Academy of READING and MATH Classroom Teacher Quick Start

Transcription

1 Academy of READING and MATH Classroom Teacher Quick Start Logging In Before starting to use the program, the teacher must create a user name and password for each student and then assign students to a class. This is typically done at Initial Training. Students begin by opening the Academy of READING or MATH link loaded onto your homepage or their desktop. The address may be manually typed into the browser as s-name/academy/login.do (or s-name/academy/management.do teachers) Log into the program by selecting the appropriate school name and entering the user name and password. Click on Login. Students receive an introduction to the lobby and some of the features they may choose for themselves. They are then invited into the classroom door to begin their training. It is often a good idea to let students go into the Locker Room and select their Video Buddy and personalize their Lobby on the first day. This should take no more than 5 minutes. Once this is done, students should proceed to the Classroom by clicking on the door. Placement Testing Students first take a pre-test (placement test). A tutorial guides them through the instructions for completing the test and encourages them to do their very best. The training assignment levels will be based on the placement test results. READING ONLY: The pre-test consists of a reactive set of Cloze Paragraph tests leveled with the Frye Readability Scale. Depending on their performance, students may move up or down through several short stories. Scoring and program placement are automatic once the student s frustration level (59% accuracy or below) is reached. The testing can be stopped in progress at any point using the Lobby button for later return. There is no time limit on the placement test.

2 ITP Training Streams for READING The Placement Test allows the Academy of Reading to choose an appropriate Individual Training Program (ITP) for each student. Placement is determined by the student s test score and their present grade in school (as entered into the system). The scores are presented as Below Basic, Basic, Proficient, and Advanced. Comprehensive/ Developmental Moderate Accelerated Student performs most of the available training exercises from simple to complex. Student performs warm-up exercises combined with mid-level skills before advancing. Student will perform only the more complex skills in the Academy of READING. (The above streams are subdivided and specialized for the grade groupings: 2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-adult.) Students begin each exercise with a tutorial (directions), followed by practice, and then training. Both tutorials and practice sessions may be repeated by the system s auto-intervention engine if the student needs more help to succeed. Depending on the skill type, the auto-intervention engine may also choose to modify requirements for accuracy or pacing to help avoid frustration. Modifications are clearly noted on a variety of student and class summary reports. Modified skills will be repeated at the end of the training program unless the final mastery falls within the original unmodified ranges. Exiting the Program Students may exit to the lobby from anywhere in the program and their work is saved automatically. The only exception is a visual match or auditory-visual match skill; these sets of 50 items last around 60 seconds and must be completed to be saved. There are three basic types of training: 1) puzzle skills which include math skills, phonemic awareness skills, and lettersound association skills, 2) matching skills which include visual match and auditory-visual match skills and 3) comprehension skills. Mastery Criteria Between each session or trial of a skill, the student is presented with a graph showing their current progress toward mastery. A tutorial video has already explained these graphs and the keys to mastery before the first trial. However, instructors will still often find student misunderstandings about the graphs - even from students who have mastered many previous levels. Instructors must be prepared to explain the graphs with confidence and use effective coaching strategies. In math and reading puzzle skills and comprehension exercises only accuracy is measured. The red bars must reach into or touch the green shading at least three times to master the exercise and be promoted. Any errors are listed at the bottom along with the correct answer, the answer chosen by the student, and a chance to replay the sounds. Students who score 100% correct on puzzle skills will be able to skip to the next level. Comprehension training requires a blend of 80% accuracy from the initial questioning and the second chance series where clues are shown. Accuracy Only Graph For Puzzle Skills

3 Helping Struggling Students With Matching Exercises In READING In the matching skills, both accuracy and consistent pace are measured. The student must first practice until ACCURACY COMES EASILY ON EVERY TRIAL. They should focus only on the bottom Accuracy Chart. Pacing does not count yet. During this phase, the list of errors is shown. The desired choice - the target - is shown first followed by the student s choice. Patterns in these error lists can help the instructor assist students. While there is a gold, silver, or bronze rating for absolute pace, mastery requires a consistent or steady pace. It does not matter how fast or slow a student goes, as long as they are consistent with themselves. The original program research clearly showed that a steady pace correlates with automaticity. Students who are both accurate and consistent were shown to have learned the letter pattern to the point of automaticity to have permanently learned the pattern. To fully master a matching skill, students must perform three trials in a row (back to back) that meet the conditions of both graphs: The Accuracy Chart as shown above, and the Pacing Chart is shown on below. Frequently, students feel they are rushed or need to slow way down to meet the requirements of the pace graph. Nothing could be further from the truth as no absolute pace is required to master and no credit is given for Gold Pacing nor any debit for Bronze Pacing. A relaxed and steady pace, proving the skill has become easy to perform, is the key. Attempts to master the pacing graph by force or will or strategy can sometimes lead to student frustration. Instead, students should: 1) achieve easy accuracy, 2) relax and 3) perform several trials in a row by simply answering most questions correctly before stopping to review their graphs.

4 Partial Matching Skills Graph Showing a Mastered Skill Triplet *Please note: A mastered triplet achieved in just three trials rather than many trials is not normal or realistic. This simplified graph is shown for clarity. Students may expect to practice for 15 to 30 trials before mastery. The graph above shows success on both fronts: accuracy first as shown in the bottom graph, and a steady pace shown in the top graph. The green bridge in the center spans accuracy and pace for 3 consecutive trials to show mastery. Viewing Reports Viewing student or class reports requires a teacher login. Teachers log into the Autoskill Management System rather than the student program. Open the Management System icon. Choose your school from the dropdown list. Enter your user name and password. Click Login. The most useful report is called the Training Monitor. The training monitor is shown automatically when you log in to the Management System. Or, select it from the Class Tab and then click on Training Monitor at the left under Classes. Students currently experiencing difficulty are grouped at the top and shown with an orange symbol. Next to this symbol is the current trial count including practice sessions. Students shown with orange down arrows and counts exceeding 20 trials may require help to avoid Teacher Time and frustration. The program will automatically divert a student from a skill they are struggling with and temporarily advance to a puzzle skill. This gives students a chance to regain success and confidence. The first student in the graphic below illustrates this: his orange underline with a green arrow on top indicates the difficult exercise is on hold (paused) and the current exercise is progressing well. Orange underlines with orange top arrows mean Please help me right away! Green up arrows are all progressing normally. This list should be refreshed with the F5 key each time you revisit it as it will change substantially in that time. Another way to refresh it manually in non-ie browsers is to click the Training Monitor link on the left hand menu.

5 To reveal details of a student with an orange down arrow, click directly on their name in the Training Monitor. A summary of the auto-intervention engine actions so far is shown in the center in red. A summary line of text just above it shows how many trials have been performed accurately out of the total number. High numbers here (over 30 for READING or 10 for MATH) indicate that the student really needs help. Use the blue Show Trial Details link to access each trial. Do not be concerned with pace in reading at all unless accuracy is consistently excellent. Use the blue Errors link to view the stored error lists as you look for patterns. The blue ITP Stream link at the very top can help instructors and students visualize their progress across the scope and sequence of their individual training program. To obtain the Class Summary Test Results report, select the Reports Tab and then Test Results on the left under Class. Clicking on a student name and then selecting the pre-test link will reveal the details for that individual s pre-test as shown:

6 Please contact AutoSkill Support or your TE21 Consultant any time you have questions. The contact information for both EPS Support and TE21 is in the folder you received at Initial Training.