According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Movement increases the heart rate and stimulates brain function, which facilitates a child’s ability to learn,” so here are three “Get Up and Move” activities that I implemented in my classroom. 

[Note: Some of these activities are included in Maneuvering the Middle’s All Access subscription or can be purchased here, but I am going to explain how you might prepare for and execute these activities if you are not a middle school math teacher.]

Math Review Game: FLYSWATTER

The flyswatter game was around when I was a student – I remember playing it in my Spanish class!  Students love this game, and they ask for it daily.  Since it is a very low lift, I would use it as an incentive for finished work.

PLANNING

Project around 10 answers on the board.  (I don’t recommend writing the answers on the whiteboard with dry erase markers because they will get rubbed off.)  You need two flyswatters.  Tape a line on the floor parallel to the board, about five feet from the board.  This is where students will stop to hear their problem.  

The flyswatter game works with problems that are fluency-based.  We are going for speed here.  Here is a suggestion: fraction, decimal, and percent equivalents.  You could project these answers: 40%, 25%, 0.6, ½, etc…

EXECUTION

Divide students into two groups.  Boys versus girls is my go-to. They should be in 2 lines facing the board.  Set the expectation that you will not call out a problem until it is silent.  When the first two opponents are up, you could say, “Two fifths!”  The student who hit 40% first would win and stay in the game, and the other student would take a seat.  The fly swatters are passed on.  The winner would go to the back of the line, and the next two students would be up.  You keep playing until there is one player left.

Math Review Game:  SCAVENGER HUNT

This is by far my favorite activity.  You can read more details on how to execute a scavenger hunt in this post. It’s self-checking, and you could pull or work with a small group during this activity.

MATH REVIEW GAME: Cake Walk

PLANNING 

Similar to a cake walk, students will be up and walking in a circle, so consider that when arranging desks/chairs and/or giving directions for how you want them to walk. I had tables and would push them to the side of the room and arrange chairs in a large circle. Each chair needs to be numbered. 

Have your problems ready on a slideshow. Students will need scratch paper and a clipboard to write on.

EXECUTION

Play music while students walk around the chairs. Stop the music, students sit, and you project a problem. Students then work on the problem. Use a random number generator to pick the chair number. The student sitting in that chair gets a prize (could be bonus points on a test, free homework pass, sticker, piece of candy) if their work is correct. This activity is great for review before a unit test!

If you don’t have time to plan something special for students to get out of their seats, but you can feel the restlessness in the classroom, then you can still have students get up and move!  You can have students find a partner, work out a problem, and then move to find a new partner for the next problem. 

Math Concepts for Kinesthetic Learning

These concepts are perfect for students to use their body to act out. If you have more ideas, please comment below! 

1. Positive slope, negative slope, undefined, zero
2. Angles – acute, obtuse, 90 degrees, 180 degrees
3. Transformations – translate (slide), rotations, reflections, dilations (greater than 1? Act out e x p a n d i n g, less than 1? Act out shrinking)
4. Adding and subtracting decimals (act out lining up your buttons on a shirt with lining up decimals for adding and subtracting)
5. Coordinate plane (body is the y axis, arms are the x axis, negative space creates the quadrants)
6. Inequalities – arms for the greater than and less than signs
7. Types of Functions – linear, U for quadratic, and exponential
8. Parallel and perpendicular lines
9. Types of solutions – arms crossed for one solution, parallel arms for no solution, and arms on top of each other for infinite solutions)

How do you get students moving in your classroom?  

Check out this related post: Turn Any Worksheet Into a Math Activity

Maneuvering the Middle has been writing and publishing blog posts for almost a decade! This post was originally published in 2016 and has been updated for clarity and relevance.

The post 3 Math Review Games to Get Students Moving appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

For Texas Teachers

The STAAR (State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness) is moving online with a variety of new open-ended question types. Maneuvering the Middle has designed a bank of questions to prepare middle school math teachers for these changes.

This post is part 2 in our series about the STAAR redesign. To learn about all of the changes, go back and read last week’s post. 

Today we are going to be chatting about our STAAR Question Bank and how you can use it in your math classroom. 

Using the Question Bank

Every classroom is different – different students, different learning styles, and different class lengths. We sought to create a resource that can be flexible for teachers to use based on their students’ needs. 

Recommendations:

• Gradually work through the questions together in class – Don’t assign students 20 STAAR new question types for homework. Testing can be stressful for students, and their confidence needs to be built not in isolation. 
• Allow questions to encourage discussion and helpful clarification – Assigning the question bank as an independent assignment can result in missed opportunities for students to ask about the functionality of the online assessment.
• Select and use the questions your students need the most – The resource can still be effective even if your students don’t work on every single problem. 

Classroom Routine Idea

I would recommend spending around 10 minutes on preparing students for the new question types by following this routine.

• Project a question and provide a paper copy to students (makes a great warm-up)
• Allow students a few minutes to work through the question on their own. Circulate and observe.
• Come back together to discuss solutions, strategies, and misconceptions. Provide feedback to students. 

The STAAR Question Bank is intended to look exactly like what they will see on the STAAR test, but it doesn’t have the technology functionality. Fortunately, TEA has provided a STAAR online practice test (just click the green “Sign In” button at the bottom of the screen). Choose a day before STAAR to allow students to take a practice test where they can play with the functionality of the new question types and you can circulate and answer questions.

Strategies and Support for New Question Types

This is not exhaustive, but here is a list of things I would point out to students about the new question types. 

1. Equation Editor 
   • Allow students time in class to look at examples of keypads and ask any questions about unfamiliar keys.
   • Ask questions such as – How would you handle a fraction? An equation or inequality? An exponent?
   • When a question requires a fraction or exponent, pull up an equation editor sampler question to look at how certain functions appear.
2. Graphing
   • In most instances, students need to be able to identify correct points and not actually create the line aspect of the graph themselves; so in your practice, focus on discrete points and being able to test (x, y) values that are true for their scenario.
   • After they have chosen points, ask – does the resulting line or shape make sense/seem reasonable? (Example: the slope should be negative but their points created a positive slope)
   • Students will need to carefully observe the scales of the x and y-axis before creating the graphs.
3. Number Line
   • Highlight the differences in the button options (open, filled, left, right) as the buttons might all look similar and details can be easy to overlook.
   • Remind students that there are two steps to creating a number line – selecting a button and then dragging the circle to the correct point on the number line. 
   • After the students create the number line, have them select a point in the solution set to check their answer.
4. Inline Choice
   • Encourage students to re-read their final selections as sometimes choosing an option mid sentence can interrupt their train of thought.
5. Hot Spot
   • Be sure they read to understand exactly what detail they are looking for (is it one point, two?).
   • These are like multiple choice questions, but instead of A, B, C, D, they are choosing points on the graph.
   • Remind students that they are often selecting more than one single point. 
6. Drag and Drop
   • Read to see if options can be used more than once.
   • Treat these like multiple choice questions and apply any same strategies – process of elimination or  “plug in” choices to see if true 
7. Match Table Grid
   • Take time first to read columns and understand what they are identifying, sorting, or classifying each statement by to provide guidance in how they read through each example
   • Highlight that an answer must be selected in each row and not to leave a row unmarked
8. Multiselect 
   • How many should I choose? Which are obviously incorrect? 

STAAR Test Prep Unit + Question Bank

The STAAR Redesign Question Bank serves as a gradual practice where kids are becoming familiar with the question types over time. In addition, they are benefitting from spiral review over the readiness standards. 

The test prep units, instead, provides a more intensive and immersive content review organized by unit concepts.

Teachers could combine the test prep unit together with the STAAR question bank. In both resources, there is more content than there are days to prepare, so teachers will need to prioritize what to focus on. But hey, that is what data is for! 

What questions do you have about the STAAR Redesign Question Bank?

The post Utilizing Our STAAR Question Bank appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

For Texas Teachers

If you teach middle school math in the great state of Texas, then this is for you! The STAAR (State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness) has made some pretty significant changes starting in the 2022-2023 school year which means your students will be taking a different test than in years prior. Let’s check out what the TEA STAAR redesign has in store for you.

This is probably not your first time to hear this information. I imagine you will be attending (or have already attended) some professional developments regarding STAAR changes, but this post will serve as a general synopsis of what the changes are and how Maneuvering the Middle will aid in your preparation. Come back next week where I will give more tips on how to use this new resource effectively with your students. 

Why is STAAR changing?

STAAR is changing to better align with how students are learning in the classroom. According to TEA, “Classroom practices that over-use multiple choice questions… can get small, short-term gains on STAAR, but evidence has shown they don’t lead to high performance or long-term mastery.”

What is Changing?

House Bill 3906 (first time I have reference a specific law on this blog, I believe) requires these changes to improve the STAAR (not all of the changes are listed):

• 75% multiple choice question cap
• Transition to 100% online testing

75% multiple choice question cap means there will be 25% (or more) free response type of questions that will be NEW question types. This means your students are moving away from filling in the griddable and will need exposure to the new question types. This will allow students more ways to show their understanding. 

• Equation editor – Students can write responses in the form of fractions, expressions, equations or inequalities
• Graphing – Students select points, draw lines, drag bar graphs and more to create different types of graphs
• Number Line – Students select a point, an open or closed circle, and a direction arrow to demonstrate a solution set on a number line
• Inline Choice – Students select the correct answer(s) from a drop-down menu
• Hot Spot – Students respond by selecting one or more specific areas of a graphic
• Drag and Drop – Students evaluate given options (words, numbers, symbols, etc) and chooses which response(s) to drag to a given area (a diagram, map, chart, etc)
• Match Table Grid – Students match statements or objects to different categories presented in a table grid
• Multiselect – Students can select more than one correct answer from a set of possible answers

If you are feeling a little anxious reading this list, you aren’t alone. Let’s take a collective deep breath together… ahhhhhhh. (Did you read that as screaming? No? Me neither.)

Source: TEA Website

Maneuvering the Middle’s STAAR Question Bank

Our curriculum team has been working hard behind the scenes to prepare a question bank with a variety of practice problems presented in the new question type formats.  Your students get exposure to the new question types while reviewing the year’s content all at once. Win – win! 

While reviewing the content is of primary importance to encourage students’ success in answering questions correctly, we believe practicing the new question type formats achieves two main goals:

1. To relieve students’ anxiety that inevitably comes when seeing something presented in a new way. 
2. To increase success on all question types – even multiple choice formats. Many of the new question type formats require deeper thinking that can translate to success on the multiple choice questions.

How did we create a Question Bank?

When creating this STAAR Question Bank, we researched and became familiar with the new question types based on the released materials and practice tests.

Every readiness standard was studied and their historical trends were analyzed. Based on our findings, we asked ourselves, “What question types would the standard naturally lend itself to?”

• Open-ended questions or multiple choice questions with a single value answer could be assessed as an equation editor on the new test
• Vocabulary concepts, comparisons, or procedures could be assessed as inline choice
• Sorting or classifying concepts might be assess as a match table grid
• Questions that lend themselves to multiple follow-up questions, observations or more than one correct representation/answer might easily be asked as multi-select 

Grab Your STAAR Question Bank Resource

Next week will be talking about HOW to use the STAAR Question Bank in your classroom, so be sure to come back!

Texas teachers, how are you feeling about these changes to the TEA STAAR redesign?

The post TEA STAAR Redesign appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

What’s Included

There is SO much included that it means you have options. No review day has to look the same. If your students crave variety, this test review makes it easy. If your students crave routine, then pick your favorite and do that for 10 straight days.

TEACHER GUIDES + Warm Ups

The quick teacher guide hits the standards included, overviews the vocabulary, and gives you a few tips for misconceptions your students might have.  These are super helpful for co-teachers, any tutors your campus might be utilizing, and any time you are enlisting the help of other teachers.  

The warm-ups include open-ended questions that are aligned to the content for the day.  If you don’t have time for a warm-up, then you could use them as an exit ticket or as a quick assessment.

CHEAT SHEETS

The cheat sheets might be my favorite part! There are three differentiated levels that can be incorporated in so many ways.  Here are a few that I have heard from teachers:

• Blow them up on your poster maker at school and hang them for a reference.
• Print and laminate a class set.
• Send them home when parents ask for materials.
• Set the timer for four minutes and have students jot down everything they recall about the concepts, and then discuss as a class.

Make sure to grab your test prep cheat sheet freebie!

CLASS ACTIVITIES

You have an abundance of activities to choose from and utilize within your classroom.  For the most part, the activities require only card stock and some lamination, if you choose, so the prep is quick and easy, and the engagement is high!

QUICK CHECKS

Lastly, the quick checks have been written to address the depth and complexity of the standard. Each quick check includes one open-ended response and most include a griddable answer box for students to practice with.  Not only do we need to teach the standards, but we also have to teach problem solving and endurance, as many assessments require hours of concentration and focus. We have also included a Google Forms assessment, so you can gather your students’ data digitally for easy grading.

What Is Covered + Ideas for Structuring Your Class Period

45 Minute Lesson

Quick caveat: Using my suggested pacing for 45 minutes would require 2 days per topic which means you will need 20 school days to review. I personally think that is a long time to review! So you could just do one of the examples below for each topic or do both for a meatier topic.

Day 1 – Topic A (45 minutes)

• Warm Up (5 minutes)
  • Use the warm up to gauge how much instruction is necessary or use it to review the concept (5 minutes)
• Cheat Sheets – Version A (5 minutes)
  • Version A is best for students to reference, version B is great for going over the unit in a succinct way, and version C is perfect for students to do a brain dump. With 45 minutes, I would give students version A and ask them to read it to themselves or with a partner and star or highlight what they still need to internalize. 
• Activity (30 minutes)
  • Perfect for partner work while you pull small groups.

Day 2 – Topic A Continued (45 minutes)

• Quick-Checks (30 minutes)
  • Use half of the time for students to work independently to test their knowledge. Then with the remaining half, put students in partners to finish or complete any problems that were challenging. 
• Feedback/Check (15 minutes)
  • Have students enter their answers digitally and go over any frequently missed questions.

It’s important to keep in mind that there are more resources than you will likely be able to use.  It was designed this way so that you can pick and choose what is best for your students!  Keep in mind that your advanced classes might be fine focusing on the activities and keeping the cheat sheets as a reference.  On the other hand, your bubble classes might benefit from the cheat sheets and reviewing the concepts before the activities.

For that reason, included you will find instructions for use, implementation ideas, sample schedules, and blank pacing guides for your reference.  I know that I really liked reviewing the more difficult concepts upfront and saving the easier concepts for closer to the test.

60 Minute Lesson

• Warm Up (5 minutes)
• Quick Check
  • Assign for homework
• Cheat Sheet Version B (15 minutes)
  • Fill out together as a class
• Activity (30 minutes)
  • You can work with the students you would typically pull during a small group during this time.
• Check Answers (5 minutes)

90-100 Minute Lesson

• Warm Up (5 minutes)
• Go over Warm Up (5 minutes)
• Cheat Sheet Version C (15 minutes)
  • Have students work together to dump out everything they remember about the topic. Have them reference their notebooks or word walls. 
• Activity (30 minutes)
• Quick Checks (30 minutes)
  • Have students put their answers into Kahoot, Quizizz, or Google Forms to gather data over any misconceptions. 
• Check Answers (5 minutes)

Teacher Recommendation

This idea comes from a teacher who shared her schedule below:

• Review homework
  • Quick Check from the night before
• Cheat Sheet
  • Version B as a brain dump, then take notes from Version A
• Activity Stations
• Warm Up was used as the Exit Ticket

Want more ideas for test prep season? You can find them here, here, and here. There are so many ways to structure your test prep unit! How do you structure your test review?

The post How to Use MTM Standardized Test Prep Unit appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

First and foremost, I support best teaching practices, which involve monitoring your students throughout the year, consistently spiraling skills, and striving for high mastery. 

USE DATA TO REVIEW STRATEGICALLY

Look at collective student data and determine the weak spots.

What topic or skill did your students perform lowest on? Let’s say it was percentages. I wouldn’t just make sure there were lots of percent problems on the study guide, I would plan a percent mini lesson. Then I would couple the percent mini lesson with related skills – ratio, unit rate, and proportion problems. 

Look at what is covered on the test

Familiarize yourself with the final or the test. You may or may not actually get to see the test or perhaps you, yourself, write the test. There is a spectrum of how teachers and schools execute finals. But, typically, even state standardized tests will tell you how many questions you can expect from topic A or topic B. 

With this knowledge, you can cross reference what you know is covered heavily with what students need more practice on to create the bulk of your test review.

The bright spots 

For the topics and skills that your students performed better on, spiral those types of practice problems into warm ups and homework the weeks leading up to the exam.

You want students to continue to be exposed, so that no one is caught off guard or misses a fairly easy problem because they forgot one small thing. 

Set Goals to Increase Investment

A simple, low-lift, but very effective way to increase investment is to give students a goal! 

• It can be a score or a certain number of points they will grow. 
• You could even make it a class goal – 80% of students will earn an 80% or higher on the final for example.
• Put this goal somewhere where students can see it visually – on their study guide or on the board and mention it daily as you review.
• You can read the details of how I set goals for my end-of-year test here. 

After the test, celebrate students who reached their goals! Students appreciate recognition – so it can be as small as their names on a bulletin board or as big as a pizza party.

Provide a Study Guide

Study guides are valuable tools for test review! If you are going to the trouble of creating, printing, and distributing study guides, not to mention, collecting and grading them, then they should provide as much value to the student as possible. You want students to actually work on the study guide. Which is a pretty tall order!

Here are a handful of ideas to make your study guide helpful to students:

• The study guide should mimic the test. Similar rigor, similar type problems – don’t give students multiple choice study guides for an open response test.
• Incentivize completing the study guide 
  • You could do this by offering points on a test for completing it, or replacing a missing assignment zero!
  • Give at least 2 days for review. On day 1, students work mostly independently on the study guide with unfinished work for homework. This allowed me time to reteach in small groups. Day 2, play something super fun as a class. A completed study guide was your ticket to play. If your study guide was unfinished, you spent the class period finishing it. 
  • Give students the opportunity to check their answers immediately. Students need to know ASAP whether they are completing skills correctly. You could provide a QR code, a GoFormative type worksheet, or a Google Form.

If you are reviewing a wider range of content, you can utilize our Test Prep Cheat Sheets. Click here to grab them.

Differentiate using Stations and Small Groups

Stations and small groups are perfect for test review days. Here are a few ideas:

Students can rotate using their study guides. Maybe part of their study guide is just a blank box where they show work for what you assigned them on Deltamath or IXL. If your study guide is broken down by skills, the skill where students need the most support is where they rotate to your small group. 

Maneuvering the Middle All Access curriculum has so many hands-on activities that are perfect for stations or small groups – Error analysis, task cards, and actual stations too! 

If I was implementing a test review for midterms tomorrow – I would have one station for skills that most students mastered, a station with me for the lowest performing standards, and one or two stations for students to work collaboratively together either with or without tech. 

How Much Time to Dedicate for the Test Review

There is a sweet spot – look at your scope and sequence and your data. If there are three standards that require a reteach, then you may need 3 review days to cover those mini-lessons. Then ask yourself, what skills can be paired with those reteach skills? 

Feeling overwhelmed about preparing a comprehensive test review unit? We got you. Click below to check out any of our test review units. While these test review units are for the entire year, you can easily pull out what you need for the semester.

How do you review for end-of-semester tests?

The post 4 Test Review Tips for Teachers appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

Listen on: APPLE PODCAST | SPOTIFY

For some states, end-of-year state testing is still happening despite the craziness of this year –  reopening, virtual schooling, hybrid learning, and all of the precautions to stay safe. Honestly, I felt frustrated, but as the leaders of our classroom, I thought it would be beneficial to dive into how to make the best of state test prep for ourselves and for our students.

THE DOWNSIDE

It is easy to focus on all of the negatives of requiring students to test at the end of such a taxing year. Here are a few ways you may be feeling:

• Concern for how your students will perform
• Worry about how your students will respond
• Discouraged that some of the best teaching practices became irrelevant due to necessary health guidelines
• That testing is a waste of valuable class time

We have little control in this matter. If you are passionate about it, I know there are organizations that you can support with your time or efforts.  You can always lobby your local representatives and make your voice heard on this issue. 

FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE

First, a standardized test provides a natural opportunity to collect data. While data can be collected many different ways, this does allow schools to make larger collective decisions for their students. For example, your campus may look at the data and determine that it would be beneficial to implement a remediation program or apply for different funds based on the needs of students. 

State testing also provides an opportunity to differentiate using small groups. Any review or reteaching is a great opportunity to naturally pull small groups to make the most of the time you have and target your approach to review and reteach. To learn more about small groups, click here.

State testing is a marker of normalcy. This might be a stretch because there sure are a lot of other ways we can mark things returning to normal, but I think that students are used to ending the year with a big test. It can help remind students that their learning is important and sometimes even helps some apathetic students to get it in gear. 

STATE TEST PREP EXECUTION

Make your time go the furthest! It is nearly impossible to review everything that has been covered in an entire school year in a normal year (much less one that has been frequently interrupted due to COVID). You do not have to review everything – pick those key concepts that are worthy of reviewing that will support your students’ foundational understanding of the content and spend time there.

Make your message count! The teacher sets the tone of the class.  If you sound enthusiastic and eager to be there and review, your students will naturally feel that from you and take on some of those same emotions. 

Make it fun! Check out how I made it fun using a football field here. And some other ideas:

• Have you seen the end of the year balloon countdown? Brainstorm several different class prizes like “popcorn snack” or “sit where you want for a day.” When students meet your set goal, a student can pop the balloon and the class earns that prize. There is a little bit of mystery and surprise without a lot of work. 
• Give your review a theme! It could be the Olympics or a carnival. Get some dollar store props, play some theme music, and you have transformed a boring test review into a carnival. 
• Minute-to-win-it challenges are another favorite at the middle school level! From the face the cookie, to stack attack, there are many class-appropriate games that require few supplies. You could do one challenge at the end of each class if students met the set goal.
• Ask your students what they want. I had a class one year that would eye roll anything cheesy. Turns out they just wanted a free day with snacks as a prize. 
• A teacher shared this idea, “One year I gave students an individualized game board (see image below) with their goal score that they were working on. Every time they hit their goal on a daily exit ticket, they were able to color in a box. If they exceeded their goal, they got to color in two boxes. On the game board were things like homework passes or snacks from the teacher. After state testing, we had a tech day, and for every box they filled in was equal to how many extra minutes of tech time they earned. And the game board was just some boxes on a piece of paper. Nothing fancy!”

Lastly, embrace your team! One thing that I have always found helpful is collaborating with other teachers or team members to up the ante. My 6th grade team members said yes to being pied in the face as an incentive for my class.  Remember that you get to decide what is being incentivized. I always liked to incentivize giving your best effort and making improvement. To read more about goal setting, click here.

Middle school math teachers, we have a freebie for you.  Check out our math test review sheets. You can grab them here.

Teachers, how are you feeling about state test prep this year? How do you plan on reviewing?

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The post State Test Prep during a Pandemic appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

We thought it might be helpful to provide you with a free resource — Math End-of-the-Year Review cheat sheets for 6th, 7th, and 8th — and now for Algebra! Basically, we put the most important content for each grade level on one page. We hope it can be another tool for you and your students this testing season!

3 Ways to Use Them:

1. Provide them to parents who ask for extra ways they can support their children. Parents are our allies, and if they are asking for a way to support their students at home, then chances are they mean it. Provide them websites or a list of standards for students to work on. This cheat sheet covers a broad range of topics without getting into the knitty gritty, so it might be the perfect tool for parents’ help at home.
2. Laminate the cheat sheets (page protectors are my go-to) and make a class set. Have students refer to the cheat sheet or their notes before they can ask you a question to ensure student ownership! Of course, you could also provide individual copies for student notebooks or binders to reference both in class and at home.
3. Use the cheat sheet to direct flash cards creation. Last year, my heart exploded when one of my students showed up on the day of the STAAR with about a hundred self-made flash cards with everything from fraction, decimal, and percent conversions to definitions of mean, median, and mode. I had not given her any instructions to do this. She utilized her cheat sheets to test her knowledge — thus, the flash cards! 

UPDATE: ALGEBRA I DIGITAL ACTIVITIES ARE NOW AVAILABLE!

P.S. If you haven’t already grabbed your free Algebra EOC standards break down for Algebra teachers, then head over this post to download it.

What ideas do you have to make test prep season better for students?

The post Test Prep Cheat Sheets for the Algebra Classroom appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

You see, knowing what skills to focus on is just as important as actually reviewing those skills. 

As teachers, we’ve got to work smarter, not harder. We reasonably cannot review every single skill that has been covered in an entire year. However, we can focus on the skills that we know will be tested multiple times. 

And I have got a helpful freebie for my Algebra teachers out there. Read down to the bottom to download.

Here is what I would do to plan my review:

1. I would look at all of the standards using this standards snapshot.
2. I would review released STAAR tests and tally which standards were tested which years and how often they would show up. 
3. When I made my test prep scope and sequence, I would order the most heavily tested standards in the progression that students experienced the material during the school year.
4. To engage students, I would have them write down how many questions they would expect to see on their state test like the ones we were practicing that day at the top of their classwork. 

I want my students to leave my classroom at the end of the year with all of the knowledge and know-how to be successful in subsequent math classes. I do struggle with feeling like I am emphasizing a test over their knowledge of the subject. But when you only have 10 days to review an entire year’s content, I do not want to waste a day on a skill that has only shown up in one question over the last four years. Yes, it might come up, but it most likely will not!

For example, when I was testing to earn my high school math certification, I focused only on reviewing Algebra 1 and 2 and Geometry. I knew how many questions I needed to pass, and if I missed the Pre-Calc and Calculus questions, I would still be okay. I couldn’t spend the extra time reteaching myself two entire curricula.

Texas Algebra teachers! I have a helpful freebie for you. I’ve made a spreadsheet that includes each standard and the number of times it has been tested each year from 2016-2019. Print it out and put it in your planning binder. Hopefully, this tool can help your planning!

UPDATE: ALGEBRA I DIGITAL ACTIVITIES ARE NOW AVAILABLE!

Best of luck to all teachers during this testing season!

The post Algebra 1 EOC Cheat Sheet for Teachers appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

This is the last of three posts about test prep, so be sure to read about How to Make Test Prep Fun and Setting Goals to Keep Students Engaged.

5 STAAR review ideas

1. Emphasize the Readiness Standards

Time is limited and so is your students’ attention.  Though it might be tempting to think that reviewing for a longer period of time is better, I would venture to guess that students lose interest and energy.  I personally found a 10-day review to be just right.

Because time is limited, I would suggest focusing your time and energy on the readiness standards.  On the middle school math STAAR tests, the readiness standards account for about two-thirds of the exam.  So when planning, think about how you can allocate each of the 10 STAAR review days and organize like standards.  For example, if you are going to focus on a readiness standard about similar figures, then it makes sense to include a supporting standard like scale factor.  

2. Utilize Multiple Choice for Discussion

Most teachers try to incorporate multiple choice questions throughout their STAAR review so that students can practice test-taking strategies. Yay! I would encourage you to take it a little further and have students discuss the various answer choices and how one would come to that conclusion.  It practices the higher-level thinking skill of error analysis, as well as lets students explain their thinking and see the problem in a new way.

I was able to do this by utilizing my e-instruction clicker technology and having students input their homework answers at the beginning of class.  We would then quickly analyze any questions that caused students to struggle.  If you don’t have a class set of clickers, socrative.com is perfect for gathering data from phones or iPads.

3. Mix It Up by Providing Variety

Students can easily check out during standardized test review, especially if they are reviewing in several other classes.  When I taught eighth grade, we were reviewing simultaneously between all four content areas.  So, anytime you can offer an activity with partners or groups, that is a win!  Consider incorporating activities that get students up and moving, even if it’s just a few times a week.  

4. Incorporate Small Groups

In my post about goal setting and organization, I mentioned that I would focus my small groups down to about 3-4 students per class period.  I think this made the biggest difference because, for about 10 minutes a day, they were getting my undivided attention.  I was able to question them through various strategies and encourage them to persevere and work through the problems.  And finally, I was able to provide encouragement and build their confidence, which is what they really needed right before the test.  I firmly believe this paid off and personally wouldn’t consider reviewing without small groups.  

Sidenote/Soapbox: I know sometimes it is common practice within schools to have tutors come in and work with students or pull from their electives, etc, to give them more time and review.  I would really encourage you to try and keep your own students, especially if they struggle.  They have been with you all year and that relationship goes a long way.

5. Use Teamwork

Tyne shared her ideas about football frenzy and how to promote collaboration and teamwork throughout your STAAR review.  I also like to just encourage and support teamwork with a talk at the beginning of the review period and a handful of incentives.  I think it’s good to remind students that this is an opportunity to show all that they have learned.  Most students put enough pressure on themselves, so they don’t need any additional pressure.  

I hope these ideas give you a good starting place for organizing your review and thinking through not only the content but also the activities that will be incorporated.

If you are looking for a ready-to-go review of the TEKS, then you have come to the right place. I created a Complete 10+ Day Math TEKS Review for Grades 6-8.  I took all of my past review experiences and things that I know are super helpful to have and put together a comprehensive review pack to take the prep off your hands.

The post 5 Tips for a Successful STAAR Review appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

Today, I am sharing a few ideas to keep students working hard and diligently by using goal setting throughout test prep.

This is the second of three posts about test prep, so be sure to read about How to Make Test Prep Fun and How to Differentiate Test Prep to Reach More Students.

Helping Students Achieve More: Goal setting and test prep

Benefits of Goal Setting and test prep

1. It pushes every student to improve and do their best while reviewing.
2. It encourages students to work together collaboratively, rather than competitively.
3. It provides a bit of buy-in to keep students showing their work.  

This all originally came about because I knew that test prep would be daunting.  It can be frustrating for kids who do really well and it can be demoralizing for students who struggle.  I really wanted to provide a way for everyone to get what they needed out of the review and to keep everyone working together for the 10 review days.

How to set goals for test prep

Throughout the review, I gave a handful of mini-assessments, as well as various class activities.  Once I had planned the number of activities that I would be checking, I created a scale and decided to use stickers.  Because, well, stickers are fun!

3 stickers – showed work and achieved 90% mastery

2 stickers – showed work and achieved between 75% and 89% mastery

1 sticker – showed work and put in effort

Here was my rationale – either way I wanted to incentivize showing work and giving best effort.  I also wanted to incentivize everyone to strive, even my top students, who might rush through their work or be careless.  

Based on my scale and the number of assignments, I created a rough goal for each student.  I wanted to be reasonable with the goal, yet push others who might not push themselves.  I quickly typed up the the goals and printed them on labels and created a card for them to keep their stickers.  Then, I hole punched the card so they could keep it in their folders.

Explaining the Goals

When I passed out the goals for every student I talked about the importance of setting goals and gave every student the opportunity to increase their goal.  This allowed them to be a part of the goal setting without writing down something ridiculous like 1 or 4,000.  #middleschoolers

Working Towards the Goal

Students then worked on various activities and mini-assessments throughout the test review.  

While they worked, I pulled groups of students who needed extra support and worked with them.  I tried to focus on the same groups of students to make a larger impact and really only pulled 2-4 students per class period.

I focused on students who were very close, as well as those who just needed some confidence.  They would do the same activities and mini-assessments but with support from me.  For example, I corrected small misconceptions or would remind them of steps.  I didn’t want to be a crutch but also didn’t want them sitting quietly stumped.  

Checking Their Work

If we were doing an activity, then I trusted students to work with their groups.  We would go over questions and the answers and I trusted students to get the appropriate amount of stickers.

If we were doing a mini-assessment, then students would bring their assignment to my small group and I would quickly mark their answers and they would get their stickers.  

Striving to Achieve Their Goals

Some of your students are going to have a bad day and some are going to make silly mistakes on their assignment or are your high achievers, who won’t settle for less than a 100.  Students who are all about reaching goals are going to get my full support!  So, I did create a few extra activities that students could do on their own time and bring back to earn additional stickers towards their goal.

At the end of the test review, we would celebrate as a class when everyone achieved their goals.  This often involved board games, popcorn, and other treats.  Because lets be real, the key to a middle schoolers heart is food.  It really is quite impressive to see students work against themselves, which is an incredible life lesson in and of itself.  Goals are a great example of perseverance and grit.  

This system is something I used in my own classroom for four years and found great success!  It is simple, streamlined, and easy to engage.  I spent several weeks creating the various activities and reviews and then practically an entire Saturday getting the copies prepared, the activities print and cut, and everything organized by day into file folders. It was totally worth it because when test prep time came, I was ready to go and ready for the next day.  

Now, it’s a little more simplified than the football game that Tyne shared last week, so if you are looking for something with more specific incentives and competition, be sure to check that out.

If you are looking for a high-quality, student-centered test prep, then I have one for you!  Right now, I have test prep units for grades 6-8 aligned to the TEKS.  

Check it out here: 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th GradeCCSS Teacher? 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade 

The post Goal Setting and Test Prep: Helping Students Achieve More appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

It is a challenging job, but as a teacher, it is exactly what we have to do.

This is the first of three posts about test prep, be sure to check back to read about How to Help Your Students Achieve More with Goal Setting, and 5 Tips for a Successful STAAR Review. 

One of the ways I kept test review fun over the span of two weeks was Football Frenzy.  Football Frenzy was successful because students competed, there was a measurable daily win, and finally, a grand prize. Middle schoolers love to compete.  

MAKING TEST PREP FUN

The Prep Work

Before I began, I made a unit plan of what I needed to cover over the next two weeks.  I broke up the standards and grouped them accordingly and created a variety of practice problems.  

1. Examples that I would go over whole group ranging from easy to expert
2. Around 10 practice problems for students to complete in their teams – this took several forms from activities to handouts
3. An exit ticket with at least 4 multiple choice questions

All students received a test prep folder where they kept all of their work.  I also made a tracker for them to keep track of their mastery on each topic.  The tracker also stated what individual prizes they could earn.

Next, I created heterogeneous groups of students so that they could all work together and help each other.  These teams created a name for themselves and wrote their names on a helmet that I printed for them.

The final and most exciting part of the prep work was the football field. I took up an entire wall with green paper.

During Class

I would start class by going over a few practice problems to jog everyone’s memory.   In the perfect world, students would be familiar because I have been spiraling content in homework and warm ups for most of the year.  

Then, I would release students to work on their teams.  Teams were responsible for completing the practice problems while I pulled a small group or circulated.

The catch was that in order for students to get to move yards on the football field everyone’s practice problems would need to be complete and accurate.  When the time was over, I drew a letter that corresponded to one person in each group.  I would go around and check that person’s practice problems for accuracy at each table.  That way I was only checking 8 papers instead of 30.  

I would assign the number of yards they moved based on how many problems were correct. One person was responsible for moving their team helmet 5 or 10 yards.  (They used a push pin to move the helmet which did leave my wall with hundreds of holes.  I imagine that this would work better with magnets on a whiteboard.)

This worked because it forced the students who moved quickly to slow down for the students who might struggle with the questions.  Plus,  they couldn’t just copy each other because I could potentially draw their name and ask questions that they would have to be able to answer in order to earn yards.  If you haven’t modeled for students what a successful student-to-student teaching looks like, I would definitely make that a priority.

When a team landed on the 25 yard, 50 yard or 75 yard marker, they had the option to kick a field goal.  I created a small paper football, and a tiny field goal.  This was the very best part and where most of the excitement came from! If they did make it through the field goal, they could move an additional 5 more yards.  Not crafty?  It’s okay, I am 100% certain there is a young man in your class that would love to make you a paper football.

At the End of Practice

After students worked with their groups, they completed 3-4 multiple choice problems by themselves.  If students met the state passing rate, they earned one sticker.  If they earned a state commended score, they earned two stickers.

Students placed these stickers on their trackers.  Every 5 or so spots, they earned a prize. Sometimes, passing out stickers was cumbersome, so I would instruct students to color in box of their tracker.  The prize could be as small as a piece of candy to sitting in a rolling chair for the next class.  It’s really up to you!  This incentivized each individual’s achievement.

The Grand Prize

The team that made it into the end zone first earned a touchdown for their class period.  I kept track of touchdowns and total yards earned in the hallway for all students to see.  Students would come into class excited to earn yards to compete with other class periods.  The class period who had the most touchdowns or yards at the end of test prep (but after the standardized test) earned a free day of recess instead of class.  The group of four from each class that earned the most yards earned an invitation to a pizza and movie night.

Football Frenzy was one of the most fun and engaging activities that I used last year for both the students and myself.  Everyday students were excited to practice!  That is music to a teacher’s ear!

In the next month, Noelle and I will be discussing ways to engage students by making test prep fun, how to help your students achieve more with goal setting, and 5 tips for a successful STAAR or CCSS review.  What incentives or strategies do you use to invest students in review?

Check it out here: 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th GradeCCSS Teacher? 6th Grade, 7th Grade, 8th Grade

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