When you create vocabulary quizzes for your students, you might have had the same experience I have had–some students already know some of the vocabulary, while others do not. Also, the students’ motivation to study lists given by the teacher can vary. Why can’t students study the vocabulary that they want to study? When they are reading books, watching videos, listening to songs and such, they take note of new words and phrases from those sources. Why can’t students create their own personalized vocabulary lists, and then we assess their knowledge of THAT vocabulary that they have chosen themselves?
We can. And, I believe we should. Students can still take vocabulary quizzes based on words and phrases mandated by the teacher, but they should also have their personal lists. Yes, lists, with an “s.” And, we teachers should be assessing their knowledge of their own personal vocabulary.
In the past, this has been difficult. How are you going to assess different vocabulary lists for each student? I have tried having students keep vocabulary notebooks, and then meeting them one-on-one for a few minutes and asking them about random items from their notebooks. It’s nice, but time-consuming, and not too realistic once you have over 20 students. So, to remedy this program, I created the Vocab QuizMaster. The Vocab QuizMaster is simply a way to create quizzes quickly for a large group of learners. The only requirements are that individual learners make their lists accessible electronically–I use Google Sheets. From there, it takes minutes to create both individualized vocabulary quizzes and answer sheets.
Currently I use the Vocab QuizMaster solely in Google Sheets with a series of scripts that will generate personalized vocabulary quizzes for each student in the class. I print these vocabulary quizzes out, and students have three minutes of class time to finish the quizzes. Then, they trade quizzes with other classmates and check the quizzes immediately. How do they check them? The Vocab QuizMaster ALSO prepares answer sheets, so the students get the answer sheet for their partner’s quiz and check it within a minute. I walk around in case there are questions (e.g., often related to whether something should receive full credit because it is spelled wrong). The whole process is smooth, and so importantly–it is fast. I often joke–but it is true–that the longest part of the process is waiting for my inkjet printer to print out all of the quizzes and answer sheets.
This process is easy enough to use every week of class. An example amount of time needed is as follows:
| STEP# | ACTION | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Generate personalized quizzes and answer sheets for (e.g., 20) students in Google Sheets | 2 mins |
| 2 | Print out quizzes and answer sheets on inkjet printer 🙂 | 4 mins |
| 3 | Administer quizzes in class | 3 mins |
| 4 | Have students check each other’s quizzes | 3 mins |
| 5 | Collect quizzes and enter scores in your grade system | 2 mins |
