How Kahoot! helped me start and edtech explosion!

As an edtech leader on my campus I am always traveling and searching for the newest and best tools to use in my classroom. About a year and a half ago I came across a great little site called Kahoot!. The colors were bright, the site looked friendly, so I decided to investigate what this company was all about. What I discovered could only be described as EduFUN! The site and its game-like assessments were reminiscent of my favorite time sucking app, Trivia Crack. I have for years been playing "Trivia Crack" with my students to build relationships and have them learn at the same time. I had now found a way to bring the thrill of "Trivia Crack" into the classroom to replace my modern pen and paper assessments. I WAS HOOKED!

Being the tech guy on my campus, and an overly excited person, I went around my campus room to room praising the new web app Kahoot! as the next big thing in our classroom. I was awestruck when I discovered my fellow teachers were not as enthusiastic about my discovery as I was. I told them how fun it was to use and how easy the "Game/Quiz" was to make, but all I got was a shrug and a nod. As I later found out, I was known around campus as the "Too much of a Tech Guy" and the perception was whatever I said was easy, must still be complicated to the average teacher. Nothing I could say would goad any teacher into trying my new found discovery. 

I started to send out invitations to my fellow teachers, "Come one, come all, see the amazing Marquez and his Amazing students learning and having fun all at the same time!". No takers. Hmmm, what to do? I brought in my computer in to our PLC (Planed Learning Community) meetings to have them play one of my assessments, but there was no time for silly games when there is real data to be gone over. Hmmm, what to do? Finally, I went to a fellow teacher who never, I mean never used technology in his class. I sat him down a made him an offer he could not refuse "Please let me make you an assessment in Kahoot! for you to give in class. I will do all the work. I will collect and analyze all the data. I will even cover your duty for a whole week. Please, please, please, just try the Kahhot!" Reluctantly the teacher took me up on the deal. He tried the Kahoot! and all HELL-O technology broke out. The kids were hooked, and they could not stop talking about the quiz they just took and the fun they just had taking it.

Soon the word of Kahhot! spread across campus like a wild fire. Students were asking to be assessed almost everyday! Teachers across campus heard the "No Tech" teacher was using it, so it must be EASY to use. Soon every classroom was a Kahoot! classroom. Soon teachers were asking for more technology in the classroom. Soon teachers were willing to try all the tools I had been building up in my EdTech toolbox. Soon our classrooms became Google Classrooms, and our PowerPoints became Nearpod's, our videos became Zaption's, and our worksheets became Formative's. It was a tech revolution that is just now gearing us up to be a completely 1:1 campus. Kahoot! was the spark that ignited our educational firestorm. Thank you Kahoot! for being my match to start an explosion!!!