Blended Learning: Preparing for Common Core Assessments
Students nowadays are all thumbs. With texting as their main form of communication, what else would we expect? While students are comfortable navigating through various technologies, they often lack basic computer skills.
These tough computer skills are the exact skills they will be expected to know on the computer-based Common Core assessments PARCC and Smarter Balanced. In a 2012 study, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) found that only about one-quarter of our 8th and 12th graders are at a proficient level or higher in computer-based writing.
So how can teachers help students meet these technology literacy goals? Blended learning.
With an effective blended learning approach, students are practicing real-world technology skills while also employing skills they will be held accountable for on assessments.
These assessment questions are not your run-of-the-mill multiple choices and fill-in-the-blanks. Students will be challenged with flashy features such as dragging and dropping, highlighting and annotating, editing text, drawing, a.k.a. digital manipulatives. Here are examples of some of these manipulatives in action. With effective and engaging online learning content, students will gain the confidence they need when developing and practicing these new skills.
Limited access or screen time overload? Match your blended learning environment to your students’ learning needs.
Here are visual examples of successful blended learning models that can support students with diverse needs. The whole class doesn’t have to use technology at the same time. In some cases, centers can be used in rotational models to provide additional access for slower typers. The individual, self-paced work can give teachers opportunities to pull small groups for conferencing while others read quietly.
By building up technology usage over time, students will feel less overwhelmed when it comes time for the real deal.
Where do I start? Engage students with relevant topics.
Remember, technology isn’t enough to spark student engagement: they also need to understand the relevance of a lesson or topic. “Relevant” is somewhat of a buzzword throughout the Common Core State Standards, with students often needing to display their own abilities in determining relevance.
Teachers must model relevance effectively in order for students to enhance these skills themselves. When using informational texts, try to pose a key question that can spark interest and discussion before or after the reading. Students can also be encouraged to consider multiple viewpoints, which is a skill they will be expected to display on the PARCC and Smarter Balanced Assessments.
How can ThinkCERCA help?
With ThinkCERCA, we make blended learning accessible and engaging. Our Common Core-aligned differentiated lessons not only make online learning personalized but also allow for a rich classroom environment where all levels of learners' input is valued.
Lessons include authentic texts with articles that explore relevant topics across the curriculum such as video games, bullying, genetics, and civil rights. At the heart of each lesson is a debatable key question, promoting critical thinking and evidence-based reasoning. As students explore this question, they are highlighting evidence, clicking formative assessment responses, dragging and dropping the pieces of their argument, and typing a formal argument-- sound familiar? Here are some examples of our manipulatives in action!
For a day with limited technology access, we provide Minilessons that introduce key skills and concepts of the Common Core, which can be taught 1:1, in small groups, or to the whole-class. There are also QuickCERCAs that include short informational texts and videos with a 5-question automated assessment.
At ThinkCERCA we like to consider ourselves your one-stop shop for all your literacy and blended learning needs. With our rigorous, individualized lessons, teachers share a common literacy language, classrooms witness academic growth, and (most importantly) students enjoy learning.
