Making Sense of the PARCC “Tech Prep” Tools (Part 1)

ELA

It seems that there are plenty of tools to help you prepare your students for the demands of online testing such as PARCC but what tools should you use and when?  Can any of these tools be implemented into the daily curriculum of your class?  Should these tools be used for teaching computer/tech skills OR should they be used specifically to prepare for THE test?  I try to make sense of this “stuff” for my technology classroom and how to connect with classroom teachers in this post.  I’m not saying I have the answers, I cannot even say how these methods help students prepare or perform on the tests…they haven’t happened yet, but this is how I’m making sense of them.

Recommendation #1 – take the practice test yourself.  Find the grade/subject you teach and take the test closest to your course so you know what is expected and how it works.

http://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/

                There are two things teachers will notice when taking a practice test. 

1. Types of questions being asked (what content students need to know)
2. What technology skills they need to be able to complete a task 

I will focus on technology skills in this post because that’s what I teach.  

Different online tools will be helpful for preparing for the new content assessed and the skills needed to complete.

Click and Drag aka Drag and Drop

                Practice tests ask students to find statements in boxes and click on a box and drag it to another location and drop it.  Some students will want to click on it once to select it but actually you have to click, hold in the mouse button, drag, and then release the mouse when the box is moved to the proper location. For students to practice this skill visit:

This onlinepractice allows students to practice highlighting and inserting text in a sample word processor.

Features that are holiday themed on www.abcya.com also allow students to practice

Drag and drop features

http://www.abcya.com/kids_make_a_gingerbread_house.htm

Drag to highlight features

http://www.abcya.com/christmas_word_search.htm

In Ohio Infohio resources are available for many schools/districts/communities.  Using http://www.infohio.org/students/er/grade/gk5 and choosing BookFlix Puzzlers will allow students to practice the drag and drop feature and allow students to practice comprehension after reading a story.

Multiple Choice/Dropdown lists

Google Forms: Sample

                       Make your own see video 

Schoology Tests/Quizzes

Join sample course: 3J9FZ-J4R4K

Make assessments see video

Scroll to see entire page

A lot of this will depend on screen resolution.  Have students practice visiting webpages and use the scroll wheel, click on the scroll bar and drag and use the mouse pad such as on a Chromebook. 

It is important that they can click the scroll bar and drag the scroll as well as use the scroll wheel.  I had a student tell me they couldn’t view the entire page because the mouse was broken…the scroll was broken but the mouse still allowed for scrolling.  Students need to be able to do simple trouble-shooting while testing.

Keying Text

Schoology Discussion Posts

Google Forms

Microsoft Word Text Boxes – using text boxes is important because the tests are not traditional word processors, they are boxes and windows.

Keyboarding

www.typingweb.com/tutor

Dance MatTyping

Videos

Online Computer Literacy Practice: Watch a Video

YouTube www.youtube.com

Digital Video Collection Infohio users

Using An LMS

The most powerful tech tool in my classroom is Schoology.  Schoology is a Learning Management System (LMS) that connects with other multi-media to help me deliver coursework, collect assignments, and manage individual students within a course.  

Since our school uses Google Drive and has accounts setup for all students in grades 6 – 12, and all teachers have Google Drive accounts too, the fact that Schoology connects to Google Drive as an app is HUGE! Previous tip shows you how!

I find with many sources I have information readily available about what tech teachers can use in the classroom but rarely do they show or tell us how to use it.  We look at it, say that’s cool, save the email or resource or pin it to a wall of sorts and never really organize it.  Or better yet (sarcastic tone), we are so excited we create “free” accounts on every service, do a lesson here or there but never really blend the assignments.  Sometimes we don’t go back to the projects or reuse them because they are hard to organize. For that reason alone is why I use Schoology.  Schoology allows me to organize all the other resources (tech or not tech) into one location and deliver those resources to students AND collect assignments back from students.  I can organize my lessons, align units, lessons, assignments to standards and use all the tech I want.  Now listen, I don’t work for Schoology, they didn’t pay me, and well maybe someone that runs their Twitter page might know I exist LOL. To convince you to start using Schoology in your classroom may take more than one blog post, and I’m OK with that.  But honestly this is one account you should go create now if you haven’t already.  And login to it if you created it but never used it.

To get started, create an account.

Then create a course

From here you can organize your course.  I use the free version of Schoology in my classroom so some of the utilities are not available to me but I have all I need to stay organized.  Since we use Google Drive I have my students create their own Schoology account using their Google Drive login information.  Then I give them the course access code to join my class.  

https://www.schoology.com/learning-management-system.php#basic

Tech Tip: Recording Your Screen

Have you ever wanted to show students how to do something but don't have time to create an entire how-to video or even find one?  If you have Smart Technologies Smart Notebook installed you can use the Smart tools to record an activity on your computer.  You don't have to use your Smartboard/Smart projector.

Below you will see a video I created showing how to access the Smart Recorder.

This method is good for last minute absences where you need to show a sub what to do.  Record it on your laptop and post. You can always go back later and add a voice over or make it pretty but this is a quick way to record steps for absent students to post on Schoology or send to Google Drive.   Ever considered Flipping your Class?  Show your students what to practice at home, then do the assignment in class together. 

This technique is another way to show tech support what is going on.  If you keep doing an action and not sure of a result and Print Screen doesn't seem to show the problem, consider recording a 5 - 15 second video and attach it to your ticket so they can see what's going on.

Happy Recording.

Connecting your Google Account to Schoology

Start by logging in to Schoology.  If you do not have an account yet you can Sign Up quickly and easily.

Click on Resources at the top of the page. Then select Apps.

 Select Install Apps

Then check the box next to Google Drive (or any other app you would like). 

Click Install button.

Approve authorization

Then connect.  After you connect you will need to login to Google unless you are logged in already in another tab. 

Then viola.  You can pull resources from Google to your Schoology account to share with students or show your students and they can submit Google files in Schoology.