English II End-Of-Course Assessment & Review

TEACHERS & ADMINISTRATORS APPROVE!

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  My students were challenged by the reading passages, and the questions seemed to convey the complexity of the MS MAAP resources released by MDE. I was pleased that students who usually felt confident and nonchalant about testing preparation were forced to slow down and be more attentive in order to process the information presented. However, the passages were engaging enough that most students were positive about the content which fueled efforts over the extended testing time. The main complaint of those who disengaged or began rushing related to students having to scroll to the bottom of the text to read the questions. In most platforms, the student has a text on the left side of their screen to freely scroll and adjust font size with questions presented on the right side of the screen in a fixed manner. Scrolling up and down affected concentration and eventually led to some students clicking answer choices without re-reading the text or verifying evidence. Relying on memory of what they read or forgetting the terminology of the question likely reduced the projected performance of several students. However, I firmly believe that the review videos were the biggest advantage of using the JumpStart English II End of Course program. I do present and review many questions on other benchmarks and classroom assessments in whole group and small group formats, but this was the first time that each student was able to click a button and hear an explanation of every question that they missed. My teacher dashboard only showed the number of videos watched, but I adapted the Algebra I tracking sheet made by Mrs. Jessica Johnson so that students could mark items missed for each standard and check off the video after watching. While they listened to review videos via headphones and earbuds, I was able to monitor screens encouraging on task computer use as well as work with individual students when the video left some confusion. The majority of questions asked during video review days were about why an incorrect answer was not correct. In several cases, digging deeper to explain why their chosen answer was incorrect led to clarity for the student and allowed me to correct minor misconceptions that potentially apply to several items students might see on their actual state test. My students were focused because they were only listening to video explanations that related to what they missed and what they needed to understand. That level of individualization was powerful! Several students were disappointed with their initial performance level, but the review video process increased their confidence and allowed me to provide micro bursts of personalized instruction that were far more impactful than my traditional benchmark reviews.