Brad Hoffman, Author at My Learning Springboard

Practicing Sight Words at Home to Increase Fluency

September 23, 2014 Brad Hoffman

Word recognition is an important domain in successful reading. Being able to immediately decode and recognize words allows a reader to focus his/her attention on the meaning of the text versus interrupting comprehension to figure out individual words. Building a student’s mastery of sight words is important in supporting a student’s reading comprehension and fluency.

Sight words are words that a person should be able to identify and read automatically and depend upon the child’s age or grade. One way to support your child’s ability to recognize age appropriate sight words at home is to increase the opportunities he or she has to see and read them. For example: make flash cards with these words written on them and have your child practice reading as many as they can. This can be made into a game by recording, on a chart sheet or calendar, how many words your child has read correctly.

Another fun and effective activity to increase your child’s exposure to sight words is to label objects in your house with flashcards that have the sight words written on them (the objects should be labeled with appropriate words, e.g. a kitchen chair should be labeled “the chair” or just “chair”). Have your child go through the house and read the flashcards, have your child read the words until all the words are recited back to you correctly. As an add on to the game, have your child collect the correctly read words and leave the cards that were read incorrectly. Once all words are read correctly, have your child read the words again, and label the objects in the house with the appropriate flashcard.

These games provide more opportunities for your child to practice reading sight words. With increased exposure and practice, your child will be more likely to automatically recognize these sight words when they come across them in reading. Ultimately allowing them to read more fluently.

For a list of the 1000 most frequently occurring sight words, refer to Fry Sight-Word Inventory

By Jessi Himmelsbach, Reading Specialist

Evelisse Mercado

September 22, 2014

Evelisse Mercado is a highly experienced and dedicated educator with over a decade of teaching expertise. Currently in her fifth year at the Valhalla Union Free School District, Evelisse has taught both first and second grade, and she presently serves as a second-grade teacher. Beyond the classroom, she is a Grade Level Leader responsible for planning curriculum, ensuring instructional alignment with the Next Generation Learning Standards, and supporting colleagues in delivering high-quality lessons. She also serves as her school’s ELA Data Analyst, where she drives instruction across the entire K–2 building by closely monitoring reading, foundational skills, and writing data to inform effective teaching practices.

Evelisse began her career as a Master Teacher in the New York City Department of Education, where she taught first, second, third, and fifth grade in both general education and Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT) settings. She has extensive experience creating and implementing Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) and supporting a wide range of student needs, including those with Speech and Language Impairments, Learning Disabilities, Executive Functioning Disorders, ADD/ADHD, Anxiety, and high-functioning Autism. She also taught summer school for four years at Mount Pleasant Blythedale Union Free School District, where she specialized in supporting students with diverse learning needs.

A reflective practitioner, Evelisse is committed to continuously improving her teaching methods. She personalizes learning for each student by building on their strengths while addressing areas for growth, which has consistently resulted in significant academic progress. Her ability to foster strong partnerships with families is at the heart of her success, creating a supportive and collaborative environment that helps every child thrive.

Evelisse’s experience extends beyond in-person instruction. She is adept at using online collaborative tools such as Zoom, Google Workspace, and other digital platforms to design interactive, engaging virtual lessons. Her students remain motivated and eager to learn—whether in the classroom or online.

Currently pursuing her second Master’s degree in School Building Leadership at City College, Evelisse continues to expand her expertise as both a teacher and educational leader. She believes educators serve as role models in and out of the classroom, and she is passionate about motivating and inspiring young learners to reach their fullest potential.

With her wealth of experience, data-driven approach, and commitment to personalized learning, Evelisse Mercado offers private tutoring that is engaging, effective, and tailored to the unique needs of every child.

19 Meaningful Questions to Ask Your Child’s Teacher

September 22, 2014 Brad Hoffman

By Terry Heick,
Original Source: Edutopia
Originally posted August 19, 2015

Back-to-school content is usually focused on teachers and students, and as these two groups will have the largest workload ahead of them, that makes sense.

But for students, the ultimate support system is not an expert teacher, but an informed and supportive family. One of the most significant challenges facing formal education in the United States is the chasm separating schools and communities. The more informed a family is, the more seamlessly they’ll connect to so many other edu-constructs, from extracurricular activities and tutoring to reading programs and school-related events.

While schools (hopefully) work to update themselves and the way students learn within them, many parents have to work with what’s available to them. With the exception of in-depth content like Edutopia’s guides, much of the “parent stuff” you’ll find through Googling is decent enough, but it can be surface level or otherwise completely unrelated to process of learning. Some common examples:

“Ask them what they did today.”
“Help them with homework.”
“Help them with separation anxiety.”
“Talk to them about their struggles.”
“Get them a tutor.”

But these kind of topical interactions aren’t always enough, nor do they do anything at all to create transparency between schools and communities.

So, in pursuit of that transparency, below are some questions to better clarify what’s happening in the classroom, and then help you decide on the kind of non-superficial actions you can perform at home to truly support the learning of your child. Many of the questions may seem a bit direct, but I don’t know any teachers who would take offense to them. In fact, most of my colleagues would welcome the kind of added capacity that questions like these could lead to. Many of these questions are rarely the subject of parent-teacher interactions, but — well, that’s kind of the point.

Just…don’t ask them all at once. In fact, maybe pick two and hope for the best.

19 Questions Your Child’s Teacher Would (Probably) Love to Answer

What academic standards do you use, and what do I need to know about them?
How will you respond if or when my child struggles in class?
What are the most important and complex (content-related) ideas my child needs to understand by the end of the year?
Do you focus on strengths or weaknesses?
How are creativity and innovative thinking used on a daily basis in your classroom?
How is critical thinking used on a daily basis in your classroom?
How are assessments designed to promote learning rather than simple measurement?
What can I do to support literacy in my home?
What kinds of questions do you suggest that I ask my children on a daily basis about your class?
How exactly is learning personalized in your classroom? In the school?
How do you measure academic progress?
What are the most common instructional or literacy strategies you will use this year?
What learning models do you use (e.g., project-based learning, mobile learning, game-based learning, etc.), and what do you see as the primary benefits of that approach?
What are the best school or district resources for students and/or families that no one uses?
Is there technology you’d recommend that can help support my child in self-directed learning?
What are the most common barriers you see to academic progress in your classroom?
How is education changing?
How do you see the role of the teacher in the learning process?
What am I not asking but should be?

Getting the Most out of Practice Exams

September 18, 2014 Brad Hoffman

From the Regents all the way to passing the Bar Exam to practice Law, tests are part of a student’s life at all ages. The best way to prepare for any test is to use practice exams to re-create, or put more cleverly, Pre-Create the experience you will have on test day. Here are a few essential tips on how students of all ages can get the most out of their practice exams.

1. Take your practice test on the same day of the week and time of day that the actual test will be administered.

If the test is going to start at 10:00 am, practice taking it at 10:00 am. If the test is on a Saturday morning, take your practice tests on Saturday morning. Studies have shown that our ability to focus often corresponds to specific times of the day, leading some people to prefer studying at night, while others feel most capable in the mornings. Whatever time is ideal for you or your child, it’s preferable to schedule tests during those times as well. However, there isn’t always flexibility when it comes to administration times (especially with standardized tests); so, earning the best score requires peak performance regardless of the time of day the test is taken. The best way to get peak performance is to re-make and practice test day at least a few times so you or your child is comfortable with, and used to working at that time of the day. Also, if possible, try to Pre-Create a practice test on the same day of the week to make your test experience the most similar to the one approaching.

2. Time your test the same way it will be timed on test day.

Pre-Create the sequence of tests and breaks between tests as they will be administered on test day. You don’t necessarily need a stopwatch, but it will be helpful for you or your child to get used to taking breaks after completing the same number of sections of the test that will be required on test day. I’ve had students that have “Powered Through” five sections of a test without taking any breaks and others that have taken half of a test in the morning and the other half in the afternoon. The problem with these approaches is that practice tests without proper pacing don’t prepare students for what their test day will eventually be like. Fatigue can set in between test sections that a student won’t be prepared for because they were used to spreading their exam out over an entire day instead of three hours. For the “Powering Through” student, breaks can feel interruptive, breaking their stride, putting them off balance. Whatever timing you or your child prefer in taking a practice test, the administration of the actual test is often very rigid in its scheme of breaks and test section combinations. Be ready for the peaks and valleys of test day by having your timing and pacing practice be as similar to actual test day as possible.

3. Eat the same meals, have the same snacks.

Countless nutritionists (and many posts on this blog) point to the connection between performance in the classroom and the diets consumed by students. When it comes to test taking, especially important tests, test day often feels “special” to a test taker, and they might eat a different breakfast or lunch that day, or skip eating altogether. Remember, the brain is powered by food, and one’s ability to think depends on you or your child getting the nutrients they need. On the day of the test, it’s really helpful to eat the same foods you ate when you practiced, in the same amounts. Another thing that happens on test day is that I’ve seen many students eat sugary snacks they never ate during their practice tests, or drinking coffee or energy drinks, only to find themselves crashing halfway through, or worse, attacking the test too quickly. It’s often useful to have a snack or some water between tests, but “Testing” these snacks out during practice tests will teach you or your child what combinations of food and drink create the most confidence and the right amount and kind of energy for test taking.

These are three, of what I think are the most important ways to use practice tests to get the most out of test days. Bloggers, do you have any other tips for peak performance?

By Grant Bergland, Private Tutor

Learning How to Study

September 17, 2014 Brad Hoffman

In my experience, the hardest part for most students (including myself) when getting ready for an exam is not actually learning the material- the real problem is having, and spending, enough time on all the material to be tested. I’ve seen friends and students study almost endlessly, but also aimlessly, only to realize when it’s too late that they haven’t prepared themselves for the exam after all.

The long-lived rule of Sun Tzu’s Art of War is as follows:

“If you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss. If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose. If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.”

That is precisely my take on taking an exam- know yourself and know the test.

So how to study?

Know yourself- it is crucial to get this out of the way first. You need to know if you are a person that needs a lot of time to prepare so you never feel like you’re in trouble, or someone who needs pressure to focus. Look over how you prefer to learn- are you a visual, auditory or tactile learner, or some hybrid of the above?
Know your opponent- you should never just study by reading material and then taking the exam. Always start by knowing what the exam consists of, both in its scope of material you need to have prepared, and also the manner in which it will test you. You need to do practice questions. If you know you can answer the questions when it’s practice, you can remind yourself when it’s crunch time during the exam that you’ve been here. It is a HUGE boost.
Define winning. There’s no point in taking an exam and not knowing why you’re there in the first place. Different exams have different importance- some hold the pressure of admission into a program or school, others are just another grade that will average out for your final. Define your win, then shoot for a score 10% higher than that- this means you’ll have to study 10% more (material learned and time committed) than you would to just get the score you’re shooting for. Figure out how far you are from that goal score. Budget time accordingly.
Win. In the days leading up to the exam, the day of the exam, and while you are taking that exam- know you are there to win. When something goes wrong, when there’s a question you freeze up on, when you are not certain if you can finish- remind yourself that you studied like you know you best could, you’ve done enough practice questions, you’ve won before and you can do it again. It’s not positive thinking; it is thinking rationally in stressful situations and using the experiences you’ve earned and accumulated through appropriate study and practice.

The above is a very concise and pretty abstract approach to preparing for an exam. I’d be happy to field questions or help make it work specifically to your situation.

You don’t need to be forced into situations to cram- choose to by being intentional about studying in the time you want to, and you’ll find you can really learn more information than you usually would have.

It gives you more time to doing the things you would want to, and get to do them without feeling guilty for having not studied yet!

By Denny Simon, Private Tutor

Practicing Sight Words at Home to Increase Fluency

Evelisse Mercado

19 Meaningful Questions to Ask Your Child’s Teacher

Getting the Most out of Practice Exams

Learning How to Study

So how to study?

Company Overview

School Planning

Private Tutoring

Test Preparation