UTIPs canyonsdistrict.utips.com
How was your overall experience with UTIPS?
Using myutips.com every year has been a great preparation for CRT’s. I would help other teachers set things up. I always had an ice-cream party that went along with the prep time. Last year, I couldn’t figure out the new canyons.utips.com website. I enjoyed learning about how it worked in class followed by my students trying it out the next day. I used the state made pretest for 6th grade science. I was ready with their names in…what I couldn’t get to work was adding students to my test. I emailed Mr. Gordon and he got right back to me with lots of tips. Then it still didn’t work. I gave him permission to use my password to see if he could work it. He has been really busy, so I wasn’t able to take the test in the UTIPS website. Instead I imported the test to Masteryconnect.com and had my students take it that way. I am a fan of UTIPS, but I needed to do this assignment also.
Now that you have data what are you going to do with it (Data Driven Instruction)?
It was great to give this pre-assessment in the fall. I was pleased that they didn’t bomb it completely even though it has hard concepts in it. That meant they could at least be logical. The average was 23.66 out of 45. That is about 50%. This test had questions covering the moon phases, seasons, solar system, universe, heat/light/sound, and microorganisms. All of the questions need teachers to build background knowledge so that it makes sense. Three of the questions need resources to make sure that there isn’t a bias attached to the question. I would need to make sure my students know about camping, headlight shapes, prisms, and telescopes to name a few. The idea is good, but having them experience or see pictures/videos to build knowledge is important. Three of the questions I had to help students because they were missing information. A good look at the test ahead of time would help.
I plan on going through the test with my students. I also plan to use parts of the test as review during the year and not just at CRT time. Being used to how to take a test online is a valuable tool also because they need to learn how to slow down, think, draw or write out their thinking and not be “done”.
Using myutips.com every year has been a great preparation for CRT’s. I would help other teachers set things up. I always had an ice-cream party that went along with the prep time. Last year, I couldn’t figure out the new canyons.utips.com website. I enjoyed learning about how it worked in class followed by my students trying it out the next day. I used the state made pretest for 6th grade science. I was ready with their names in…what I couldn’t get to work was adding students to my test. I emailed Mr. Gordon and he got right back to me with lots of tips. Then it still didn’t work. I gave him permission to use my password to see if he could work it. He has been really busy, so I wasn’t able to take the test in the UTIPS website. Instead I imported the test to Masteryconnect.com and had my students take it that way. I am a fan of UTIPS, but I needed to do this assignment also.
Now that you have data what are you going to do with it (Data Driven Instruction)?
It was great to give this pre-assessment in the fall. I was pleased that they didn’t bomb it completely even though it has hard concepts in it. That meant they could at least be logical. The average was 23.66 out of 45. That is about 50%. This test had questions covering the moon phases, seasons, solar system, universe, heat/light/sound, and microorganisms. All of the questions need teachers to build background knowledge so that it makes sense. Three of the questions need resources to make sure that there isn’t a bias attached to the question. I would need to make sure my students know about camping, headlight shapes, prisms, and telescopes to name a few. The idea is good, but having them experience or see pictures/videos to build knowledge is important. Three of the questions I had to help students because they were missing information. A good look at the test ahead of time would help.
I plan on going through the test with my students. I also plan to use parts of the test as review during the year and not just at CRT time. Being used to how to take a test online is a valuable tool also because they need to learn how to slow down, think, draw or write out their thinking and not be “done”.