Kahoot! Hero Spotlight: Special Education Teacher, Peter King
We’re shining a light on hero teacher Peter King, who engages his students with math by empowering them to create their own kahoot games!
A seasoned teacher of nine years, Peter has taught in a range of school districts in the Chicago region. As well as studying for his MA in Literacy, he currently teaches math and social learning as a Special Education Teacher at The Academy at Forest View in Arlington Heights.
He cites his stepmom, a former Special Ed Teacher, as a key influencer in his interest in working in his field, as well as his own experiences with speech issues growing up, which helped him develop a deep empathy for students who face challenges in learning.
The Power of Play
Peter found Kahoot! through his colleague and at ICE Conference in Illinois. Like many other users, he first used the platform to “build a rapport” with his students, and help them feel more comfortable in class.
He went on to create a series of short, snappy “bellringer” kahoots (often known as “exit tickets” or “icebreakers” in other classrooms and schools) to keep his students engaged. His experience with Kahoot! deepened as he moved onto using the platform for reviews and formative assessment.
“With Kahoot!, the students who are normally ‘hidden’ can still be part of the class” — Peter King
Getting Creative
However, Peter’s students really came into their own when he decided to take their learning to a whole new level by challenging them to create their own kahoot games.
How did Peter achieve this? He set clear goals and objectives for his students when they create their own kahoots. Assigning his students key points to cover from the units they were studying, his students also used other resources such as textbooks, notes and homework to create kahoots in pairs or small groups.
Peter also shared examples of his own kahoots with his students so they had a template to help them design a great game, and encouraged them to think of how to build problems and questions with multiple choice answers. He then chose the two best kahoots to play as a class together!
Learners to Leaders
Peter’s awesome activities are deeply tied into our ‘Learners to Leaders’ pedagogy, and he is a testament to how impactful and beneficial this way of engaging students can be.
Keen to create your own kahoots but don’t know where to start? Try our paper kahoot planning template to get designing offline!
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