finally seeing the sun again! I went out to explore the aftermath this morning and laughed when I came up on the items in this picture. Needless to say, I took full advantage of the opportunity for some humor.

I've seen many forum posts about fellow sellers experiencing "Blizzard Sales" and I must say, an unexpected boost like that was largely in part to my own banking account dwindling away, slowly but surely! Cabin fever set in within the hour and I just kept seeing so many amazing resources and came up with a reason to buy every single one of them! NO REGRETS! But it did get me thinking about something... When teachers are out of school for unexpected reasons, are they more likely to buy? If I had access to that scale of data, I would absolutely conduct a research study on that to see if it's true.

What have been some of your inclement weather sales experiences? Have your sales gone up, dipped, or stayed the same? Share your experiences in the comment section below!

Until next time,

xoxo The Sassy PE Teacher