Study Island Student Assistance

The problem was he was a clicker. He could answer more questions on Study Island than any other student in the school. He figured out, the easiest way to do a session was to just keep clicking on that Enter button And because the questions were multiple choice, he could always get about 25%. Unfortunately for him, his teacher soon caught on to the fact that he was blowing away lessons like a windstorm blowing leaves in an oak woods. He could complete ten questions in about a minute.

Study Island is based on state standards. It is an excellent online learning program that features lessons, and remidiation by bumping students down to lower grade levels if they are unable to pass the tests. Each session features four answer multiple choice questions on a chosen topic. The test is an excellent predicter in the likelihood of students passing the Ohio Achievement Test.

A third grade teacher, Mrs. Kable approached me with this problem. She had a student who was rushing through lessons on Study Island. I picked three Reading Workshop students, Trindi, Dylan, and Jacob to take turns helping this student with his sessions. One goes each day for 20 minutes, rotating so none miss too much class.

After the first day, this was my conversation with Trindi:

Me: How did it go?

Trindi: OK

Me: Did you help him?

Trindi: Yes

Me: How?

Trindi: He wasn't even reading the questions. He just clicked on an answer.

Me: What did you do?

Trindi: I told him to stop clicking, and read the questions.

Me: Then what happened?

Trindi: He got the rest right.

Here you go. A fool-proof method for improving Study Island scores. Thanks to these students, working as teachers, to help a third grade student be successful.

Image from http://flickr.com/photos/96dpi/501424691/

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Study Island & Student of the Day

Each day a Study Island Student of the Day is chosen from each class in Reading Workshop. The winners receive an award certificate, a piece of candy,

     AND THEY GET THE CHAIR FOR THE DAY!  

All students want the chance to spend the day in luxury.  And learning online is a great way to achieve this.

Students work daily in Reading Workshop with the online learning program from Study Island. This program is based on the Ohio State Standards. It has lessons that help teach each topic and remediates when students do not pass a topic. Students can do sessions anywhere they have internet access.

Students scores count towards their grade in Reading Workshop.  It is important that students pay attention to their score as they are completing a 20 question session.  If they are close to the next higher grade, doing a couple of extra questions correctly can really help their grade.

85 - 100 = A

75 - 84.9 = B

65 - 74.9 = C

55 - 64.9 = D 

Congratulations to today's Study Island Students of the Day:  Olivia, Sam, Holden, and Dylan.

Study Island

Students work daily in reading and math with the online learning program from Study Island. This program is based on the Ohio State Standards. It has lessons that help teach each topic and remediates when students do not pass a topic. Students can do sessions anywhere they have internet access. adjusts

Each day a Study Island Student of the Day is chosen from each class. The winners receive an award certificate, a piece of candy,

AND THEY GET THE CHAIR FOR THE DAY!

You can tell by the look on Shayna's face, that when a student gets "The Chair"
They spend a day in class living in luxury!






Congratulations to today's Study Island Students of the Day--Cail J., Seth R., Molly V., and Chris T.

Study Island

Students work daily in reading with the online learning program from Study Island. This program is based on the Ohio State Standards. It has lessons that help teach each topic and remediates when students do not pass a topic. Students can do sessions anywhere they have internet access.


Each day a Study Island Student of the Day is chosen from each class. The winners receive an award certificate, a piece of candy,

AND THEY GET THE CHAIR FOR THE DAY!

You can tell by looking at Briann, that when a student gets "The Chair" they spend a day in class living in luxury!







Congratulations to today's Study Island Students of the Day--Breann C., Samantha R., and Jolene M.

Smart or Cheating?

Students were at their computer working on Study Island, the online learning program. They were doing a session on context clues. When I walked around the room, I noticed that Jacob was using the computer dictionary. Was this cheating? Or, was he the smartest kid in the whole sixth grade?

This S.I. session focused on using the words and sentences around a word students didn't know, to figure out the meaning of the word. Context Clues are hints that the author gives to help define a difficult or unusual word. The clue may be in the same sentence as the word, or it may be in a preceding or subsequent sentence.


This is an example of a context clue:
The difficulty of the assignment forced the student to work hard to complete the tough task. By reading the sentence, you can figure out the meaning of the word difficulty.


Jacob was doing his best to be successful. In no way was he attempting to cheat. His intention was to get the best score possible on Study Island. But, the whole point of learning about context clues is to better reading comprehension by figuring out the meaning of words without using a dictionary. But, as one student said, "if I use the dictionary I am learning the meaning of a lot of words I don't know."


Should a student be punished for using all of the tools available to get the best score? Should all of the students be encouraged to use the dictionary? What about using Text-to-Speech to read words aloud that they don't know. Although Study Island is mostly a tool for assessment and remediation, if students might learn more using these tools, should they be integrated into the daily routine?

Students won't be allowed to use these tools for the Achievement Test, so should they use them every day in class?

Regardless of the decision about the use of these tools during Study Island, good job to Jacob for being creative, and figuring out the best way possible to get a high score.

3rd Grade Study Island Help

Mrs. Roe's third grade class is starting to use Study Island. For their first experience, they came up to sixth grade for some help. The sixth graders did an awesome job helping them learn how to log on to the program, navigate through it, and answer questions.

I was especially proud of how the sixth grade "teachers" showed their younger students how to find the correct response when they struggled. The sixth graders did an awesome job helping make the first experience on Study Island a positive learning experience.

Great Helpers!

Study Island and Who Wants to Be A Millionaire

There were two boys in a sixth grade classroom and they never watched the show, Who Wants to Be a Millionare. Every day in Reading Workshop, they got on a computer and did a session on Study Island. This is an online learning program that their school used to help them learn indicators that the state of Ohio's Department of Education deemed important.

Now both boys were hard workers, who did all of their assignments and got pretty good grades. They didn't cause problems in the classroom, treated their classmates with kindness, and seemed to be pretty good students. All of their teachers liked them, and saw them as role models to their peers.

One day, an intervention teacher pulled them out because their reading teacher noticed a weakness in a particular area. These boys obviously were not Millionaire fans, because they hadn't used their lifelines. As the teacher worked with them, she noticed that they kept missing the same types of questions, over and over and over and they never asked for help.

Now, being the smart person that she was, she asked them about it. Neither had ever asked anyone for help. In about 30 seconds, she explained how to correctly answer these types of questions.

If these two boys had watched Millionaire, they would have used their lifelines. They could have started with 50:50 and eliminated half of the answers that didn't make sense. Although the couldn't phone a friend, they could have asked a classmate for help. They also couldn't ask the audience, but they could have asked the teacher.

This story could be a fictitious account of what might happen in a classroom somewhere, sometime. There is a chance that it might have actually happened to students in a school somewhere. The point--if you don't get it, get some help. Ask the teacher, ask a friend, stop and think. Whatever you do, do something. Don't keep missing questions.

If you want to be successful at Study Island, and in life, when things are going wrong, figure out why, get help when you need it, and fix the problem!

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The 2nd Click is Worse Than the First

What happens when a student in Reading Workshop misses a question on Study Island?  They click on the next choice, of course.



This is how it works:

1.  A student logs on to Study Island and chooses the topic.
2.  He looks at the question and then skims the essay.
3.  He rereads the question and answer choices.
4.  He clicks on the one that sounds right.
5.  He says, "shoot, I missed it."
6.  Then he goes mouse crazy--Click, Click, Click

Somewhere along the way, he gets the right answer.  After all, there are only four choices, so he has to get it right sooner or later.  For some reason, after students miss a question, the rate of answering speeds up. 

WHY???????????

When a student misses an answer, they need to

S    L    O    W        D    O    W    N!

The key to good scores is to missing as few as possible.  When a student misses with their first choice, the odds increase from a 25% chance to a 33% chance of getting the question right.  If a student uses the skill of eliminating nonsensical answers, at the worst he would have a 50/50 shot at answering the question correctly. 

I am not sure why missing an answer causes students to go click crazy and start guessing, but I have seen it happen over and over.   For students that want to be successful on Study Island, missing an answer means it is time for super slow motion.  Reread the essay. Reread the question.  Find the place in the passage the question is focusing.  Eliminate bad answers.  Then you will be ready to get the answer right!
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Student of the Day

Want to be rewarded for excellence? Students work daily in Reading Workshop with the online learning program from Study Island. This program is based on the Ohio State Standards. It has lessons that help teach each topic and remediates when students do not pass a topic. Students can do sessions anywhere they have internet access.

Students scores count towards their grade in Reading Workshop.  It is important that students pay attention to their score as they are completing a 20 question session.  If they are close to the next higher grade, doing a couple of extra questions correctly can really help their grade.

85 - 100 = A

75 - 84.9 = B

65 - 74.9 = C

55 - 64.9 = D 

Congratulations to today's Study Island Students of the Day: Emma M., Rachel T., Allison W., and Ian S.

Is Study Island Making You Crazy?

Jacob came to school this morning and he was really upset. He did his best on Study Island trying question after question after question and his score was still really low. He spent a lot of his evening last night trying to improve his grade. I appreciate his effort very much, but there are a couple of things he needs to know.

1.  Doing extra work always pays off. Even if it doesn't help his grade it will make him smarter and make success more likely down the road.

2.  Students are only required to do 20 questions. They can do more to improve their grade, but they should never do more than 40 - 50 questions.

3.  Study Island is a challenging program and I don't expect students to get A's all the time. All I ask is their best effort. 

4.  The grading scale is curved for a reason. Getting high grades every time is extremely difficult.

5.  There are a lot of grades in language arts each grading period. One or two low scores will not ruin a grade. Just keep working hard and your grade will show it.

6.  I appreciate the hard work Jacob put forth last night. Even if his grade doesn't improve, he earned my respect for his positive attitude and that is worth a lot more than any 10 point assignment.

Image from http://www.theguardian.com/

Using Technology for Education

Having computers and other gadgets in a class is great. But, does it increase student learning? According to many, the only reason schools can justify any expense on technology is if students achievement improves.

This list details many of the ways that technology is integrated into our daily classroom routine.

1. Students do daily online lessons on Study Island. This is tied directly to the curriculum of the state of Ohio.
2. Study Island Student of the Day is awarded to recognize students with excellent performance.
3. Lessons on Ohio Department of Education academic indicators are viewed by the class using the DLP projector, and then sample Study Island questions are answered.
4. Students journal about their SSR book on their Blogs.
5. Students log their reading book titles, times, and pages on their Book Journal to keep accurate records, and to allow easy access for teacher evaluation.
6. Grades are kept on at Engrade, which allows parents and students to always know their grades.
7. The message feature of Engrade allows students and parents to contact the teacher with questions regarding a grade
8. Every student has a computer at their desktop with Internet access which can be used to research any time questions come up, and for informational reports.
9. BrainPop videos are shown to assist visual learners understand main concepts.
10. The Reading Workshop blog is used for information and communication between students, parents, and the teacher.
11. Class notes are kept the blog so students can access them at any time, even when absent from school.
12. Words that Count (spelling words) with example sentences are online so students can access them from at home when doing homework, and in the class whenever they are writing.
13. ATandT Labs Text to Speech is used by students with reading difficulties to read aloud questions, or parts of passages with difficult text. Students also use it as a revision tool when writing by listening to their essay to be sure it sounds right.
14. A discussion board is used for students to write about character elements in the SSR books they are reading.
15. Homework is listed daily on the blog so parents always know what has been assigned and when it is due.
16. Online editing tools like Answers.com and Ask.com are used daily to assist with writing corrections.
17. A storage server is used so students can access their files anywhere in the school.
18. The doc camera and projector are used to show real-time examples of students work to help demonstrate teaching points.
19. Open Office software is used for students to do word processing on writing projects.
20. The networked laser printer is used for students to print out their written work, revise and edit, and then print a final copy.
21. Students sing, reading lyrics projected on the wall, to music from the computer. This builds fluency and vocabulary is taught also.
22. Students create presentation projects combining the use of many of the tools already listed.

Some of the skills learned are measurable by a mandated test, but not all. In Reading Workshop, students learn to use technology as a tool. Also, they learn technology skills that will help them throughout their life. To me, this makes it all worthwhile!

Questions About Study Island?

Over the last several years, I have written several posts describing Study Island and how it is used in the classroom. If you have a question, please take a second and use the search function in the top right corner. This will lead you to this link: 

http://www.thereadingworkshop.com/search?q=+study+island

In fact, you can use the search function to find out more information about almost any topic in Reading Workshop. 

I Hate Grades!

The end of the nine weeks is here.  Work has been turned in and graded.  But what if a student's average doesn't fit what they have accomplished?  Should a teacher adjust it to reflect what the student has earned?  Or should it be the result of vocabulary quizzes on Quia, Study Island, and objective scores on writing assignments?

Student #1

He has given everything he can possibly give to be successful.  He started the year hating to read.  Now, he reads almost every night at home.  He pays attention in class and does his best on every assignment.  He asks for help if he doesn't understand.  He has turned in every assignment.  Low Study Island scores have been a big detriment to his grade.  Although his grades reflect his ability, his growth should earn him an A+.

Student #2

She is the model for all students.  Her attitude and work ethic is unbelievable.  She has always struggled finishing books.  This nine weeks she has finished three of the last four she started.  The book she quit was a bad selection, she recognized that, and found a better book.  Her writing has consistently improved all year.  Her blog posts have become more detailed and cleaner.  Poor vocabulary quiz grades have lowered her score.

Student #3

The work he turns in is not close to his best.  He completes assignments quickly, with the main idea being just to get them done.  He is a pretty good student so his grades are good.  He has not shown much growth, but does OK because school comes fairly easy to him.

Student #4

His attitude stinks.  He has turned in most assignments, but not all.  His grade is poor and does not reflect his ability at all.  He should be on the honor roll but isn't due to lack of effort.  As a reader, he is able to do high quality work.  Even though he has a low grade, his ability is in the B range.

What grades did these students earn?  What grades do they deserve?  Are they the same?

Should grades be solely based on achievement?  Or should a student's effort and attitude be part of the grade?  Should improvement matter?   Should missing assignments count even if a students has mastered the objective?  Or should all grades be based on results of classwork and quizzes? Should students receive a class participation grade that reflects their in class involvement and work ethic?

What if the teacher knows with absolute certainty that a grade does not reflect a student's output for the grading period?  Should the teacher adjust the grade accordingly?

Image from http://feeds.feedburner.com/legalgeekery

Etech Conference

On February 4-6 I attended the Etech Ohio 2008 Conference in Columbus, Ohio at the Convention Center. This annual event features 300 sessions, teacher and student displays, keynote speakers, and technology vendors.

Many of the ideas currently in use at Laurelville Elementary came from this School Net Conference. The use of the online learning program, Study Island came from a discussion with the vendor at a conference four years ago.

Posting grades online for students and parents was discussed in several sessions three years ago. After visiting with several vendors, I decided to use Engrade.

The use of LCD and DLP projectors with doc cameras in writing workshop, has made sharing student work easy. All of the fifth and sixth grade classes at Laurelville use this technology daily. This idea came from a session I attended several years ago presented by a language arts teacher.

Each year there are sessions on digital media in the classroom. This has helped with sharing pictures of students hard at work.

Last year I attended sessions on blogging. Needless to say, this attempt at keeping parents and students informed came from those sessions.

I attended a session Wednesday about using Audacity. This is sound recording/editing software. I use it to edit songs that we sing in the class. It is also a useful tool for recording podcasts. A podcast is an audio broadcast that has been converted to an MP3 file or other audio file format for playback in a digital music player or computer.

A couple of ideas that I hope to use in the future are clickers and digital books. Clickers are infrared remotes. Each students gets one and they answer questions projected on the white board. At einstruction, they have a clicker that works with Study Island. The clickers anonymously keep track of each student's answer. This way each student is thinking about the question, instead of just a few students.

As you can see, many of the uses of technology in language arts at Laurelville Elementary originated from the Etech Conference. Each year I am excited to see the new ideas and find great uses in the classroom.

Reading for Understanding and Score Better Too!

So Reading Workshop students, do you want to get a better score on Study Island? Use the tips from this video and use the highlighter from Study Island and your scores will soar. These tips will also help when you have to read something in social studies and science.

The Students Speak

Students recently completed a Reading Workshop Student Survey.  This is an easy way for me to see their thoughts and opinions about our class.  Frequently new ideas or changes in focus come from information the students supply.  The survey was embedded in the blog using a form from Google Docs.

Thank you to the students for the effort and honesty in their responses.  To see the complete answers, visit the Reading Workshop Blog Student Survey.  However, here are a few interesting excerpts.

  

My Favorite part of Reading Workshop . . .

Kasi

My favorite part of the Reading Workshop is our awesome blogs. I really like to put our opinion on our blogs and have other people comment and even if they disagree with you it is fun to see what they say.

Nash

My favorite part of the Reading Workshop is SSR because I really like to read.

Garrett

My favorite part of reading workshop is getting to write about what I have read and just getting to be able to make post that people can read from all over the world.

If I Were the Teacher . . .

Erica

If I were a teacher I would tell my students to try and not sit at a desk do nothing because if you don't do anything then what's the point in going to school? Students have to understand school is not just a place to chat with friends and spread gossip. School is where you go to learn so you have to try.

Cassie

If I was a teacher what would I help students learn is how to be successful with their life so when they need a job they can just go out and get one.

Kaitlyn

To help students learn I would have them take notes of everything and if they get stuck then they can look back in there notes and if they still don't get it then I would explain it to them. And if that don't work then I have no clue.

What has helped you most . . .

Bethany K

One thing that has mostly helped me to be more successful in the Reading Workshop would mostly be SSR, because it helps us learn words and help you out with life.

Hadley

I think blogging has helped me become successful by helping me be my own original person, and not like everyone else. It also helped me learn how to get into the hard core details and become a better writer.

Hannah Hop.

I think that our blogs have helped me be most successful in Reading Workshop because it pushes me to understand my book, to comment, and to post.

How Much Does Study Island Help You?

1 -	Very Little Help	5	9%
2		8	14%
3		12	21%
4		24	42%
5 -	Extremely Helpful	8	14%

How Much Does Brain Pop Help You?

1 - Very Little Help      5          9% 2 4 7% 3 16 28% 4 14 25% 5 - Extremely Helpful 18 32%

What is Your Favorite Thing to Do in Reading Workshop?

Blog		31	54%
Read Aloud		15	26%
Study Island		4	7%
Sing		40	70%
SSR		16	28%
Brain Pop		14	25%
Group Work (like on Reading Articles)		9	16%

People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

To see the complete answers, visit the Reading Workshop Blog Student Survey.

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/zen/139254610/sizes/s/

Who Wants to Know about The Reading Workshop

Of the last 500 visitors:

They came from 35 states.
They came from 16 countries.
Sixteen visitors were from Texas.
Thirteen were from California
Twelve were from New York.
'Ten were from Florida.
Sixty five visits was the most by any one person.
Fifty nine was the second most times visited.
Two Hundred Sixty Nine started out on The Reading Workshop home page.
Twenty-two had questions about how to do Reading Workshop.
Sixteen had questions about Study Island.
Seven queried good books for student readers
Six wondered about the book Freak the Mighty.
Fifteen had question about listening to music as you work.
Twelve wanted information about the affect of texting on students' writing.
Thirteen visited for longer than an hour.
Thirty six wanted to know about Rambunctious Reading.
Ninety two percent that used a search engine, used Google.
Sixty seven percent are first time visitors.
One Hundred Eighty are using the newest version of Firefox.
Seventeen came from the latest Carnival of Education which list Educational blogs
Seventeen came from the Laurelville Elementary website.
Twelve came from Alltop which lists education news and headlines from across the web.
Three came from Joann Jacobs educational blog highlights and links.

So if you're like me and find yourself wondering, who cares about The Reading Workshop at Laurelville, the answer is a lot of people, from a lot of places, for a lot of different reasons. For all that take the time to visit the blog, thank you!.
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Great 1st Week

As we finish up the first week, I am pleased about such a great first week of school. Many of the procedures we will use throughout the year are already habits. The sixth grade students worked hard and accomplished a lot. If this kind of effort continues, this class will go down as one of the best!

Congratulations to the Study Island Student of the Day,

Dillon Y., Cody C., Shayna T., and Justin H.

Students receive a certificate, piece of candy, and get their name on the door recognizing outstanding performance on our on-line learning program.

Enjoy the long weekend!

Details from the Book

Today we focused on the letter project. The topic of the day was adding details that support your thoughts, ideas, and opinions. We discussed the W's--what kind, why, when, who, where, and how. This should give letters about SSR books a lot more information, and make them more interesting.

Congrats to our Study Island Students of the Day, Alina S and Josh P.

Also, good job to Scotty D. for answering the Question of the Day!

Grades will soon be available at all times on-line at Engrade.

An Assignment Checklist

We have a new program to give students a hand. Students will receive a checklist to help them identify things they need to accomplish during Brave Period. Then, student and parent volunteers will help them complete tasks on the “To Do” list. Each week students will fill out and staple an Assignment Checklist in their agenda books, so you can follow up at home to see if there are assignments your child needs complete.

The volunteers will help check Jupiter Grades with the students and then work on missing assignments. They will also help with Study Island lessons, ongoing writing assignments like blog essays and answering the Question of the Week. They will give a hand with social studies or science projects, and assist with homework. 

Hopefully this will help all students as they work to be successful.