Overview. Student Tools

Transcription

1 : I n t e g r a t e d R e a d i n g T o o l s Overview This document describes how to utilize the tools and resources in the Classworks integrated reading activities to maximize instructional benefits for students and teachers. Student Tools For success in the 21 st century, students must interact with texts that are complex and challenging and that spur readers to develop habits of close and careful analysis. We provide tools to assist students with building meaning and to ensure that they are able to analyze and synthesize information in the text, cite evidence, and defend their answers. Dictionary: Students can use the dictionary tool to view definitions of words and for pronunciation of individual words. This offers students the opportunity to build meaning and understanding of new words introduced within the text. Highlighter: Students have access to a highlighter tool with multiple colors. Students can use it to highlight important points in the text or to practice specific skills such as identifying key ideas and details. They can also use the highlighter tool to identify story elements such as setting, characters, problem, and solution a different color can be used for each element Curriculum Advantage User Training 1

2 8.2.2 C L A S S W O R K S J O B A I D Student tools, continued Sticky Note: Students can use this tool to record and save ideas or to show evidence for answers. They can type their thoughts about the text and pin them in different locations throughout the text, referring back to the note at a later time. Since many new assessments require students to answer multiple choice questions then enter text to explain their choice, they can use the sticky note to defend their answer and pin it by their choice. tool. Help: The help button provides video instructions on how to use each Audio: By default, Classworks enables the audio feature to allow all students to hear the passage read aloud. This tool can be used to model the correct fluency for each passage as well as help struggling readers understand and comprehend each passage. Teachers have the option to disable audio for students through the Edit User menu for each student. See pg. 5 for directions on how to disable the audio. Undo: This tool allows for students to reverse the deletion of a note or any of the erase all functions (see below). Erase: Students can choose to erase all highlights, all notes, or erase all markings within the passage. This tool is especially helpful when using a passage for repeated readings to clear prior annotations. 2 User Training Guide 2015 Curriculum Advantage

3 Teacher tools To provide teachers with additional information needed to review, analyze, and make instructional decisions, we have created teacher pages for each activity. These pages have the same tools that are located on the student pages, but also includes tools to support the teacher in helping students reach high levels of reading achievement. Each teacher passage page includes both the Lexile and Flesch-Kincaid reading levels. Passage sources are listed at the bottom of each page. Teachers can use these sources to promote digital literacy by having students use the sources for additional research about the topic. These would also be helpful for informational texts in science and social studies to teach reading across the curriculum. *Page sources can also be found on the student page Curriculum Advantage User Training 3

4 8.2.2 C L A S S W O R K S J O B A I D Teacher tools, continued Multiple choice items: Each multiple choice item includes rationales for each distractor. Teachers can use the rationales to gain insight into students' thinking and misconceptions as a guide for instruction. For example, if a student is consistently identifying a supporting detail as a main idea, the teacher can use that information to plan for individualized instruction. Teachers can also use the rationales to teach students how to eliminate answer choices. Open Ended items: Teachers are given a list of possible responses for the questions. Working with the class, the teacher may want to use possible responses to build exemplars for both drawn and written responses. This sets expectations for students and builds self evaluation skills. 4 User Training Guide 2015 Curriculum Advantage

5 Launch Content This screen is accessed by clicking on the name of the activity within an Integrated Reading unit within the Teacher Module. The Start button will launch the activity as a student would see it. Fluency Passage: Teachers can launch a PDF with the passage formatted for fluency. These passages provide teachers with the ability to complete an informal running record over texts to determine a student's accuracy and rate of words per minute. Teachers may also use the passages for daily fluency practice, having students partner up to see how many words they read correctly in a minute. Offline Activities: Clicking this button launches a PDF with the passage and the questions for printing. These can be beneficial for students who do not have computer or internet access to complete activities for homework or during class if needed. Teacher Page: This button launches the teacher page which contains all the teacher tools and resources. Disable Audio Step Action 1 Click on the name of the student. The Edit User screen will appear. 2 In the User Configuration section, deselect the box that enables the audio for Integrated Reading. 3 Click Save Curriculum Advantage User Training 5