Third Trimester Essential Learning

Staff:

With the Forward Exam one week away for third and fourth grade students, here's a reminder of items to do for test prep this week at the intermediate grades.

Test- Taking Strategies- whole class (March 27-31)    

• Test Preparation PPT  (10 min.)
• Grit/ Growth Mindset- Video on Grit

Forward Exam Platform (March 27- 31)

• Whole Class- Student Tutorials (25- 30 min.)
• Individuals- Practice tests for students- all content areas Firefox, Chrome Browsers (30 min.)

At our Tuesday staff meeting, we will return to our PLC revitalization discussing the following questions that the SMART Team had dialogue around at our last meeting. Day 6 on Wednesday is set aside for teams to decide on their third trimester essential learning, and common formative assessment, using our PLC Products document.

• What has gone well so far this year with the PLC revitalization? What progress have we made toward a successful implementation at our building?

• What has not gone well so far with our PLC rebooting? What unresolved issues are still getting in the way of our success?

• What strategies or suggestions do you have for us to overcome the challenges and to be more successful with our PLC revitalization?

Here's the link to the SMART Team responses regarding these three questions.

Forward Exam Proctoring

WI Forward Exam Preparation

For staff involved in proctoring the Forward Exam, here's some of the information you'll need to know, as well as some of the resources I mentioned at our staff meeting last Tuesday.

Proctors will be completing this Confidentialiy Agreement after the proctoring training at the staff meeting on Tuesday. 

Upcoming reminders regarding Forward Exam Preparation:

March 22nd-24th: Kelli will help 3rd-5th teachers verify classroom Chromebooks have the Forward Code

March 20-31

• 3rd-5th grade students complete the TDA electronic sample question. 5th grade teachers may also choose to give the sample question in early April.

Test- Taking Strategies- whole class (March 27-31)    

• Test Preparation PPT  (10 min.)
• Grit/ Growth Mindset- Video on Grit

Forward Exam Platform (March 27- 31)

• Whole Class- Student Tutorials (25- 30 min.)
• Individuals- Practice tests for students- all content areas Firefox, Chrome Browsers (30 min.)

Forward Exam Testing Schedule

Tuesday's Staff Meeting

Staff,

Welcome back from your well deserved spring break! Your Monday PLC time is set aside for teams to wrap up the second trimester essential learning. If you have additional action steps to record please do so here:  PLC Products.

At Tuesday's staff meeting we'll be digging into a new component from the reading portion of the Forward Exam this year called Test-Dependent Analysis. Here is an overview of this portion of the Forward Exam.

A TDA is a text-based analysis, based on a single passage or a multiple passage set that each student has read during the assessment. The passage or passage set will consist of either literary or informational text. In order to successfully answer a TDA, students must analyze and use information from the passage(s) in order to plan a comprehensive, holistic response. Students will then write their response including supporting evidence from the passage(s). Students will have up to 5,000 characters to formulate their response. Students' responses are scored using a rubric which takes into account both the composition and the conventions of the student’s writing. The TDA portion of the Forward Exam requires students to read the text and then respond in writing in one of several ways:  identifying and explaining a theme or central idea, using textual evidence to support the claim about what that theme or central idea is, and  analyzing the development of an event, character, central ideas, or theme, using textual evidence to support the explanation and analysis.

In teams on Tuesday, you'll be digging into and answering a sample item embedded in my presentation, put in an electronic format by Amanda McCarthy, with the purpose of preparing students for the Forward Exam. These same electronic formats will later be used as practice by 3rd-5th grade students. I have included the criteria for a proficient response, as well as the child friendly language our instructional coaches created.

Child Friendly Proficiency Language

• I answered all parts of the question
• My opinions and ideas are supported with evidence from the text.
• My ideas are logically grouped
• My response has a clear introduction, body, and conclusion (Beginning, Middle and End)  
• I used details, examples, quotes, and/or facts from the text
• I used multiple examples from the text to support the main ideas and key details
• I used transition words
• I used vocabulary from text

Here are the PDF resources with all the sample questions and student exemplars for 3th-4th and 5th grade: TDA Forward Exam 5-6 TDA Forward Exam 3-4