All Articles tagged Testing

ACT Essay Section: It’s Manageable!

June 1, 2020 Brad Hoffman

In 2015, the ACT essay section was revised to include more challenging writing prompts. And yet, as a tutor for the ACT, I find the revised format provides more ways to simplify the writing process. Every essay that a student writes for the ACT requires taking a position on a topic, providing examples, and coming to a clear conclusion.

The most important strategy to impart is teaching students a format to write the argumentative essay in 5 paragraphs:

Introductory paragraph with a clear thesis
Example in support of one’s thesis
Example in support of one’s thesis
Example anticipating the opposition to one’s thesis
Clear and decisive conclusion.

The challenging part is getting students to invent excellent examples.

As a tutor, I ask my students to brainstorm examples from their own personal lives, and connect the point they argue to History, Philosophy, Politics, and Current Events. Some of these examples are great, others don’t make the connections necessary to support the thesis. Ah, but there’s hope!

The NEW ACT essay prompt provides the thesis and examples for the students. What’s great about this new format is that the guesswork of how to structure the essay and what kind of examples to give are now EMBEDDED INTO THE PROMPT. In other words, there is one less step for students to take.

Instead of inventing perspectives, students are given them and asked to respond to differing viewpoints.

Albeit while this may make the task of writing an ACT essay less organic and creative, the new essay format provides a framework simplifying the task of writing the argumentative essay considerably.

Just ask yourself, which task you’d rather respond to:

To argue both sides of a point and produce 3+ excellent examples including ones with which you do not agree.

To be given three opinions (perspectives), rewrite and examine these opinions, and choose one you support the most using the ideas for examples given by the prompt?

Prepping for this essay will be less arduous. With a strong outline and applied practice there’s no reason not to earn a strong score.

While there is more writing on the page, which perhaps makes the ACT essay task appear overwhelming, it’s really quite manageable. All of this information helps by laying the groundwork for the essay and outlining what is to come.

Want to practice?

By Grant Bergland, MFA and Private Tutor

Online Learning: Anxiety Management

April 8, 2020 Brad Hoffman

As the coronavirus pandemic continues and we all settle into new routines, chances are that you and your family are experiencing some stress and anxiety around the state of the world and the uncertainty that comes with it. This situation can be especially challenging if your child is already dealing with high levels of anxiety and/or a diagnosed anxiety disorder. Plus, it can be tough to help kids stay calm when you’re not feeling so calm yourself!

But while online learning and guiding children’s education at home are certainly unfamiliar hurdles for many families, the good news is that they can also be great vehicles for practicing anxiety management. There are lots of helpful tools out there for helping manage children’s anxiety, but it can be hard to find ways to actually practice them in day-to-day life. By making the most of your child’s new at-home school day, you can build anxiety management into daily routines and help your child develop healthy habits that will be help them keep their cool for years to come.

Set Daily Intentions

Studies show that children tend to benefit when they have clear—and high!—expectations to live up to. That doesn’t mean that you need to hold your child to an unrealistically high standard, but it does mean that they should know what’s expected of them each and every day. This is especially true now, when the lack of commitments outside the home can make kids feel like the days are all the same and the stakes are low. In turn, that sense of not knowing what to expect can exacerbate kids’ anxiety.

Accordingly, one helpful anxiety management technique is to start each school day with a predictable ritual that makes it clear what the rest of the day will hold. This should include a few key components:

A quick review of what the day’s schedule will look like. What will your child do first? When will they take a break? What time is lunch?
A rundown of the tasks that will be completed. This might be a concrete goal (finish chapter 3, for instance) or a set amount of time devoted to a topic (read for 30 minutes).
An assessment of what supplies will be needed, and where your child can find them. Will they need a calculator, markers, or a timer? Work together to gather those supplies now so that your child doesn’t have to waste worry looking for them later.

Then, it’s also helpful to include a “bonus” in your child’s morning ritual, so that they—and you!—remember that the day can be as much about fun as anything else. Be creative here—what does your child enjoy and find exciting? This could be reading a bit of a favorite book, spending time playing with a pet, or checking on the plants growing on your terrace. Any quick activity that brings calm and focus to your child’s morning is a great way to start off the school day on the right foot.

Make the Most of Breaks

Having enough time to just breathe is a huge part of effective anxiety management. If your child feels pressured to focus and achieve every minute of the day, they’re likely to have higher levels of anxiety—especially now, when they might be scared about the pandemic and having difficulty processing their feelings.

That’s why it’s essential to take plenty of breaks during the remote school day. Depending on your child’s age and personality, you might schedule short breaks in between subjects, have one longer break in the middle of the day, or try a 50/50 model—for instance, 30 minutes of work followed by 30 minutes of play. Experiment with different break structures and see which one works best for your child. You can even use different structures on different days to break up the week; maybe one structure is for Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, while another is for Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Beyond just taking breaks, it’s also important to build anxiety management tools into your child’s breaks as much as you can. They might just want to reach for an iPad game—and sometimes, that’s completely okay! But you’ll also want to encourage them to use more focused stress-busting activities when you can. For example, this might include:

Having a quick dance party to a favorite song—music and physical activity can both help relieve anxiety!
Taking a walk outside or even just sitting by a window for some fresh air and sunshine.
Spending a bit of time on a creative project, whether that’s playing with clay for a few minutes or coloring in a drawing page.
“Meeting up” with a friend for a FaceTime snack break. Kids need to keep in touch with their loved ones just as much as you do!

By being purposeful about breaks and what your child does with them, you’ll make anxiety management a regular touchpoint throughout the day.

Celebrate Small Wins

During these unprecedented days of remote learning, it can be hard to know whether you and your family are “doing it right.” But rest assured—there’s no one right way to handle this situation! It’s important to emphasize this point to your children, whether they’re used to getting straight As or struggling with the new requirements of online learning. Just by getting through the days during this uncertain time, kids and families alike are reaching a meaningful goal that deserves to be celebrated, and marking achievements (even ones that might seem small) is another great way to practice anxiety management.

To do this, try closing out your child’s school day with a rundown of what went well that day. These might be academic milestones, like a good grade on an online quiz, but it’s also helpful to guide your child in celebrating other kinds of success. For instance, did your child demonstrate any of these positive behaviors today?

Sticking with a challenging task
Helping out around the house
Caring for a pet or sibling
Coming up with a creative idea
Being quiet or focused when asked

Any chance you have to compliment your child and focus on how they’re succeeding is a chance to support anxiety management, so make this a daily habit to round out the school day on a positive note.

It’s an overwhelming time for most of us, and anxiety management is really critical. If there are any ways our team can help to support your family with online learning, school planning, or parent coaching, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

By Hannah Sheldon-Dean, MSW and Private Tutor, Brad Hoffman, MS.Ed. and CEP, and Faya Hoffman, M.A. and CEP

Online Learning: Supporting Elementary Students

March 21, 2020 Brad Hoffman

The COVID-19 pandemic took us all by surprise. As we collectively braced ourselves for a different reality and adjusted to our new normal, our students’ school experience changed dramatically and shifted to online learning. Educators around the country took to the internet and quickly engineered a classroom experience without the classroom.

As we all swiftly settle into the world of online learning, it becomes increasingly essential that we equip elementary students with the tools and know-how to be capable, independent remote learners. Furthermore, it is pivotal that families have the tools and skill set to help support elementary students in that transition. For those only familiar with the traditional classroom experience, remote learning can be a daunting new world.

What is online learning?

Online learning takes on many forms and is largely responsive to the needs of the learning community–what works for teaching a group of fifth graders may be entirely useless during a private tutoring session with a first grader. The utility of each platform and set-up for remote learning is as unique as the students and teachers themselves.

Although new to many outside the educational field, the world of online learning was thriving well before we sat quarantined in our homes. Educators, school based and at-home, have utilized online platforms as a practical medium for teaching for years, often as a supplement to classroom instruction or a bridge between in-person tutoring sessions. So, while for many families, this may feel like uncharted terrain, most teachers and tutors have an expansive understanding of remote learning and have used it regularly to build their students’ skills and complement their curriculum.

We can classify nearly all digital learning as being either synchronous or asynchronous. Synchronous learning allows educators and students to come together in real time to deliver instruction, discuss understanding, and provide feedback. Asynchronous learning enables educators and students to work on tasks at different times. Most traditional schools use a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning to replicate the classroom experience and move through curriculum. You might find your student’s online learning experience to reflect this combination, with a menu of self-guided tasks alongside a daily or weekly expectation to log on for live instructional streams from their teacher or tutor.

Asynchronous virtual learning is an expansive domain, covering everything from self-guided video lessons to skill-based learning games. Your student’s teacher or tutor is likely pulling from a number of resources to create a full and rich online curriculum to meet their learning goals. Just like in a classroom, some skills, such as building multiplication fact fluency, might be best practiced independently in game play with digital feedback, while others, such as multiplying fractions, are best left to a guided, video-based tutorial.

What does online private tutoring, or e-tutoring, look like?

Similar to the classroom experience, online tutoring is responsive to students and their individual learning needs. Tutors still work to provide individualized, dynamic support to students, often using synchronous, video-based instruction as the platform for learning. Video conferencing platforms allow screenshares and digital whiteboarding, so tutors are able to provide a full range of interactive and visual support during their session. By integrating digital slides and whiteboards into instruction, tutors are able to recreate the physical session experience, providing immediate feedback on students’ work and interacting instantaneously in response to their questions, comments, and concerns. Online tutoring can also add value to tutoring in ways that are hard to replicate when working on paper and pen. For example, tutors can support students’ writing process in real time as they work through an essay, providing organizational support and feedback nearly immediately on a digital document. A session spent working on the organization of online documents and folders through screen sharing can help students maintain order and build independence as they transition to becoming full-time remote learner.

How can I support my elementary student’s transition to online learning?

The unexpected move to fully remote learning is a big transition for everyone. Students, educators, and families all play a role in making sure that virtual learning is successful and impactful. Families can support their young students by building technological independence and keeping structured routines in the days ahead.

Most elementary school students are still growing comfortable on laptops and tablets. Giving your student practice in the basics of navigating the internet will prove exponentially useful in the coming days. Parents can host their own child in an online conference call using Zoom, Hangout, or Facetime. During this time, help familiarize them with the basic features of the platform–how to join, hang up, make the screen bigger or smaller, and react to items. Your child’s tutor or teacher might provide a similar tutorial, but it doesn’t hurt to get a head start. Especially with younger students, you may need to work alongside them in the beginning stages of online learning. But, fade that support quickly. Just because you can be there to help does not mean you should be there to help. Just like any other skill, gaining competence as a remote learner comes through exploration and making mistakes.

Routinizing the online learning experience will prove invaluable in the long run. While online classrooms and tutoring sessions might feel novel now, it is likely that students will be learning remotely for at least the next several weeks. Set a routine that works for your household schedule and stick to it. Allowing students to build their own schedule from a menu of necessities and options will not only provide them with agency during a stressful time but also build their capacity to manage their own time and tasks.

What do I need to make online learning successful in my home?

First and foremost, set up a permanent, designated learning station in your home. This should be outfitted with a Desktop, laptop and/or tablet, paper and writing tools, and any school books your student might need while working. If they already have a desk in their bedroom, make sure to clean off unnecessary materials or distractions before launching online learning. You may also want to consider having the workspace face a wall or set up a small privacy divider (easily made out of file folders) around the area–distractions are plentiful in a home environment and you want to minimize them.

It is also an ideal time to place an online supply order. Elementary school classrooms are well stocked with supplementary supplies and tools, ones that are often not present in the home. You will also want to invest in a headset with built-in microphone, if you don’t already have one. In addition to helping your student focus on the content, it will also optimize their participation in live sessions. A small white board and dry erase markers are also vital tools. They allow your student to show their thinking to teachers and tutors in an efficient way during live stream sessions. Writing paper, either with raised lines or traditional, is also essential. As students adjust to online math instruction, having manipulatives at home will also be crucial. Start with Base 10 Blocks, a Ruler, Fraction Circles, Fraction Towers, Wooden Geometric Solids, and Attribute Blocks.

And finally, the most important tool in this transition is your approach. Encouraging students to be flexible and adaptive learners on this new, unscheduled adventure is important. They will take their approach and outlook on remote learning from you. So, gear up, and lean in!

By Marisa Krohn, Ed.M. and Learning Specialist, and Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and Learning Specialist

Online Learning: Supporting College Students

March 21, 2020 Brad Hoffman

Some college students may rejoice to hear their classes have shifted to online learning, but the social context for that change remains stressful and it is a mistake to think that classes will be easier online. For students still in dorms, the distractions are endless. For students living back home, distractions and adjustments to family life contribute to the disruption. With the radical switch that most face as their instructors turn to remote learning, college students need to accept a greater level of responsibility for their education, all while being more patient with others and themselves.

The health crisis that is leading to self-selected quarantines and university closures is a massive change for everybody. Accept some disruptions as your instructors overhaul courses for online learning. Some may struggle with platforms they have largely avoided. Others may need to reimagine their course content. All are facing a barrage of updates on policies and practices and having to adjust accordingly. Some students are comfortable with online learning, while others aren’t. Some have impairments that complicate their access and use of virtual platforms. Patience with professors and classmates will help during the transition period into online learning for the rest of the semester.

Switching to online learning means being entirely self-regulated and governed. Plan study sessions for each subject. Dedicate a few hours throughout the week. Letting work accumulate becomes overwhelming and that stress leads to abandoning projects. Marathon sessions are not effective. Short but regular engagement works best. Put your study time into a calendar and stick with it because falling behind is very easy. In higher ed, professors don’t provide the same level of support that high schools do. College students need to be responsible for managing their time, their work, and their success.

Even if you are comfortable researching and working online, even if most of your assignments and tests required online posts, switching to exclusive online learning introduces new management expectations. Each week, instructors may use their educational platform (like Canvas or Blackboard) to assign a plethora of small assignments: videos with internal quizzes, discussion boards, textbook reading as well as articles posted to the site, automated quizzes, conference meetings, and much more. Keeping track is hard. Set aside a weekly period to look through your online course site and identify what you need to do. Some work may not have due dates, but your professor will expect you to complete it in advance of tackling other work. List all the work expectations, and track what needs to be done in a notebook or calendar.

Doing all the work for one class on one day typically fails. Some classes will require multiple posts a week. Cramming information makes it easier to forget. With online learning, there is less repetition of content so focus on any activity and extracting necessary details becomes even more important. The instructor won’t be there in class to revisit core ideas and answer questions, or simply respond to those heavy silences when students are unsure. If you know you don’t understand something, request a virtual meeting with the professor or TA. If the content appears in the subsequent week and you still don’t understand it, then you must address the situation immediately or face the likelihood of falling too many steps behind the material.

Recognize that the new types of work may require learning new platforms. Schedule extra time to complete assignments in case the system is not what you thought it would be. Watch tutorials and ask classmates for tips. Connect with other students through a video platform to work together. It can help as long as the work stays the focus.

The other side of the quarantine is feeling severed from friends. The isolation isn’t simply about being alone but about losing the kind of heartfelt contact that ‘hanging out’ provides. Video chats help a lot but everyone is on different schedules and connecting doesn’t always work. Just like scheduling study time, schedule chats with close friends or make group dates. Decide to have coffee together in the morning or to all eat the same thing. That small gesture can feel bonding.

For those at home again, after becoming accustomed to managing your own life, daily interactions with parents can create stress and discord within the family. Everyone is trying to adjust. The best way to show your parents that you have the maturity to study, eat, and sleep when you want is to listen patiently to their concerns and stay on top of your work. Recognize that they are likely adjusting to your lifestyle, too, and trying to make room for it in their own. If everyone finds a little more patience with each other, especially when we feel it the least, then as adults in these trying times we will get through.

By Charlotte Kent, Ph.D. and Private Tutor, and Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and Learning Specialist

Writing Fluency and Typing Speed

November 26, 2019 Brad Hoffman

Great writers are crafters of mental imagery, masters of linguistics, and drivers of dialogue. When we think about those who write and write well, we describe their poetic word choice, their lucid description, and their unparalleled ability to put unspeakable ideas into print. It is the content of their writing that causes us to return again and again to their texts — the journalist who humanizes a campaigning politician in their profile or the mystery writer who moves the plot closer to crescendo with nothing more than a few turns of phrase between characters. We read, laud, and teach the craft and content of writing to our students with the same revery, encouraging them to use “juicy words” and “vivid description.” But, we are doing ourselves and our students a disservice by not discussing one of the most important skills writers share: their writing fluency.

We infrequently think about writing fluency or typing speed. It is an understood, but rarely talked about, building block to becoming a proficient and skilled writer. Furthermore, few schools systematically include handwriting instruction or typing instruction in their curriculum. Students are expected to somehow build fluency as both writers and typists without the sufficient, and fundamentally necessary, direct instruction and structured practice to achieve proficiency. The groundwork to a writer’s craftsmanship and skillfulness is their ability to expeditiously put pen to paper. Fluency is the silent key to every writer’s success. Not only do fluent writers get their ideas on paper quickly, but by writing or typing with automaticity, they free up mental resources that allow them to become more efficient and adaptable writers, editing and revising as they work, weaving analysis and sophistication into their work without worrying about the mechanical movements of the writing process.

Research and brain science support writing fluency as a key to writing success. Our working memory, the command center of our thoughts, is hardwired for efficiency. Efficiency comes at a cost, however. Our working memory can only hold about 7 pieces of information at a time (Miller, 1956). For the fluent writer, these seven pieces of information being stored could be poetic phrases, the framework for a multi-sentence paragraph, or pieces of plot twisting dialogue between two characters. For the novice writer who is still attending to the mechanics of writing or typing, these seven slots are quickly filled by thinking about how to form the letter m or where to find the comma on the keyboard. They simply do not have the working memory resources to attend to crafting engaging content while struggling to mechanically form letters with their pen or on the keyboard. Research on handwriting speed supports this and, in studies, increased transcription speed positively correlated to the overall quality of writing (Peverly, 2006). Fluent writers are ultimately better writers.

So, while we anecdotally and empirically understand the need for writing fluency and typing automaticity, it is often left unaddressed in the standard writing curriculum. Students learn craft and content and writing fluency is expected to develop along the way. For some, it naturally does and they become quick and accurate writers and typists. But, for those students who struggle to incidentally learn the efficient mechanics of writing and typing, their dysfluency continues to hold them back from developing a stronger repertoire of writing skills.

Luckily, writing fluency and typing automaticity can be developed with a little time and attention (and perhaps, even some fun!). Here are some ideas for how you can build you student’s typing and writing fluency:

Try out some engaging apps and computer programs that work to build mechanical automaticity in handwriting or typing. Typingclub.com offers free typing lessons and games. Apps like iTrace and Writing Wizard teach students letter formation on your iPad. Typing fluency can be achieved in no time while playing games! As your student becomes a more proficient typer, try a keyboard cover to make it more challenging!
Find a penpal: Writing is purpose driven. For the emerging typist, set up an email account and find a responsive recipient. Regular email correspondence to a favorite aunt or faraway friend from camp is a motivating force to sit down and type. This is true of the budding writer as well. Pick out some fun letter paper and make the walk to the mailbox a regular routine. Fluency builds when there is high motivation to write with length and strength to a loved one!
Lists, lists everywhere!: Make your student the captain of your household list keeping, either on paper or in a word document. Shopping lists are always a great excuse to write. But, there are plenty of reasons to make a list. Places to Visit, Questions About Outer Space, and the Definitive Ranking of Ice Cream Flavors make for great conversations and even better list writing.
Start a family blog or journal: Communal projects are a great way to build camaraderie and to sneak in some writing! Start a family journal or blog. Each family member can write a quick paragraph about their week with a snapshot. Your student will be excited to read and contribute, building their writing fluency as they go!

By Marisa Krohn, Ed. M. and Learning Specialist, and Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed. and Certified Educational Planner

Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven, plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for processing information. Psychological Review, 63(2), 81-97.

Peverly, S.T. (2006) The Importance of Handwriting Speed in Adult Writing. Developmental Neuropsychology, 29, 197-216.

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