Kim Piper

9th Grade Algebra Teacher
Benton Junior High School
Benton, Arkansas
6 years working in education

Get to know Kim Piper

Students in Kim’s class work on their math assignment in class. Kim assigns Edulastic checkpoints almost daily so she can keep track of student progress and can make sure that students are understanding the concepts they need to know.

What do you love about working in education? What motivates you? 

I love to see my students have ‘aha’ moments! When that light bulb goes off, we celebrate!

Why did you become a teacher? 

Teaching is my second career. After twelve years in my first career, I starting asking myself ‘Will I be happy doing this the rest of my life?’ My answer was NO. After some soul searching, I knew that I wanted to teacher. I became a teacher to help students realize their potential and support them so they can reach it! I have a passion to teach people new things and encourage them along the way.

What is your “Edulastic story”? 

I was introduced to Edulastic about three years ago by my Math Facilitator. Our district was moving toward online testing, so we wanted an assessment tool that would mimic the online assessments. We begin by creating short common assessments and grew from there. Now, I use Edulastic almost daily. I use edulastic for checkpoints (one-two skills), quizzes, test and common assessments.

Describe your favorite Edulastic “aha” moment.

When I realized all of the valuable, real-time data that could be collected from Edulastic, I knew I needed this in my class. The real-time data allows me to give immediate feedback and identify common misconceptions as they occur. This data has allowed me to quickly identify students that need remediation and give them the support they need in a timely manner.

The data that is collected from Edulastic on common assessments allows us to have data discussions within our PLC, so that we can grow as a group. During these discussions we discuss best practices for teaching and remediation of a skill.

What are your teaching/learning goals this year?

This year my goal is to challenge students to have a growth mindset. I challenge them to persevere through the tough times so, they can reap the reward in the end!

Our classroom motto is, ‘If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you!’

Tips for new Edulastic users:

Teachers that are new to Edulastic should start small. Create a small assignment with questions from the bank. This will allow you to see the data and how valuable it can be for you and your students. Once you are comfortable, try creating your own questions. Start with the basics (multiple choice, fill in the blank, etc) then move to tech enhanced questions (drag and drop, label, classify, etc). Start small, but get started!

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