Thought Leadership
How to Help Students Prepare for End of Year Assessments
We know that it can be a balancing act getting students comfortable and confident for state assessments. In one test, kids showcase their knowledge of three things as they interpret and answer questions across every subject: the standards, their computer testing skills, and their ever-increasing literacy skills. BrainPOP’s interdisciplinary approach combines grade-leveled content instruction, literacy skill practice, and assessment readiness into one time-saving lesson—helping you make the most of every instructional minute. And, when test day arrives, kids will feel confident and comfortable juggling all of their cognitive abilities. After all, they’ve been practicing all year long.
Let’s dive deeper into which specific assessment skills students are building when they learn on BrainPOP.
Mastering TEI navigation—in both format and rigor
Computer-based tests have brought the advent of Technology-Enhanced Items (TEIs), otherwise known as non-multiple choice questions like the drag-and-drop, the multiple select, and the multiple part test questions. While students these days are certainly more digitally literate than previous generations, we don’t want them to feel intimidated by question types and technologies they haven’t interacted with before.
In BrainPOP, TEIs are embedded throughout Pause Points, Quizzes, and Challenges. These auto-graded features—in addition to allowing students to demonstrate their understanding—are handy ways to give students practice in the format and rigor of questions they’ll encounter during testing. And an even handier way for teachers to make sure they’re right on track.
Showcasing content knowledge—while applying literacy skills
This one is a bit of a two-for-one. TEIs are constructed so students can’t rely on guesswork. Instead, they’ll need to rely on content knowledge, yes, but also their literacy skills. While there is a misconception that literacy skills are just being able to read and write, we know that literacy skills are used in everything. From extracting key details and interpreting unfamiliar words to articulating thoughts and evaluating sources. In other words, they’re the thing that will help students answer TEIs.
Each time students learn on BrainPOP, they are simultaneously developing, practicing, and applying literacy skills alongside everything they do. And, they’re doing it right alongside background knowledge and domain-specific vocabulary across all subjects—just as the experts recommend. Whether they’re extracting the key point of a movie via a Pause Point or interpreting a vocabulary word in a Quiz, students on BrainPOP are building skills and comprehension while practicing for year-end assessments.
3 Ways to Use BrainPOP For Assessment Prep Tomorrow
Here are three examples of a BrainPOP classroom to show you what this low-stakes assessment prep looks like in practice—no matter what subject you teach.
1. If you’re teaching social studies:
After watching the American Revolution movie (with Pause Points!) to help students—regardless of their learning level—understand the material in a way that works for them, assign a Challenge for each student to do on their own. They’ll hone their vocabulary and comprehension skills as they drag and drop words into fill-in-the-blank sentences, group key figures according to their country of origin in a Venn diagram, place events in chronological order, and more! The Pause Points and Challenge scores will help you see who needs help—and where—while students get in practice for state assessments.
2. If you’re teaching math:
Teach multi-digit multiplication in everyone’s favorite way—with M&Ms and Moby—while getting students to reflect and digest (pun intended) the information through Pause Points. A Quiz afterward asks students to apply their newfound knowledge of area models and standard algorithms to multiple choice questions (which may seem daunting on a state assessment)—while a Challenge will help students think about the concepts in even more problem-solving ways.
3. If you’re teaching ELA:
Teach similes and metaphors—while having fun with Tim and Moby!—by assigning the Similes and Metaphors movie with Pause Points, and following it up with a Challenge. This time, students will fill in simile and metaphor venn diagrams that reinforce the concepts, match simile examples to their meaning, decide which multiple select responses contain a metaphor, and highlight metaphors in a paragraph. See how each asks students to apply background knowledge and literacy skills in one, test-like question?
Preparing students for their end-of-year assessments doesn’t have to be daunting. Instead, it can coexist alongside your regular content instruction with BrainPOP. As the cherry on top, BrainPOP’s embedded literacy skill-building not only helps students prepare for TEIs and assessments: they become more agile learners.
AnnaLiese Burich is a product marketing manager at BrainPOP with a history of Edtech writing experience. She holds an MA in Magazine Journalism and an MA in English Literature.