Using Read & Write Gold Tools for State Testing Practice The new states testing has introduced some new worries about standardized testing. How are schools going to prepare students for not only the content but the format of testing situation. We are a huge leg up n St. Tammany Parish because of a software tool bar that is available to all students in grades 4-12. This set of tools will enable our kids to become familure with using online tools that are offered in the new states adopted testing. Read and write gold has been available to all students in STP for the past three years. We have had s few technology glitches previously and I think because of that have lost some buy in form teachers– but we seemed to have worked out those issues and Louis remains very committed to keeping the program stable as we reestablish capacity of these tools. Property of Texthelp

If they need it, they should be well practiced with it… “Students should NOT use an accommodation for the first time on a state assessment.” Most importantly, “Students should NOT use an accommodation for the first time on state standardized testing assessment.” Read&Write Gold offers opportunity ensure that your students have many opportunities to practice similar tasks prior to testing using the accessibility features and accommodations that we share with those listed. If they need it, they should be well practiced with it…

Features for all IEP ELL Screen masking Blank Paper Background/Font Color contrast Magnification Dictionary Highlight tool Text to speech for math Notepad Spellchecker TTS (Math) Cut, paste, copy, underline, bold, bullets Line reader tool IEP Extended time Braille Version of test Braille note-taker Closed-captioning Talking calculator Text to speech Speech to text Word Prediction Video instructions ELL Native language instructions (human) Speech-to-text or scribe Dictionary translations to native language Instead of the checklist, I found an easier strategy was simply to go through the list of each groups’ features and record those features that I could think of students in my class needing (not just liking) to use during testing. This helped me to see the features for all students to be included with those for students with disabilities or English Learners. Additional resource at http://blog.texthelp.com/?s=PARCC. Property of Texthelp

Highlighting State Testing Accessibility Practice Using RWG Tools Highlighting is one of the most helpful and versatile tools and all students have access to it. Seen here, this student choose blue to highlight words they needed to look up and yellow for words and phrases need to describe the house pictured. This is the perfect tool for interacting with text which is exactly what the ELA/Literacy assessment asks students to do. Property of Texthelp

State Testing Accessibility Practice Using RWG Tools Suggested Practice: Highlighting I suggest practicing with our highlighters by using a two-column note format to help students get used to interacting with the text in a way they can see the text and respond next to it. The exercise you see displayed was a way to get students to think about their reading by asking questions about it. This is more effective than basic comprehensions questions and it gets students thinking in terms of questions. Students who craft their own questions do a better job of asking, anticipating and answering them. Asking students, in this case, to write 3 questions per paragraph, and then highlight the question and the corresponding information in the same color is the first step in easing students into going back into the text as they will have to do to meet CCSS. Property of Texthelp

ELA/Literacy: Grade 7 Sample Item Claims Earhart and Noonan lived as castaways on Nikumaroro Island. Earhart and Noonan’s plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean People don’t really know where Earhart and Noonan died. This example comes straight from the PARCC sample items. Notice Part A asks students to highlight the claim supported by the most relevant and sufficient facts. Part B asks for two facts within the article which provide the best evidence. Using highlighters to practice this skill is highly recommended. Part A: Highlight the claim that is supported by the most relevant and sufficient facts within “Earhart’s Final Resting Place Believed Found.” Part B: Click on two facts within the article that best provide evidence to support the claim selected in Part A. Property of Texthelp

ELA/Literacy: Grade 7 Sample Item In this writing example, students are asked to write an essay using “textual evidence” and, again practicing with RWG highlighters will help students to identify information they wish to use in their writing responses. Property of Texthelp

Word Choice for Author’s Point of View Example - Finding Specific Examples in the Text to Support Writing Word choice is a frequently tested skill on PARCC. Here is an example where students have been asked to use highlighters to locate words and phrases the author choose to show how the main character felt about the experience described here. Students can then click on our collect highlights button and have these details collected for use in an essay supporting their idea. Property of Texthelp

State Testing Accessibility Practice Using RWG Tools Answer and General Masking Screen Masking The PARCC accessibility features are called Answer Masking and General Masking referring to electronically cover portions of test items, including passages, as needed. The Read&Write Gold tool is called Screen Masking and as you can see from the use here, it can narrow a students focus to one or two of the sample item answers. Property of Texthelp

State Testing Accessibility Practice Using RWG Tools Masking is for help with focus. Suggested Practice: Screen Masking - Focus on text with small print - Mask distractions – many online - Isolate answer choices The screen masking will allow students to choose from various colors for the masking as well as the amount of transparency. Some suggested practices are for students who have a tendency to look away from the screen or are easily distracted. This is especially true for struggling readers. Many documents have small print and screen masking helps keep your place, minimize flashing and changing picture distractions on the internet, in addition to isolating answer choices. When making screen masking very opaque, students can use to self-quiz. - Self-Quizzing Property of Texthelp

State Testing Accessibility Practice Using RWG Tools TTS Text to Speech Read Aloud Tool The next accessibility offered to all students. The Text to Speech tool will be embedded for PARCC math assessments. Read&Write Gold also has a TTS engine we call the Read Aloud Tool and we know students who need such a tool will definitely need to practice with it for reading many subject areas. Property of Texthelp

Read Aloud Tool - Close, analytical reading of text with complexity - Rereading - First time for comprehension Second & third times for central ideas & key details word meaning sentence/idea order author viewpoint With the text complexity that is tested by PARCC, we know close reading requires rereading, with each read uncovering more levels of understanding. First time for comprehension, Second & third times for central ideas & key details, word meaning, sentence/idea order, author viewpoint. The automaticity of seeing and hearing the word at the same time increases sight word vocabulary. - Increase sight word vocabulary Property of Texthelp

PARCC Accessibility Feature for All – RWG Tools Pop-up Glossary Talking Dictionary Another PARCC accessibility feature is the Pop up Glossary in which students will be able to view definitions of pre-selected words by selecting a hyperlink onscreen via a pop-up text box. The Read&Write Gold comparable tool is our Talking Visual Dictionary which will allow students to look up words from basic or advanced definitions and hear each definition read back to them. As each definition is clicked on, a list of appropriate synonyms appears in the column on the right. The biggest challenge is getting studnets to use dictionary in the first place… so helping students develop a habit of using these tools is important. Property of Texthelp

PARCC Accessibility Feature for All – RWG Tools Suggested Practice: Talking Dictionary Using a page of digital text, go through in advance and choose 5-7 important words. The first part of the battle with students is simply getting them to use a glossary or dictionary in the first place. A practice activity which will get students looking for context clues and using our Talking Dictionary is illustrated here. Taking a digital story and, using the Read&Write Gold scanning feature, converted it from PDF to Word. Then underlined and bold the words students would need to know in order to understand the text.

PARCC Accessibility Feature for All – RWG Tools Suggested Practice: Talking Dictionary Using our dictionary, have students choose the appropriate definition based on context clues. Using our dictionary, ask students to choose the appropriate definition based on the contextual evidence found in the text.

Students with Disabilities Now, let’s take a look at just those features available for students with disabilities for which Read&Write Gold has comparable features. Property of Texthelp

State Testing Accessibility Practice Using RWG Tools Word Prediction On ELA/ Literacy Assessment Word Prediction Word Prediction was created for those students who either had physical limitations or could not get thoughts completely to finger tips. RWG alolows students to practice this compensatory skill. Property of Texthelp

PARCC Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Voice Recognition Voice Recognition will be available through PARCC for those who need it. If your students who need it are using a separate program, please know that Read&Write Gold contains Microsoft’s version of Voice Recognition which can be trained to use to meet each individual student’s needs. Property of Texthelp

English Language Learners And lastly, let’s take a look at those accessibility features listed for English Language Learners who can benefit from practicing with similar Read&Write Gold features. English Language Learners Property of Texthelp

State Testing Accessibility Practice Using RWG Tools Word-to-Word Dictionary (English/ Native Language) Single Word Translation PARCC allows for students to use Word-to-Word Dictionary translating English words directly into the student’s Native Language. There is also a single word translation feature which translates words into 4 languages: Spanish, French, German and Italian. Property of Texthelp

Available to every student and teacher district wide Available to every student and teacher district wide. Located on the desktop of students and teachers at log in. Property of Texthelp

Read&Write GOLD vs 11 The Program The Toolbar Literacy Support Software Works with other key programs Microsoft Office Internet/Web Html PDF JPG Many others Supports existing curriculum Customizable to student needs There are six different toolbars Toolbars can be customized May float or be anchored Icons on the toolbar can be resized or hidden

Toolbar Practice Dock/undock (anchor) the RWG toolbar Choose submenu by TextHELP logo: Explore Current Toolbar templates Choose General Options Explore resizing icons Explore adding text labels Explore show/hide icons THINK- Which options will best customize the toolbar for your students?

Speech Green Arrow Speech Options Adapt the pronunciation of words Choice of on screen visual displays Screenshot Reader Speech Maker Daisy Book Reader Pronunciation Tutor Ability to read PDF files Read Dragon Recognized Text Texthelp male and female voices specifically tailored to educational use

Read Aloud Practice Fundamental support feature Builds reading comprehension Speech Options: Adjust voices English – Male or Female Spanish – Paulina Edit pronunciations Highlighting Specify volume of text Adjust for contrast Option to isolate text Open a new Word document Type a short paragraph about yourself Choose Play button to read aloud the text. Open a document written in Spanish Practice using the Play and Stop buttons Choose submenu of Play button to explore options.

Study Skills Highlighting Practice Highlights work in MS Word & Internet Explorer Highlighted info is collected by color, collection time, or position in document Highlighted info can be exported to a new Word document with bibliographical info Bibliography can be in APA, MLA or Harvard format Open a passage in Word or a web page containing text Highlight words or phrases with a commonality and click the color from the Study Skills toolbar you wish to use Repeat the highlight process with at least two colors Choose Collect Highlights from the Study Skills toolbar then click OK Highlighted text is now displayed in a new Word document

Screen Masking Speech Maker Choice of whole screen tint with color overlay or color line to focus reader on line being read Choice of color for whole screen tint with highlight band movement to lines being read Underline width adjusts to help user focus on text Can be used for reading or writing Any digital text up to 20,000 characters at one time can be selected to convert into a sound file such as MP3 or WAV. Allows for voice choice, selection of speed and pitch Helpful for auditory learners, repeated reading, and memorization.

Screenshot Reader Practice Provides read aloud for "locked" files Select any part of screen and text will be read aloud with highlighting. Reads virtually any text including images and Flash and locked PDF documents Converts “screenshot” text to Word document for instructional adaptations Navigate to www.k12.com Open one of the sample lessons and experiment with the screen shot reader. http://www.k12.com/take-a-peek/sample-lessons-k-8/

PDF Aloud Toolbar Practice Plug-in for Adobe Acrobat & Reader Click and speak Hover highlighting Also read PDFs within the web browser Locate a PDF document Use Adobe Reader to open the file Use the PDF Aloud Toolbar to read the file aloud

Dictionary Picture Dictionary Select from Basic, Advanced or Web Dictionary Sample sentences and descriptions included Word and definition are speech-enabled Web = Dictionary.com Works with selected text Works with and enhances existing features Works with clipboard text Requires online connection but gets faster because it caches the images

Translator Practice Select a word within a document or web page Click the Translator icon Hover the cursor over the translations to hear it read aloud Close the translator and re-open it without first selecting a word Manually enter a word for translation English to Spanish Single word translator Paragraph translation Multiple translations Native language vocabulary building

Vocabulary List Builder Using words highlighted words or entering words manually, graphic organizer can be created Columns for vocabulary word, word meaning, symbol for word (if available), and note column Clip art can be added for symbol column Definitions can be modified for context and translations added

Word Prediction Practice Builds vocabulary Learns user word use patterns Phonetic mapping for inventive spellings Grammar indicator Homophone indicator Dictionary lookup Speech feedback Open a blank Word document Click on the Word Prediction icon Begin typing a sentence and note the feature attempting to predict words Select words by using the Function keys Select words double clicking on them Click the Dictionary icon next to a word and note displayed definition

Phonetic Spell Checker Practice Uses a phonetic map Can be speech-enabled Audible definitions & sample sentences Encourages vocabulary development Open a blank Word document Type 2 or 3 sentences with misspelled words Click the Spell Check icon to check spellings Note visual cues in dialog box Click the Play button in toolbar to read aloud content in the Spell Check dialog Click the Change button to replace misspelled words

Talking Calculator Practice Standard & Scientific versions Speech enabled Printable audit trail Undo button 5 memory functions In-document calculations Value converter Click on the Calculator icon Enter and solve an equation Note the audit trail panel Use the Speech menu within the calculator to read the equation aloud Choose the voice Paulina to hear the numerals read aloud in Spanish In a Word doc, convert a unit of measure (e.g. inches to centimeters)