I had an amazing opportunity to beta test the new Wizer for Teachers before it went live August 1st. If I had to restrict this blog to one word it would be WOW! Fortunately, I have a lot more words to describe the "awesomeness" of Wizer for Teachers.
The term differentiation for many teachers brings up a variety of emotions. To be honest, I was not the best at differentiating in the classroom. Unless you are just awesome, you probably have some room to improve as well. If your view of differentiation is creating a couple of different quizzes and tests for a couple of groups of learners, you are like me. This approach is not because I didn't view it as important. I knew it was extremely important, but it was well behind, RTI, 504, IEP, "insert acronym here", and a variety of other daily tasks. Unfortunately, by taking this approach I left some of my students behind.
Well, Wizer for Teachers has changed that. Wizer has made differentiation easy! I am smiling just typing that sentence. Differentiation is such a difficult task, and Wizer found a way to make it easy! I will pause so you can get up and run around in celebration...
So, if you are not familiar with Wizer, it is an online tool that helps teachers create fantastic digital worksheets with a variety of awesome tools. If you are not familiar with it, check out my previous blog post here. Just be sure and come back to finish this post as well.
If you have used Wizer before, the main features have not changed. You can still create worksheets that self grade, and all the cool tools are still there. However, with the premium Wizer for Teachers edition, you can now easily differentiate for your students.
1. Differentiate-
Now, with a simple click, you can create rules to differentiate your questions. You basically set up the differentiation categories. For example, beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Once you set you rules up, you can determine which rule applies to each question. So, if "Little Billy" is a beginning level student, he would receive the beginning level question. You also are given the ability to create filters for your rules. For example, a filter for beginning students could be anyone scoring below a 75. So, if you are like me, you are wondering how does the worksheet know "Little Billy" is within that category. The scores from "Little Billy's" previous assignments determine his level. Once you create your rules, you are all set. As you create questions, you can quickly assign a rule, and that question will be pushed out to those kids that apply to that rule. Rules can also be set based on Strength, Challenge, Passion, or Preference.
2. Choice-
Students love choices. The really like it when they feel like their choices are helping guide what they are learning. Wizer recognized that and allows teachers to create more choices for each question. You can give students a variety of options on how to answer a question. Maybe they can draw their response, select a multiple choice, or match answers. These questions can also be differentiated.
3. Learners-
Wizer also gives students the opportunity to select how they best learn. They can provide input on rules that may apply to them. Within the learners section, you can also see a graph with the students performance over the past several assignments. Also, within the learners section, you can add your classes. This can be done by providing a code to the students or by using your google classrooms account.
4. Learner and Community Worksheets-
Technology is used best when students are able to participate and create. Wizer gives students the ability to create Wizer worksheets, and teachers can even use students worksheets. Another great feature is the Wizer community. There are tons of awesome worksheets already created by teachers.
I am so excited about the release of Wizer for Teachers. I hope that this article inspires you to check it out. I am not sure if I have given it enough justice. It is an amazing tool for teachers that will change how we deliver content to our students. As always, thank you for reading. If you don't already, please take a moment and subscribe to my blog, and please provide feedback and let me know what you think about Wizer. Have a great day!
D. Barkes