Isn't it hard to believe that another year is quickly coming
to a close? Well, to support students in
preparing for end of year assessments, we have decided to bring in some
non-traditional approaches to running final exam review sessions. These activities are fun and highly engaging
for all (including the teacher)!
Why not let students lead the review activities? Why not provide them with some ownership in
the review process? Why not bring in
academic games? How about having
students create game-like venues of their own to review? What about asking kids how they would like to
have the reviews conducted--they might surprise you with some very creative
ideas? Ever think about having students create review test questions for
classmates to answer?
To "start the ball rolling", here are some
websites with suggestions:
TOOLS FOR TEACHERS--you
will find a wide variety of ideas:
rubric generators, quizstar, academic skills builders, PBL (project
based learning) checklists, kid videos (support for including kid video
projects), and much more. Everything is
free.
FAKE FACEBOOK
-- I must say that this is still one of my favorites. Almost everyone is involved in some way or another with this
social medium so it is familiar territory.
What about having students create conversations with famous historical
figures? One student could be the
historical figure and a second student could take the role of a contemporary of
that figure OR be a student from 2013 with many unanswered questions?
BRAINFLIPS--here
students may join study groups or create them.
They may create flash cards or use ones already available. Take the tour and see how the site might make
test review less overwhelming for students.
PURPOSE GAMES--many
of the games already up are related to education. However, students (or teachers) can create
their own games as well. Such a site
might inspire even the strugglers to actively take part in the academic game
creation and this should lead to these students doing better than expected on
the examination. Of course, the site is
also free:)
SUPER
TEACHER TOOLS -- this site does charge; however, if you like game shows,
but don't want to spend hours creating them, this may be the site for you. There also other features like a classroom
seating organizer, and a randomizer app (students never know when they will be
called on in class---suspense with accountability).
MOTIVATE
YOUR STUDENTS -- last but not least, here are some gentle reminders on
motivating students. The vast majority
wants to do well in school, but sometimes feel lost. The tips here are reminders on why each of us
became teachers:)
Last, but not least, here are some other approaches to
support students in preparing for any exam.
1. Let them use their binder/notebooks for the test. If they have been meticulously maintaing them throughout the year, this would be a well-deserved reward.
2. Assign key sections to small groups and then have them conduct the review sessions for the class. Let them be teachers for part of the period.
3. Have students in either small groups or with a partner create multiple choice questions for the class. Teachers can use those questions (after being checked for accuracy) in a class competition with the class being broke up into teams with no more than 3 or 4 members in each. Offer class participation points to winners.
4. Assign groups of 4 the task of summarizing key points of a topic in posters. Students will then explain to the class how their poster captures all the necessary sections of the lesson. The rest of the lass will rate the posters and the presentations for accuracy.
5. Provide students with a mock pre-test. Let them work with a partner in completing it. This would be especially helpful for English language learners since they would have several opportunities to process both the academic language and the content before the actual test. Students could then as a class review the answers and discuss any issues that surfaced in taking the mock test.
1. Let them use their binder/notebooks for the test. If they have been meticulously maintaing them throughout the year, this would be a well-deserved reward.
2. Assign key sections to small groups and then have them conduct the review sessions for the class. Let them be teachers for part of the period.
3. Have students in either small groups or with a partner create multiple choice questions for the class. Teachers can use those questions (after being checked for accuracy) in a class competition with the class being broke up into teams with no more than 3 or 4 members in each. Offer class participation points to winners.
4. Assign groups of 4 the task of summarizing key points of a topic in posters. Students will then explain to the class how their poster captures all the necessary sections of the lesson. The rest of the lass will rate the posters and the presentations for accuracy.
5. Provide students with a mock pre-test. Let them work with a partner in completing it. This would be especially helpful for English language learners since they would have several opportunities to process both the academic language and the content before the actual test. Students could then as a class review the answers and discuss any issues that surfaced in taking the mock test.
The bottom line here is to build student confidence in going
into the final exam (or any exam). Keep
it light, but academic, and you will see grades improve on the actual final
assessment.
Hope your students like the sites:)
Denise
Please "friend us" on FACEBOOK as ELL TEACHER PROS and follow us on Twitter as @ell_teacherpros.
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