Nearpod for Common Core Comprehension Lessons

In first grade we used the free app Nearpod to practice the comprehension strategy Making Predictions.  Nearpod is a digital tool that lets you create or upload content and push your presentation out to each user's device.  With this tool everyone is able to see the same presentation on their own device.

My favorite feature of this digital tool is that it allows you to add activities into your presentation.  You can ask an open ended question, poll your audience, ask quiz questions, and more--without ever leaving the app.  The paid version gives you even more features, but you do get a lot of great features for free!

For our Making Predictions activity I created a new nearpod and then uploaded one of the great videos I found on YouTube from Story Cove.  I picked a short folktale, one that was great for making predictions.  I used Quicktime on my iMac to trim the video up to the point where I wanted students to stop and predict.  Then I added in one of the activity slides called "Draw It".  On this slide students drew and wrote about their prediction and then sent it to me, where I could review all of the student submissions from my screen.  After watching the final portion of the video students were asked if their prediction was correct and to use text evidence to prove it.

Slides:  Introduction slide, first part of the video, prediction slide, final part of the video, and text evidence slide.

Student prediction.

Student prediction.

Evidence example.

I could see using this tool for many other comprehension strategies as well.  The best part is, instead of having just one or a group of students raising their hands to answer the question, EVERYONE gets to be involved and practice the strategy! :)

Embedded PARCC Practice

Let's take a look at a quiz I created on Google Forms that has PARCC-like questions.

I really like how the quiz felt very much like those challenging, deep-thinking PARCC questions and yet still let me use the content that I teach.  Take a look and you'll see how well my important, life-skills content meshed with the test prep to make the activity feel worthwhile.

First Question:  Students practiced a multi-select item.  Their teachers and I have already pointed out to them that when they see a square to the left of their answer choices that means there is more than one answer they need to select.

Second Question with Part A and B:  I used section headers in Google Forms to make a two-part question.  I saw lots of these on the PARCC practice tests and decided it was definitely important to practice.  I also embedded the video we used during the lesson and marked where the content was in the video by giving students the time markers in parentheses.  This question relies heavily on using the context clues given in the video as each answer choice could seem correct if you don't watch the video.  This matched the style of the PARCC questions perfectly.  Part B asks for text evidence so we could practice our Language Arts Common Core skills within the context of my digital citizenship unit.

Final Question:  Again, we practice a multi-select item with this question.

Take a look at my last post about the using Google Forms for PARCC practice to find out more about how Google Forms helps us practice PARCC-like questions.

PARCC and Google Forms

Google Forms has a lot of similarities with the PARCC test, which makes it an excellent tool for embedding PARCC practice into your lessons.

Multiple Choice vs. Multiple Select
In one type of question, students will be required to select the ONE correct option from multiple choices.  In another type of question, they will need to select multiple choices.  Both the PARCC test and Google forms use circles to represent answer choices that have ONE correct option and squares to represent answer choices where students are able to select multiple options.

Left:  PARCC TestNav 8 Tutorial, Right:  Google Forms

Videos
The PARCC test may require students to watch video clips.  Students will need to know how to play, pause, and move the slider to start the video at a certain point.  Google Forms will help your students practice this skill as it allows you to insert YouTube videos into your form.
*Warning:  At the end of the video, You Tube shows suggested videos.  These suggestions may not be appropriate for your students.  However, I believe it is worthwhile to teach students what to do when inappropriate content appears online vs. avoiding this tool.

Top:  PARCC TestNav 8 Tutorial, Bottom:  Google Forms

Drop Down Choices
Students will need to know how to use drop down menus to answer one type of question on the PARCC.  The "Choose from a list" question type on Google Forms allows students to practice this type of question.  However, it's not a perfect match with the example question provided by the PARCC TestNav 8 Tutorial.   You'll see below that the example question from the PARCC tutorial has students writing a number sentence using multiple drop down choices whereas in the Google Forms example students are only able to select from ONE drop down menu per question.

Top:  PARCC TestNav 8 Tutorial, Bottom:  Google Forms

Writing in a Box
A colleague of mine shared with me that students were required to write in a box on the PARCC pilot test they took last year and thought they had to make their response fit into the box.  What they didn't realize was that if they kept writing scroll bars would have appeared that would allow them to compose a longer response.  This question type is available as "Paragraph text" on Google Forms.

Google Forms in Your Daily Lessons
Here are some quick ideas for incorporating Google Forms into your lessons.

• Make a quiz
• Record results from a lab
• Respond to reading
• Survey your class
• Create forms as a class to gather data for analysis
• So many more great ideas shared here by Tom Barrett