Freebie Man: Win a Mouse Mischief Classroom Makeover
Looking for a new way to engage your students in the classroom? We’re giving away a Mouse Mischief Classroom Makeover to one lucky blog reader… watch this video for details:
My eyes are always peeled for the coolest, newest, FREE-est (<– a Freebie Man technical term), tech tool to use in the classroom – especially those goodies that are simple for even the least tech-savvy educator, and that can engage students in new ways.
And hey, tools with fun names get my attention too – how about “Mouse Mischief“?
Sounds fun to me!
Microsoft has a free new tool, Mouse Mischief, that works with PowerPoint to let teachers create interactive, collaborative presentations to help engage students in class. If you download this free PowerPoint add-in, you can create a variety of question types that students, each with their own mouse or in teams, can answer on a shared screen.
How cool is that?
Best of all, if you’re already using PowerPoint, you don’t have to learn any new technology. And, it seems to me like it’s a cheap alternative to other expensive “classroom clicker systems.” If you need more mice, I’m willing to bet your IT department has a few lying around. If you don’t have enough for the entire class, have your students work in teams… this also will build their collaboration skills.
Don’t forget to ask your IT staff for a USB hub to plug all the mice in (I looked around the web and these are fairly inexpensive too… or you could even pick one up at a local electronics store).
Try it out and let us know what you think. And of course, don’t forget to enter the FreebieMan contest to win a Mouse Mischief Makeover for your Classroom thanks to our friends at Microsoft!
Ways to enter: (Yes…entering more than one way will improve your chances!)
Follow the Mischief
Option 1: Twitter - Become a follower of @MouseMischief and tweet about how Mouse Mischief can be used in your classroom be sure to include the hashtag #mousemischief
Option 2: Facebook – Become a Fan on Facebook and post a story/comment on the Mouse Mischief wall regarding how you could use the technology
Option 3: Blog – Post a comment on the Mouse Mischief Blog about how you can use this in your classroom
Option 4: YouTube – Post a YouTube comment identifying your favorite Mouse Mischeif Video on YouTube
CONTEST ENDS FRIDAY FRIDAY MAY 21, 2010 AT 11:59 pm EASTERN TIME.
Disclosure: A thanks to our friends at Microsoft for sponsoring this post. They are providing a giveaway to one lucky blog reader via today’s FreebieMan contest. The winner will receive a classroom full of mice (up to 25), Office 2007 Suite for their classroom, and a USB hub.
I am in the computer lab, and I think it would be a great way to make sure that students are understanding the skills being taught in PowerPoint. It would be fun to have the students demonstrate what they have learned using ‘each one teach one’.
I’m in, this would really be a great way to make sure all my students are paying attention!
This Mouse Mischief looks like an awesome way to engage all students in answering questions during a class presentation! It would be so cool to monitor all their comments and thereby learn how well they are understnading the information presented. Having the immmediate feedback would allow one to adjust their teaching to match the students understanding.
I would love to empower my students with something like this! I would also love to empower my fellow teachers when I set up the computer lab after I win this contest and invite them to bring their classes in to use Mouse Mischief! I love when Microsoft does something nice for education! Thanks!
Wow! Mouse Mischief sounds like a great way to engage EVERY student and instant assessment feedback. I’d love to use it with student and teachers in my library media center!
I will be starting my 42nd year teaching in the fall. I have changed my teaching methods with each new technology that I can find. They call me the Queen of Tech at my school. I would really use the mouse mischief in my title 1 math classroom. Help me win!!!
Sounds like a great way to go green in the classroom. Save those trees!
Hi!
I would love to have this in my classroom. My smartboard was a waste of money when I could use this and do so much more without the instruction time wasted. My short attention spanded freshman would be more engaged and on task!
Interactive clickers keep students alert and engaged I imagine this product would, too. Good to see that Microsoft is making products geared towards the education community. Kuddos to them!
This is such a great way for students to be able to interact with lessons. In today’s society students are always playing games and watching television. Since this is a form of media that keeps their attention, Mouse Mischief would be a great tool to use in the classroom to keep the students engaged and willing to participate in lessons.
I would definitely use this to create interactive lessons with my elementary students. Mouse Mischief would be a great tool to use instead of CPS clickers. Setting up the questions and administering the quizzes with Mouse Mischief seems like a breeze compared to other tools.
Wow, what a cool way to keep the kids engaged. It would certainly change the presentations that are given, by having the students interacting with the subject matter. Love the fact it is free in this world of budget cuts
I have been using powerpoint presentations in all my classes for several years how. I have always wanted a way to get the students involved. I currently use mini quizzes integrated in my presentations, but only I can answer. There is no way to find out what everyone is thinking. Now I can!!! Thanks Freebie Man for finding this! Go GOSHEN!
I love the idea of the Mouse Mischief program. Here in Indiana we are making a lot of cuts in Education so with this contest I could bring in more technology to help my students grow. These would be a great way to keep my students excited about normal stuff like Math and Grammar. Since this is a unique form of media that would help keep the students attention, Mouse Mischief would be an awesome thing to bring into my 5th grade classroom! Pick me!!
Looks like a great way to get everyone in the room involved in the discussion and to bring them into the conversation!
I have worked at all grade levels. I am now working at the high school level. This is another way to keep students involved, and participating. Great for an open quiz. I could see all the students putting their answer up, and then figuring out why “their” answer is right or wrong.
Freebie Man, I love you! This is a wonderful opportunity to engage all of our students. I have looked a few videos on You tube and I can’t wait to try Mouse Mischief. I hope I win!!
This sounds like a great way to get all of the students involved and also gives the teacher instant feedback. It seems to be much easier to use than clickers, and I am sure the students would enjoy using them.
I have been talking to our district tech guy about trying to set this up at our school for next year. I think a great way to build enthusiasm from the staff is to do a presentation the first day of school and have them actually use the technology. I have played with it a little at home, but don’t have enough hubs on my desktop here to use more than three mice. Over the summer I will definitely play more.
Show me the cheese!!! Oh, no it is the mouse. I would love to use this mouse contraption in my classroom. I believe that students learn more when they are actually engaged. This little mouse will (trap) those students quickly into learning before you can say cheese!
Please enter my into this drawing.
I’d love to try this out in my room. Helping students follow where I am while I’m teaching programming or learning a new piece of software would be great.
What a great addition this would be to my class. I currently teach a 4/5 combination class with 28 students. It would be great to use mouse mischief to keep the 4th graders engaged while the 5th graders are doing centers, and then trade. Currently it’s hard to keep one group engaged while the other is doing somethin “fun”.
I would love to have the opportunity to engage my students in the lessons I teach. It can be a challenge to keep the interest of my 4th graders, esp. in Social Studies, and I can see making some great ppt presentations in geography and history!
I’ve shown everyone I can this new product and teachers are excited about it! This is a great way to keep students engaged with the lesson. Thanks Microsoft for creating a product that actually helps teachers keep students on task.
I am a technology specialist and I work with teachers and elementary students. I would really enjoy getting this kit, I know my students would become more engaged to the unit they are learning by becoming active participants. Teachers could also use it to enhance their lessons.
Great to keep all students involved.
[...] to Win a Mouse Mischief Classroom Makeover from Simplek12.com! This ends by May [...]
I would love to use this in my Physical education class. It would be great to help prepaire my students for outside world, reffing sports, and be more knowlegable in sports.
I have been the Powerpoint queen of my school: retirements, funerals, open house, planets in Science, etc. It is time to up my game! Mouse Mischief sounds like a wonderful tool to add into my classroom! Thanks for this opportunity to win one!
Too bad it’s a Windows only product.
Us Mac people like Freebies, too! Keep the great stuff coming our way!
I wanted a clicker system to improve engagement in the classroom. This sounds so much better. With school budget deficits, I couldn’t get a clicker system anyway. Thanks for the heads up.
I can see using this with my elementary students in computer lab and with my music students in middle school. What a great way to focus each student on the concept being taught and receiving immediate feedback about their understanding. Keeping my fingers crossed!!
This would be a great resource for all teachers in our buiding. We are always looking for ways to incorporate student use of technology in the classroom. I would love to receive!
Whitney Reply:
May 19th, 2010 at 8:44 pm
building, oops, lol
Teaching in the Art room, I am always looking for uniques avenues to keep my students attention. I am so excited about this product that I am going to show it to our in-building tech. people. How great would this be in my own classroom!!!! Usually I show powerpoints in different ways to grab the kiddos attention and they seem to enjoy that! I would really like to have this technology added to my repertoire. The one major idea for this are the quick quizzes we sometimes have to do and just think how interesting I can make them with this. There is so much I could use this for!!! This would probably make all the art teachers in the district want this for their classrooms also.
What a great way to engage more students. I should be able to apply it to slide shows that come with my new textbooks.
Wow- this looks like it could be a great alterative to expensive student response systems- with our schools being in proration there is no money for anything much less expensive technology tools- this tool looks like it could be a alternative that would work especially for our elementary school and it seems that this equipment could be shared by more than one teacher- they could be shared by many-
I had just checked my email for a price quote to purchase a set of responders for use with the Promethean board in our Technology Labs, when I ran across this message in my email inbox. I began reading about the new features available with Microsoft PowerPoint. I realized how much less expensive it would be to use this new feature in Microsoft PowerPoint to receive student responses with the mouse rather than purchasing a responder system. However, the current funding crunch would probably make this project prohibitive unless funding for networking our lab, software, and related resources were identified and provided free of charge from an outside vendor. We would proudly accept these resources, if selected, to enhance student learning at Opelika Middle School.
I am always looking for new ways to get my kids interested in science. This would give them a way to interact with my lecture and still retain their “cool” factor. They could ask questions or make comments anonymously. I could also use this to help them learn to take better notes and to learn to write better papers and lab reports. The possibilities are ENDLESS in a science class! Virtual dissections! Identifying P & S waves! Graphing! What mouse mischief could I get into????
I’m not real tech savy, but I think I could learn this.
I see this as a must in moving our students to the 21st Century classroom. With technology increasing, the possibilites for learning and retaining with hands on interactive instruction is a vital key to the success of all of students, 1st grade through 12th. Our teachers are innovative and dedicated in striving to achieve our goal of ‘No Child Left Behind’ and are eager to aqquire the tools that will enhance their ability to do this. We appreciate the generosity and the opportunity to participate.
What a great way to engage students in the classroom!!! The students would be so “in tune” with this technology. It puts learning at their fingertips.
[...] 5. IHeartEdTech – “Whether it’s a cool new free tech tool on the web, or a new and interesting idea to use a current technology in a new way. IHeartEdTech.com helps teachers connect and collaborate with each other, and provides resources to build 21st century classrooms,” says Lisa Greathouse, one of the authors on the blog who is also the Manager of K-12 Solutions.com. She also explained that their site “helps teachers and educators learn about, evaluate, and integrate technology into the classroom.”Recommended posts: “7 Reasons Why I Love Evernote & Why You Should Too!,” “5 Steps to Empower Your Students,” and “Freebie Man: Win a Mouse Mischief Classroom Makeover.” [...]
Subscribe via E-mail
Facebook Fans
Free Resources
Recent Posts
Archives
Tags
Recent Comments
Most Commented
Popular Posts
Bad Behavior has blocked 6616 access attempts in the last 7 days.
newsletter software Powered by WordPress | Log in | Entries (RSS) | Comments (RSS) | Arthemia theme by Michael Hutagalung