Study+Island+for+Teachers

 **Visitor:** Why is it that in Explorer, students are not seeing their stories on the assessment piece? We are at East Side Elementary School in Worland, WY?. **Visitor:** This does not happen on every computer. ** Melissa: ** I would like for you to ensure that you have the most recent version of Java and Flash updated on your computers. ** Melissa: ** I would also like for you to ensure that you have the following IP addresses added to your content filter: 72.249.13.0-.63 ** Melissa: ** 207.210.237.64-127 ** Melissa: ** 207.210.221.128-.191 ** Melissa: ** You will want to speak to your technical department about that. ** Melissa: ** :)
 * **Difficulties with EXPLORER**

** Melissa: ** They are scrambled. ** Melissa: ** The program makes it so that the tests are not in the same order (Just in case students who are sitting next to each other try to peek at one another's screen) :) ||
 * CUSTOM ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS**
 * Visitor: ** I have another question. On the custom assessment, most kids are getting the same questions but some are different. It is the same assessment but I think different questions. Maybe they are just scrambled. Could either be true?

Visitor: How do you clear a student session so they may begin fresh on a topic?  **Dean:** To delete a session, go to the “School Stats” page and pull an Individual Student Report. Choose the Class, Student, Program, and Subject and click “View Report.” To delete certain sessions only, click on the number of sessions that corresponds with the topic in question (under the Sessions column). A new window will pop up. Check the box next to the session you wish to delete and click “Remove Checked Sessions.” You can also delete entire topics by checking off the box to the left of the topic title and then clicking “Remove Checked Records.”
 * Clearing Student Statistics**

You will have to add these students to your class after they have been entered in the Study Islnd files. Go to study island, go to class manager, find the class, click the pencil that stands for editing class, click on the students you want to add to y our class.  **Teachers and I can add users to a Class**  **Vanessa:** **These are the correct steps... Sorry!** <span class="call_op"> <span class="call_op">**Vanessa:** To add a student to an existing class, click “Class Manager” on the left side of the screen, then click the “Edit Class” (pencil) icon to the right of the class name. Click the maroon arrow by the preferred grade level and find the student’s name on the list. Check the box next to the student you wish to add and click “Save” at the bottom of the screen. <span class="call_op"> <span class="call_op">**Visitor:** Is this an administrator thing or a teacher thing to do or both? <span class="call_op"> <span class="call_op">**Vanessa:** **Both the admin and the teacher have the ability to add the students. :)**  <span class="call_op"> <span class="call_op">**Visitor:** Great! Thank you.
 * Adding Students to Class**

Second grade is a little hard. Difficulty getting through it. The games are tied to questions. Good work sheets with skills Open-ended Print and go into Word New to this Like the worksheets Printable worksheets- See what kids are having problems with Print worksheets for those that are struggling. Different questions on worksheets When it suggests not to do a benchmark in game mode-they mean it Small group teaching Differentiation like it is so far Morning Center Let them do the games Lab time then do the test Help with reading or lower the level Like Custom Assessment Assessment Getting into the lab Whole group Kindergarten hard to log in
 * General Information from Tech Day**


 * Study Island Class Manager** I had another interesting // Study Island // session today with Nancy Frederick. She had used Classroom Manager to assign benchmarks. This is the first time a worked with a teacher that has done this. It was working pretty swift when I left. Ask her what she thought of it if you see her. It appeared she could set things up certain ways and can set passing levels. **Reporting a Question that Doesn't meet our Benchmarks:**If you see a question that a student is doing that you think is clearly not matching a Wyoming benchmark, go to the top right and there is a spot that you can click on "report question" or something like that. I don't know your benchmarks well enough to know if it matches or not, so I am not much help. Maybe you can write it down and discuss it with your grade level group first before reporting it. **Study Island log in**If you get a chance, would you log in to Study Island with "teach" as the password and then change it if you have not done so? If you put in your email, you can have reports automatically emailed to you. Let one of us know if you need your user name. **Advanced Questions when we Start using Study Island as an Assessment:**I would like to have a discussion of advanced proficient questions sometime. **Special Teachers**It appears that I can make special teachers accounts, and you can see the students. I wasn't sure about this, but it appears to work, so if special ed. and Title I want to work with this, let me know. **RTI**As I have mentioned previous to this, Study Island seems to go right along with RTI. It is very easy and quick to sort who gets it and who doesn't. After we get things up and going a little more, I will be happy to run an RTI center group with Study Island for those that are struggling with concepts. I know the biggest questions regarding data are,
 * "What does it tell us?"** and "**What are we going to do about it?"** I will try and help you more with center RTI when things ease up a bit. Let me know if you are interested in me helping with a Tier 2 and 3 based on Study Island data and using Study Island. I have been doing this with the //My Access// writing and it seems to work well, and I can still meet the parameters of my job description. **Advanced**
 * Students using technology**I am running advanced groups at Middle School using technology but this keeps me pretty busy-later maybe on-I can help a bit with this at the elementary level. **FasstMath** Is not ready and it looks like it may be awhile.


 * Simplify Log ins**: If you want to simplify a student's log in name for Study Island, would you send me an email? I can sure try to do that.


 * Student Scores:** To see and sort student scores, go to the grade book and click on the little paper picture at the left of the standard. For instance, if you click on the paper by pretest, it will show student scores and you can sort different ways by clicking on the top of the column by which you wish to sort. Remind students that they need to do their very best. They are looking to improve skills and get blue ribbons.
 * Guessing:** They also need to know that the more they guess, the more problems they get, so it pays to read!


 * Study Island****Kindergarten and First Grade:** We noticed yesterday that Study Island for kindergarten and probably first does not have a pretest. You have to start with the skills.

12/18/2009 Some ideas from Tina: Denise, I wanted to let you know that I got my students into Mathfacts in a Flash and Study Island today. We only had time to change their passwords to their lunch numbers, but this is how we did it. I modeled Mathfacts (we were due to start in January, so we're just a tad ahead of schedule.) in our room on the smartboard and explained we were going to get ready for Study Island and that they would need their lunch numbers. Most of them still had their cards from the beginning of school or knew them. One kids practiced on the keypad of my computer. Then they went straight in and did Mathfacts. When they finished, they went to the Shepperd software site. Then I and two aides went around and opened a new tab, opened Study Island, and put in their User Name asking them to try to remember it. They put in their own numbers and I went around typing in my email. After they saved they went back to the Sheppard Software tab and had time to play. It was a great start! I'm really thrilled with how easy it was.

Good News! But...
 * Fear not, Study Island is very easy to start. Carolyn Durr and I worked with her students today. She created her log-in as the students were doing theirs and it went very smoothly. We did the pretest and then it defaulted to phonics for the practice, so we just stuck with that. She wanted to lower the difficulty level on a couple of students, so she did. The kids had to login again to get the new level, but it wasn't a problem to adjust the difficulty level.
 * Please let me help you get started, especially if you have younger students. The initial start-up is only difficult because students need help finding the icon, typing their usernames and making new passwords, and learning the steps. Sometimes those lunch numbers are tricky to remember for a few students. I am an extra helper in the room.


 * We are trying to find out the best way to encourage students to do well. We are emphasizing effort, goal-setting, and doing their best even on the games. When they complete a lesson, we show them how to see the level they performed, and we talk about blue ribbons, and how to get them. I would like to hear back from some of you if you want to do some type of recognition or chart for students and their blue ribbons. Please write me back with your ideas to get the best possible performance from out students.


 * Dave asked the tech. support if students could be in two groups at two different levels. She said they sure could through class manager. the live chat feature takes about 30 seconds to get a response, so you can use it "in the moment." You need to be logged on first, though.
 * I would like to begin Study Island with the classes I work with right now if you don't mind. Let me know if this doesn't work for you.
 * If you see a problem that does not meet our Wyoming benchmarks exactly, please let Study Island know. Specifically state what is not correct and maybe the problem if you can too. If you want to wait and talk to your grade level team first you can. For instance, if 3rd grade only needs to know place value to 100 and Study Island is testing them to the 1000's place, we need to let them know, so when the real assessment piece comes out in January, students aren't being tested at too high or too low of level.
 * If you see a problem that does not meet our Wyoming benchmarks exactly, please let Study Island know. Specifically state what is not correct and maybe the problem if you can too. If you want to wait and talk to your grade level team first you can. For instance, if 3rd grade only needs to know place value to 100 and Study Island is testing them to the 1000's place, we need to let them know, so when the real assessment piece comes out in January, students aren't being tested at too high or too low of level.
 * If you see a problem that does not meet our Wyoming benchmarks exactly, please let Study Island know. Specifically state what is not correct and maybe the problem if you can too. If you want to wait and talk to your grade level team first you can. For instance, if 3rd grade only needs to know place value to 100 and Study Island is testing them to the 1000's place, we need to let them know, so when the real assessment piece comes out in January, students aren't being tested at too high or too low of level.

** Brandy : ** Yes. What she will do is create an additional class for the RTI. Then she will make assignments using the lower grade level material. ** Visitor: ** Thank You!! ** Brandy : ** This will allow them to still access all 5th grade material as well as work on specific topic that they need remediation in. ||
 * **Live Chat December 17, 2009 RTI and Remediation** ** Visitor: **  This is a Question from a teacher for you: Can I have a student enrolled in my classroom and using the 5th grade curriculum also be in a RTI class at a lower level. The reason that I ask is I teach the 5th grade curriculum but some of my kids are behind and need remediation. So can a child work in two grade levels at the same time.

>>> Denise Herman 12/17/2009 1:05 PM >>> Thanks for attending //Study Island// if you could yesterday. If you were unable to attend, catch me or someone in your building to get the information. We worked in the class manager part a lot, which helped. When you first log on to Study Island, the **HELP** menu at the top has some great videos and some super implementation ideas. **There were a few question that were asked yesterday. I called up the company for a couple of them.** 1. Are students' names loaded? Yes, along with all the disaggregation data. If you have a new student, please contact your Study Island building administrator. We don't have a system yet for new and moved kids, but if your building administrator doesn't mind me doing it, it will save them some work, but I will wait to hear from them. 2. If a student guesses wrong twice on the same question, is that two deductions in percentage losses? In other words, if they choose B-it's wrong, so they choose C, it's wrong, is that two wrongs on the overall scoring? No, it only counts as one wrong. 3. If a teacher does a classroom assessment through the class manager (not a benchmark assessment), does the score show up separately, or not? No, it falls in with the overall score. The teacher must use the filter by time feature to find the scores for that assessment. You can clear the score right before they take it and print scores soon after though. 4. How is it best to use Study Island? I don't know. I really want feedback from all of you. You will quickly leave me behind because you will have the hands-on experience with it, so I really want and need your feedback so I can share with others. The implementation ideas under the help menu are very good. 5. When you use the feature that you have to have so many correct before you play a game, I think it is my understanding that this is an overall cumulative score and not just for that day. In other words, if a student doesn't do well on a day, it may take a bit (days) for him/her to get the score up again. You can clear scores if that is what you wish to do. There is a video that tells you how to do this in **HELP. I think the games count as questions-they just take longer, maybe.** ** 6. Study Island works very well for RTI. If other teachers want passwords, I can sure check to see how that works. Students can get on in any room using their password. You can make different classes for different students, depending on their needs. ** Thanks again everyone. Call me, and I will try and be with you the first few times to help you get started as an extra person in the room. I will be no expert on this, but I am willing to find answers for you if you request.

We will have Study Island trainings in December after school and during Technology Day. Details will follow shortly.

<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">The recommended time will vary depending on the topic and level of the student. Usually around 15-30 minute, but we do not put a time restriction on any particular session. If a student does not finish, he or she can continue at a later time where they stopped. What are the present percentages for excellent and good? <span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">It is based on your state’s average. I forwarded the question to our content department for a better explanation.
 * Questions**

**How can I keep students on task while using Study Island?**
Many things are in place within Study Island to help keep students on task, including a guessing detector that forces students to wait 10 seconds before answering after guessing is detected, real time reports that allow you to view what students are doing on Study Island, and built in remediation topics. However, if you still find you need a few more tricks to put up your sleeve, try the following ideas to help students stay on task within Study Island!


 * 1) Study Island on Paper- Have students bring scratch paper with them to the lab (or computer area) and work out problems or explain their answers in writing as they work. Use this as a participation grade and a way to check student strategies and logic on how they come up with the answers they select.
 * 2) Model Reporting Capabilities- When introducing Study Island to students, be sure to communicate the data that is available to teachers on what they do. This will help hold them accountable for all they do in the program. Create a fake student user and record some stats under that user. Then, in class, pull up the reports that are recorded for that fake student on a projector screen. Go through the stats with the students and show them all of the stats that teachers can pull such as time spent on each topic, missed questions, etc. By doing this, you will be demonstrating that work in Study Island is tracked and off task behavior should decrease.
 * 3) Lab time Mini Challenges - Create a group of cards to place in the lab or near student computers with small mini challenges for students to reach when working on Study Island. (Some examples of challenges – Earn a Blue Ribbon on the topic of the day, complete at least 15 correct questions before lab time is over, etc.) Each time students come to the lab or begin study sessions in the classroom, have them select a card from the stack and try to complete the challenge listed on the card. Have small prizes like candy, pencils or homework passes ready for students who successfully complete their missions!

**How can I implement Study Island into a computer lab setting?**

 * 1) Lab Mini-lesson- Teach a mini-lesson on the topic you will be assigning in the lab that day. Login using your teacher account and select the program and topic you would like to use. Next to the topic in blue lettering is the word Lesson. Use the lesson to review your topic and then go through one or two questions together before having students break off on their own.
 * 2) Creating Assignments- For a structured approach, preset your class assignments using Class Manager and activate your Class Page. You can have 10 active assignments at a time and each assignment can have up to 10 topics within the assignment.
 * 3) Creating a Homepage- Set your Class Page as the homepage for your students. That way it will be the first thing they see upon login, allowing them to get started quickly.
 * 4) Multi-level Lab- If you will be having multiple grade levels within the lab, create a class for each grade level and make assignments accordingly. (Remember that students can be in more than one class on Study Island at the same time.) If you set those class pages as home pages, students will automatically know the assignment they are to be working on in the lab.
 * 5) Viewing the Standard Map- Each topic within Study Island is mapped to a specific standard for your state. To view how the topics align with what you are teaching, click on the program (3rd grade) and subject (math) you want to study. Once on the list of topics page, look to the right of the subject name (math). You will see a View Standard Map button. Align your Study Island lab assignments to the standard you have most recently taught for a great review assessment.
 * 6) Self Selected Topics- For a less teacher-directed approach, allow students to self select topics to work on. Have your students click on My Reports and then Suggested Topics each time they come to the lab. This allows them to view the topics they have mastered and topics to work on.
 * 7) Subject Scramble- Not sure what to do with fast finishers in the lab? Allow students who finish new topics early to go back and review old topics with games. Set your expectations at the beginning of lab or have old topic choices posted.