Students and I are prepping for PARCC.
Yesterday I took a practice online test using an outdated platform. The tools were very clumsy. Tomorrow I'll take the test using a different platform and I expect the tools to work better. Let's see.
As students and I go through the paper practice tests, we're talking a lot about strategy including how to organize your scratch paper, ways to read each problem, and how to think about choosing the right answer.
I've alerted them that students who haven't done as well as others in the past sometimes rush, and that's this is a test where taking your time and checking over your work helps. Since there is a limit however, I think students should do each problem first, then go back and check over their answers so that they don't run out of time. Last year only a few ran out of time.
As we try problem after problem, we're reviewing all the math we covered this year which is a lot of math.
On Thursday students will try out their skill with the practice test. I'll help them out. Then on Friday, and a few teaching days after that, we'll practice with the paper packet more. Then the week before the test we'll spend some time revisiting all the computation students have learned and practiced after they take the ELA PARCC tests. That should warm them up for the following week's math tests.
Students are reacting well to the test prep, and I'm happy we have the time for review.
