Just finished reading this book by Derek Bruff (@derekbruff on Twitter), so I thought I’d share what I wrote on Goodreads. (By the way, if you’d like to be reading buddies, here’s my Goodreads profile page.)

Here goes …

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Although some of the technology has really changed since this book was published, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who plans to incorporate classroom response systems into their teaching. Bruff clearly lays out the pros and cons of different strategies of incorporation, grading schemes, question types, revealing correct answers, …

He does a great job introducing Peer Instruction, and I have been using that strategy in my classroom with great success. I feel that more of my students understand more of the material at this point of the semester than in previous semesters. (I am moving on to Mazur’s Peer Instruction book to go into greater depth on the strategy.)

I also love the concept of Agile Teaching. I love the uncertainty of not knowing which way the class will go, while remaining confident that I can adapt to what I am seeing from my students. I am teaching the same class back-to-back, and have had to focus on different topics with each class. It’s a lot of fun, and it fits in with my belief that we teach our students instead of teaching the material. I now walk into class each day thinking “I Am An Agile Teacher” and I feel so empowered. I should probably put that on a t-shirt.

Note: I am using Learning Catalytics as my classroom response system in my Intro Stats classes, and I am about to start using Plickers in my Elementary Algebra classes.