Word clouds, polls and brainstorms for every student

Word cloud

Each student sends one or two words. Words sent by many students appear larger.

• Good prompt: "One word for how the main character feels at the end."
• Poor prompt: anything with a single correct answer.

Poll

Students choose one option and the class sees the split. A poll carries no marks.

• Use it before teaching a topic, then again after. The change is the lesson.
• Hide the counts until everyone has voted, so students are not led by the crowd.

Brainstorm

Students list ideas, one per line. If you give a list of accepted ideas, each matching idea earns a point. Without a list, you count the ideas yourself.

• Good prompt: "List everything a plant needs to grow."
• Set a short time, such as two minutes, to keep the pace.

Drawings with a class vote

For a drawing question the teacher can open voting. Students see every drawing without names and choose one. Each student sees how many votes their own drawing received. There are no ranks and no leaderboard.