Test Prep: Self-Paced Video Review

What each station looks like. Station + directions.

So, despite my deep, unbridled hate for standardized testing**, we are talking test prep today. Two weeks of getting kids "ready". We buckle down and go. I hate the idea of sitting kids down and doing endless problems. They've heard my voice all year. I'm trying to mix it up a little. Here is something I'm trying in my classroom this year, we will see how it goes.

To review, I picked the topics that I know most of my students did not do well on this year. There were 8 main topics they needed to cover. For those 8 topics we picked 4 questions.

Always good to have a few extra copies lying around. 

 To reteach, we made a reteach video using the app "ShowMe." ShowMe hosts the videos you make so we linked those to a QR code and made a poster like the one here. It includes the topic, the two model questions, and the QR code for the video. Students have a packet with the stations in them, but their page includes two additional questions to practice and a QR code that links to the answer for each so they can self-check.

So, for 6 class days, students move at their own pace through the stations. They get a reteach, a practice, and the ability to self-check their work. The other days are spent on more of a whole class review, and the last day we do a QR Code scavenger hunt. 

Gotta love working together. 

This has worked pretty well, logistically, so far.Students are working at their own pace and still getting a review of the material. I am able to work with small groups of students and monitor everyone. One thing I have loved seeing as I walk around is students explaining to each other how they got their answer or asking each other for help. They have the right answer in front of them with the QR code. Instead of just getting an answer and moving on, they know if they got it right or wrong and, usually, they are asking each other for help if they got it wrong. It's fun to see them want to find the right answer.


So, if your well of ideas for test review is dried up, give this a try!

*These specific stations are not in my TPT store because the questions they cover are straight from our district (and I don't really want to give the whole world access to my voice as I do the videos). However, I have a lot more fun activities in my TPT store for both regular instruction and test prep (especially if you teach 7th grade math in Texas).

**Disclaimer: This needs to be said. I hate testing. I hate it. I loathe the current situation our state and country are in when it comes to the ridiculous amount of time, money and energy spent on high stakes testing that does nothing to assess what our students are actually learning and what teachers are actually teaching. However, as a teacher I want to do the best at my job and that involves testing. It does not mean I brow beat my students with standards and strategies; I truly try and teach MATH, not testing. But, two weeks a year we dig deep and review over what we have learned that year. I try and make it fun while also setting them up for success.*  This does not mean I spend time and energy coming up with cute slogans and changing the words to pop songs to get my kids "pumped." I try and better use my time (and theirs) to review what they need to know in an engaging way.

*Success as defined not by true knowledge, but the ability to navigate a labyrinth of tricky vernacular that better assesses testing skills than actual application of knowledge.