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Teachers are in control with Mouse Mischief

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We’re less than a week into the official launch of Mouse Mischief and the response from teachers and educators around the world has been overwhelming. To share just a few: Clarise Carrwrites on our Facebook wall: “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.”

Rhea Melton adds: “I teach special needs students and this would be great because they wouldn't have to use the traditional paper and pencil answer documents that are difficult for the students to do. They love to work on the computer and I have a Smart Board that they could use these with also. So many times I find that they feel inadequate when faced with the traditional response modes but technology just sets them free to be the best that they can be.”

Thanks to everyone for all of the awesome comments so far. We are really looking forward to growing the Mouse Mischief community with you and your feedback is essential in helping us with this goal!

Now, I’d like to address one concern that I believe a lot of teachers may have before they’ve had a chance to use the product, and that is: “How do I keep my classroom in control if a kid or several kids move the mice around when I’m giving them instructions?”

You might first try a simple game that one of the teachers who took part in our Beta program likes to call ‘The Parking Lot’ method. With this, you direct your students to drive their mouse cursors into a specific area on the screen, such as the lower right hand corner, and ask them to ‘park’ before the lesson can begin. If this doesn’t work, you can always use the ‘Panic’ feature.

We’ve built a Pause or “Panic” feature into the program to allow you to spontaneously freeze the session in any situation: if your students are not paying attention, if you need to give them added instructions, or even if there’s a fire drill! The Pause feature is accessible through two controls. First, you can take the teacher cursor (the giant golden arrow) and drag it down to the bottom center of the screen to click the teacher pause button with the three cursors in it (see above for a screenshot). To achieve the same effect without using your mouse, simply touch the ‘down arrow’ on your PC’s keyboard.

Teachers, remember you are always in control with Mouse Mischief.

-Eric Burgess, Community Manager
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Download the "Find the North Star" presentation seen above and more like it here.
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Comments

  • Anonymous
    May 05, 2010
    I like the Mischief!  Power Point at a whole new level!

  • Anonymous
    May 05, 2010
    First off, I like anything that is free! I have been looking for something like this. I can't wait to try it out. PowerPoint is my favorite program. this just made it even better!

  • Anonymous
    May 06, 2010
    I am very excited about the possibility of using Mouse Mischief in our district next year. It is a perfect solution to the economic times we are facing! We love to teach with interactive resources and this one sounds perfect.

  • Anonymous
    May 24, 2010
    I had one of the other more expensive clicker response systems in my classroom last year, but moved schools and the district can't afford to get us those.  I think mouse mischief would be a comparable solution.  The wonderful thing about this type of system is it keeps all students engaged and you hear from even the most shy student in class which is important.  The instant feedback lets you know who is on target and who needs more instruction too.  I would love to win these for my classroom!