As with any school building anticipating testing, you can feel the tension starting to rise. Next week our high school credit courses Algebra I and Geometry will test, following with our other math courses during the week of the 21st. We normally spend about two weeks (really not as long as it sounds because of an alternating A, B schedule), but this year we have found ourselves in a crunch and may not have much time for review.
We all have faith in our students and know that they will do well!!!
I did have a revelation this week! For Virginia we have new styles of questions that will be counted towards our scores starting this week. These questions move our students away from the traditional multiple choice and more towards more rigorous standards. Fill in the blank, multiple responses, are just to name a few. Unfortunately, parents come to me with "What can I do with my kid at home?" and there just isn't that many resources out there, since things are still relatively new.
So I realized that I have an option! We use a test creation software called Examview. It allows you the option of multiple response, numeric response, and short answer formats. We already had our released SOL questions as a bank so I just took an old test and "plopped" it in if that is an appropriate response :). From there I deleted old SOL that they no longer need to know, and added or tweak other questions to now be multiple response or open ended. It was a great way to utilize a resource that might have been otherwise wasted. Now my teachers can either print the "modified" released tests (BLAH!) or use them with smart response clickers, or with our online forum!
We shall see how things turn out!
I would say that parents looking for something "mathy" to do with their kids at home should look into games, particularly mathematically rich games. Games help teach logical reasoning skills, pattern finding, and some resilience necessary to be successful. They are also a great way for parents and their children to engage in healthy play with each other.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree! Our problem is, we are finding that middle school parents (well and not really just them) aren't wanting to spend time with their kids with games. Any suggestions on how to get parents of older kids to get into the games?
ReplyDeleteThis is the problem really => "aren't wanting to spend time with their kids"
ReplyDeleteIt won't matter what activity you give parents to give to their students if the parents aren't involved with the activity. Otherwise, the question is really, "What can I give to my kids to occupy their time?" Sigh. We have the exact same problem at our school. Many parents are involved, some are just not.