So today was the big day for my Year 10s' first assessment using their i-Pads. As mentioned in a previous post, this was a diagnostic Close Reading assessment that all of Year 10s take. In years past, this assessment has been modified so that this remedial class could cope.
The only modifications that I have made are to give them more time (2 periods instead of 1) and to allow them to use their ipads to "read" and write, using iWordQ. This was also the day that the RTLB staff would be sitting in to observe.
I have to say that it went better than I could have ever imagined. The students had been prepped to know what to expect, and they came in ready to work. Ipads were handed out along with headsets. I wrote a few instructions: login to Moodle/open Year 10 English Wagner/click on Year 10 Close Reading test in Topic 9/copy and paste content into iwordQ, which they could do with a bit of help. I also put up a few tips regarding keywords and how to read questions carefully.
The only snafu was that the test was invisible, which I quickly sorted. The only clumsiness was the copying, which was not easy to do in Moodle for some reason. (In Pages, if you scroll to the bottom of the text, you merely double tap the screen and you can select all, but not in Moodle). But on the whole, everyone was underway in 10 minutes.
They (except for one) worked very well and sustained a level of engagement I had never seen from this group, nor expected- especially in a reading test. Some actually asked if they could use dictionary.com to look up the meaning of a word! Some struggled a bit with the text to speech function and I needed to adjust the speed for some who couldn't understand the voice (once it slowed, they could work it out).
The RTLB was very pleased, and I was in quiet shock, really.
The second period picked up after morning tea and a few took another 10-15 minutes to settle back into it. Most finished what they could, others got over half way which was still good for this group.
But what it showed was that they felt confident and supported by the technology.
Jump for joy!
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