Why we do what we do!
To answer this, I’d have to dive into why I do what I do.
I’ve been (self) diagnosed with an “I need to help everyone and fix everything in everyone’s life” syndrome, and so when I went in search of a job that would be ideal for an idealistic person like me, I came across this weirdly spelled company called Quizizz.
“Oh, so you make quizzes?” “Nah, we do a lot more than that,” Connor, the Head of Marketing, said when we first spoke. He told me to explore the platform on my own and like the good, attention-deficit millennial kid I am, I went to YouTube instead to see what people were saying about it. And then I said yes.
I said yes because everything teachers were saying online was exactly what the co-founders echoed — they wanted to help teachers make learning fun, enjoyable, and meaningful again, and they (Quizizz) achieved that.
I didn’t really care what role I got; I just knew I wanted to be a part of something big like this. Something that focused on helping teachers do more with the (very) little time they had in the classroom.
You see, I was that kid who found solace in teachers, librarians, and books. The world was constantly changing around me, but somehow, my teachers always noticed and went above and beyond to help me with life, not just academics. To have the opportunity to somehow pay them back in whatever little way like this was a dream. And almost everyone here at Quizizz maintains this belief.
“If you have a good teacher, you’re probably going to be a good human being” — Arathy Kushalappa.
In a world where content is so readily available, and humans everywhere deal with issues of anxiety, fear of mediocrity, and being left behind, Quizizz wanted to create a space where students feel like it’s okay to make mistakes, to give them a second chance at redemption and a bit of a power-up when they feel like they’re lagging.
“This year I have a student with an IEP and reading is very challenging for him. He likes Quizizz because he can work on this to practice without feeling bad about himself when he doesn’t win. Some gamification platforms put too much emphasis on winning. It’s tough for him not to see his name on a leaderboard. I can assign him a Quizizz without assigning it to the rest of the class with unlimited chances. This way he can keep trying and push himself to earn more with each round he tries.”
You see? There’s something for every kind of kid. Not just the loudest or the quickest. We spoke to teachers every day and built Quizizz to meet their needs. Quick quiz creation with AI, customizable avatars, gamified learning modes (looking at you, Mastery Peak), the promise of redemption questions, and the most powerful one yet — accommodations. Teachers could already do these things in the classroom; we just helped make it faster with technology.
We do what we do because we see how much our teachers do. Every. Single. Day. They go out of their way to change the entire structure of their classroom if there’s ONE kid who needs some additional assistance. They get new policies and structures put into place if ONE kid has unique needs. They work overtime when they don’t get paid because they care. They care so much, and when we see that, we have no other option but to care even more about them and their students.
“I have a student who requires all assessments be read aloud per their IEP. This student expressed to me that they feel very “stupid” being pulled aside to have someone read the test to them. The first time I used Quizizz for the class assessment it went beautifully. I used the teacher guided mode and read each question aloud to the class. After the test was complete, my student started crying. When I pulled them aside, they said it was the first time they felt like they belonged. My heart broke and sung simultaneously.”
This student’s success wasn’t solely because of Quizizz; it was the ingenuity of that teacher who discovered how our creation could be a tool in the classroom and applied it in ways beyond our initial vision.
We can’t do what teachers do — no one can — but we try to help.
That’s why we do what we do.
P.S.: Were you a nerd like me back in school, too? Or do you just love making really cool things for kids and tech-savvy teachers? Go pull an Arathy, look us up on YouTube, and then join us in this wholesome journey of empowering teachers to motivate younger versions of us.
Bonus content: Teachers being cute and thanking us 💜
