Next week I am finally going to do it.

I’m tired of administering tests and seeing the Zombie-like trance induced as students quietly complete district mandated common assessment tests as they stare blankly at their laptop screens. Instead we are going to flip the script and students are going to battle a Zombie Horde as they are “Boss Assessed” with a variation on my previous “Dreadsheets” format. This format will be a mixture of digital and physical spaces with physical

The Basics

As mentioned in the Messin’ with Testin’ post I need to keep this very simple.

I have taken the district mandated 55 Multiple Choice Question Common Assessment and copied all of the questions into Plickers. I will ask the question and students will answer using their Plicker Cards. By answering questions correctly students will be able to attack the Zombie Horde. If the students get the Zombie Horde’s Hit Points to Zero then they win the game. If they do not they are still competing against the other class to determine a Class Winner.

District Reporting

I chose Plickers because I can receive a rapid and individualized student report that includes the questions and all the answers. The reports can be saved as a digital file or printed and return them to the students. Once they have the report they will enter their scores into the district common assessment software using the digital reports. I know what your thinking – they won’t enter in the incorrect answers – and that is the point. The students will be forced to reflect on the questions they missed and get a rapid retake.

Boss Assessment Manual – Zombies Attack!

The following Google Doc has all of the “Rules” for the game including how students lose hearts, how they can be revived, and the “Special Powers” each player can select from.

Boss Fight Display

I am going to use a heavily modified Dreadsheet system.

Each student will have their own Student Spreadsheet. The sheet is numbered 1-55 and each Question cell has a dropdown menu for the possible dice rolls. The sheet is linked to a Boss Projector sheet so the Attack Rolls and Missed questions will feed directly to the Boss sheet projected onto board. The Zombie Horde will also take battle damage as the game goes on. If you would like to check out the Sheets I have linked them below the images.

I am pretty sure I have added Sheet Protections to the following pages but please don’t go tinkering with the formulas. Instead, you can make copies and play around with them that way.

Since we are in a Hybrid Setting I only have 5 students. This system is simple enough to expand the number of students pretty easily. The Boss is auto-programmed have it’s HP increase as the number of players increases as well as a few other tweaks.