17 Things to do While you Actively Monitor a Standaridized Test

There was an interesting article I read recently that caught my eye; since this week is the STAAR Testing in our local schools.  The first part is basically what the article is about then I will explain what I think.  I hope you will enjoy!

There is so much wrong with standardized testing: they destroy their creativity, it discourages their ability to critical think, and it is very expensive. The most one that distresses teachers the most ist that the ability to actively monitor the test. Actively monitoring is an tediousness task that is designed by the State to prevent students  (and teachers) from cheating on the standardized test.
Teachers may not :

• Grade papers
• Talk
• Write
• Draw
• Read
• Use technology of ANY kind
• Or do ANYTHING that could distract the students

In fact, the only things teachers can do in some cases, in full school days are:

• Walk around the room
• Watch the students take the test

Here are the 17 things to do while you actively monitor the standardized testing...after all you have nothing but time!

 1) Memorize all the students’ first, middle, and last names from your roster. 

2) Keep a small amount of Silly Putty in your hand and challenge yourself to make various shapes without looking.  

3) Think about how you would describe the color red (or any color) to a person who cannot see.

4) Think about your responses to these “Would You Rather” questions or create some of your own.

5) Pretend to be a car.

6) Pretend to be a spider making a web. 

7) Pretend to be a ninja.

8) Think about what you would want your last words to be.

9) Put ice cream in a nondescript cup or mug in the back corner of the room just before testing.

10) Find things in the room that rhyme or almost rhyme.

11) Print out a sheet of riddles in a small font and put it somewhere only you will be able to see it.

12) Listen to the soundtrack of a musical just before testing and enjoy every single song being in your head for the next 8 hours.

13) Send each child positive vibes one at a time.

14) Arrange to have a specific treat after each day of testing.

14) Arrange to have a specific treat after each day of testing.

16) Do something healthy.

17) Think about what you would get on a vanity license plate.

There are probably a lot more ideas that this article clearly did not mention. Some of these are truly silly but would make having to do this taunting job more bearable.  I would mention that with all of these you would have to be as quiet as possible.  So when you are pretending to be a ninja be a fiercely quiet one!  There is one in my opinion that was not mentioned and you might agree with me and that is okay, it is to pray each student. I will try to use these methods when I monitor the standardized testing.  I hope you will use some of these methods too!      


http://www.weareteachers.com/blogs/post/2015/01/29/17-more-things-you-can-do-while-actively-monitoring-a-standardized-test

10 Ways to use Technology to Build Vocabulary

An eVoc strategy is an electronic or technology-based strategy that teachers can use to develop students' vocabulary learning and interest in words. As literacy educators, we need to use the tools that 21st-century technologies are available to use.  Vocabulary is also an area where teachers are asking for guidance on instructional approaches, strategies, and material. The purpose of this article is to highlight 10 eVoc strategies that hold promise for improving vocabulary learning in intermediate grades and that employ digital tools and resources that readily available and feasible to implement in today's schools.
What does research tell us abut vocabulary learning?

• For English Learners (EL's), academic language may represent the task of learning a third language. The good news is that we can improve vocabulary to our students. 
•  Direct vocabulary instruction is essential, but research indicates that students with well-developed vocabulary learn many more words indirectly through reading than from instruction. 

Strategies for teaching and learning vocabulary

eVoc strategy 1: Learn from visual displays of word relationships within text.

• Wordle is a free Web application that allows you to create a word Cloud based on the frequency of words in a particular text.

eVoc strategy 2: Take a digital vocabulary field trip

• Teachers can create a digital version of a vocabulary field trip using a free ONLINE PROGRAM called TrackStar (trackstar.4teachers.org).

• eVoc strategy 3: Connect fun and learning with online vocabulary games

• We recommend two sites that offer a variety of activities to engage students in playing with words and word meanings:Vocabulary Games and Vocabulary. Games include crossword puzzles, picture-word matches, word scrambles, and 8 Letters in Search of a Word (a game that can draw you in unexpectedly as you race to create as many words as possible from eight letters within the time limit).

eVoc strategy 4: Have students use media to express vocabulary knowledge This strategy focuses on students' vocabulary representations in multiple modes-writing, audio, graphic, video, and animation.   Students create captions to illustrate their understanding of contribute.Multimedia glossary example of camouflage using a POWERPOINT TEMPLATE

eVoc strategy 5: Take advantage of online word reference tools that are also teaching tools

• Many online word reference tools are also excellent teaching resources. For example, theVisual Thesaurus website complements its fee-based content with free information such as the Behind the Dictionary and Teachers at Work columns and teacher-created themed word lists.

Develop strategic digital readers with "on-demand" vocabulary help
eVoc strategy 6: Support reading and word learning with just-in-time vocabulary reference support
eVoc strategy 7: Use language translators to provide just-in-time help for ELLs

•  You can paste text into the translator field, select the input and output languages, and view the translation (seeBabelfish, Google translator, and Bing Translator). You may also DOWNLOAD a toolbar extension that translates any webpage automatically. 

Expand wide reading and incidental word learning with digital text
eVoc strategy 8: Increase reading volume by reading digital text

• Class libraries, read-alouds, book clubs, and independent reading time during the school day can increase the amount and variety of student reading.

• Time for Kids

• Weekly Reader

• National Geographic Kids

• National Geographic Kids' blogs

• Science News for Kids

eVoc strategy 9: Increase reading volume by listening to digital text with a text-to-speech tool and audio books

• A common concern among EDUCATORS is the readability of websites and Internet content.

eVoc strategy 10: Combine vocabulary learning and social service

•  This final eVoc strategy is a free online vocabulary game, Free Rice that has attracted millions of users, young and old. We believe it offers an opportunity to promote students' engagement with words while contributing to the social good.

This is a link to the article I got all this information from : http://www.readingrockets.org/article/10-ways-use-technology-build-vocabulary

This section highlights two online tools that provide just-in-time support while reading. Students can develop their strategic learning repertoire as they customize their own collection of supports.

• Rather than using print dictionaries or asking the teacher, students can learn to use online dictionaries and thesauri. When they have access to WORD HELP on demand, at the point of need, both monolingual (Reinking & Rickman, 1990) and bilingual (Yoshii, 2006) students tend to use them more often than print references and improve their understanding. Many of these Internet-based tools are free (they vary in difficulty, so try out different applications to determine the best fit for your students).
• Two popular free online dictionaries/thesauri are Reference.com and Merriam-Webster. Tools expressly designed for students include Word Central from Merriam-Webster , Back in School from Dictionary.com, and Yahoo Kids! American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language.

Reading widely and deeply is important for vocabulary development and reading comprehension. These two strategies help increase students' volume of reading and, indirectly, their incidental word learning (Cunningham & Stanovich, 2001; Nagy & Herman, 1985).

This article is filled with a ton of fun filled actives.  There is a ton of links and I will be using this in my classroom.  I have used some of the strategies myself in my college years and found that they had value to using them. Wordle.net was a fun way to use vocabulary words or even sight words. At the beginning of the year it would be a great way for the students to get to know their classmates.  They could go on a hunt for familiar traits and when they put them in a wordle.net it forms this beautiful piece of vocabulary.  

I have used National Geographic kids in the labs at my times at Arlington Baptist College.  It was a great too the students loved it. 

The digital vocabulary field trip sounds like it would be exciting. There is a ton of information on this website that can lend itself to great teaching. You just have to use it!

Using a virtual field trip

All school districts are able to go on field trips.  They can become costly for parents and the school districts.  They can become time consuming for the classroom teachers as well.  Then there is the added stress of the parents coming along for extra chaperons. What if there were an option we could go to an African Safari in Kindergarten when we are learning about animal habits or to compare the cold climate of Alaskan polar bears?  Well that would be possible with the helpful aid of a virtual field trip.

This is all possible with the help of books and the internet. This could be made possible as a individualized activity or a group activity. The possibilities are endless. The article gave about 13 different places that you could travel to in one second! You could literally take a trip to the White House or go along with the Space Shuttle. This website gave a printable to help while your students were using the field trip activities. The printable included were from rating their experiences to adding their travels to a world map.  Then the students could do a writing activity about what they experienced.  This is a fun and exciting way to learn.

I would definitely be using this website and this idea in my classroom.  I did this idea while I was in college and LOVED it!  I can see how it could benefit every style of learning. No student likes to read out of a book and take a test over what they have learned.  Providing learning in an engaging and a cooperative style you are allowing so much more learning and I do believe that they will remember what they did and saw for a lifetime.  Leaning can be fun!

This is the link to the website http://teach123-school.blogspot.com/2012/10/virtual-field-trips.html

A Flipped Classsroom

What is a flipped classroom? A flipped classroom basically is when you give the material you are teaching your students the night before so when the students return the next day to class they are already familiar with the material and can dig right in to the meat of the lesson. 

This article discusses ways to incorporate a flipped idea into an everyday classroom.  It gives examples for ways to use it in almost every grade level and every subject area.  For example: Physical Education when a coach is frustrated when he spends too much time on  telling the students to settle down instead they can just jump into the fun of the Physical Education. They would already know the valuable skills needed to do the lesson the night before and when they get to the gym they are ready to start to have fun.This article gives another example for woodworking: since many students may not be as familiar with woodworking and the tools used in it it would be a great way to introduce the tools used in it.  It would be a great way to teach the proper way to use the tools so safety would be the used in when the students got to use them.  It would allow that time would not be taken out of the instructional time and students would be able to get more various project completed in the same amount of time. 

Another example given in the article was in an third grade classroom, it stated that if a student needed extra attention a teacher could use it for instruction instead of giving it at home it could be used in a center or a individualized format.  A student could replay how many times they needed to in order to understand how to do the task.  That would allow the teacher to help other students .
  
I see the benefits of using this method.  I have used this method while I was in college. I would use it as a center and for individualized instruction if needed.  It would be a great asset for those students with disabilities or those who work faster than other (the possibilities are endless!) This is a great teaching tool!  It doesn't  have to be limited to just at home use.  Not all students have access to the internet or a computer.  So, unless if my classroom becomes equipped with ipads or tablets for my students to take home I will not be using the at home version.  But, I will be using it in the center or individualized aspect. I do love the idea!

To read further about this subject this is the link:  http://www.edutopia.org/blog/flipping-the-non-flippable-classes-jon-bergmann