Ways to Introduce students

A client asked if there was a quick introduction video just for the kiddos (not for teachers) to watch that maybe gives them an overview or a "get started" fun video? If there is something like this, can you send me a link? 

My colleague Suzy responded.
There is not, but i’v had teachers use the video on this page with both parents and students.  It's a different purpose— more of a “rah rah” than how to, but it’s uplifting.

https://www.lexialearning.com/success-stories/testimonials

Most of our teachers use the Teacher Demo and explain the red apple, progress bars, and the rest of the icons.  Hope this helps.  I think Beth is on a webinar right now, but she always has wonderful ideas up her sleeve! She’ll be able to chime in later.

It might be fun to use an interactive white board and have students work through an activity together.

response from Lexia Customer Support. 5/7/2018
Thank you for your question. There are no instructional videos for students, but teachers can certainly use the demo version to walk their students through the program. Core5 also actively explains itself to students as they go along. I have let our developers know that instructional videos for students is a desired feature (JIRA ticket LIM-1707)

Student Conferences Video

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Goal Setting in Student Conferences

Direct Instruction Step

Below is a response from Customer Support. I noticed a student being identified as needing instructor intervention but the detailed skills report only showed 1 time in direct instruction.

If a student enters into Direct Instruction for a second time, and logs out before completing the Unit, the Lesson will be available in myLexia but the yellow circle will not appear in the Detailed Skills Report. When he nexts log in, he will be in Direct Instruction for those Units. Once he completes them, they will appear in the Detailed Skills Report.

Factors related to how student time is calculated in myLexia

This is the customer question:
 I just watched a child finish a session and log out with the red x. However, when I logged into my lexia, he still didn't have any minutes registered under his name. Does this mean if he wasn't logged out properly then the system needs to wait another 30 minutes and will then log his minutes? If his minutes never show up, what could be the problem? 

Lexia Customer Support response:
Thank you for contacting Lexia Learning.  Usage in myLexia is calculated based on students' time actively using the program and appears in myLexia once a student is logged out.  The minutes that appear in the teacher's myLexia usage reports can vary from the timer on the student's dashboard if they spend a few moments clicking the fun facts on the level dashboard or if they time out due to inactivity.  The server is pinged to track student activity whenever a student 1) completes a unit, 2) goes into guided practice, or 3) logs out of the system properly.  Even if they close the browser or the app, Lexia thinks they are still logged in.  If students don’t log out explicitly, the system waits for 30 minutes of inactivity to time them out and consider them logged out.  Minutes are calculated as login to logout - when students time out, their idle minutes are subtracted from the total time.  To see student usage reported more accurately, please encourage your students to log out explicitly (i.e., with the red X until they get to the dashboard; then they can click on the big white X).  You can also recommend that they remain working on a specific activity until they are able to complete a unit.

Core5's Relationship with Orton Gillingham

Here is the way that we usually discuss Core5's relationship with Orton Gillingham: 

Core5 rests on the pedagogy and principles of Orton-Gillingham. The Scope and Sequence provides a systematic and structured approach in all areas of reading including phonological awareness, phonics and structural analysis. While working in Core5, students are placed automatically at the proper level based on their performance and work on developing their fundamental reading skills in targeted activities based on individual needs. Some words often associated with OG include: structured, systematic, explicit, multi-sensory, individualized. Lexia provides explicit, systematic, and scaffolded instruction for students as they struggle and advances them to higher levels as they demonstrate proficiency.

RAPID administration - things I am learning

These administration suggestion were made by teachers:

• allowing teachers to reset only one section if they felt that a student hadn't done their best, 
• increasing the font size, and 
• including guidance that older students may need more than one session for the
  reading comprehension passages.  

Some technical issues that have been reported:

I wanted to let you know that today, while we were administering RAPID to a group of 5th graders, the screen locked up for 3 kids at the same time on the same question. It was a drop down menu. After refreshing the screen, logging out and logging back in, it still would not allow the student to advance to the next question. Any suggestions? 

A possible cause as per Lexia technical support has to do with whitelisting.  Here's a complete whitelisting document.  We've had reports of programs freezing halfway through if some of the content is not fully whitelisted.

NOTE: this is still being investigated as the client does not think this is the issue (9/30/2017)

Another question:

In the first grade, the teachers were wondering about the following results as indicated by the screenshot.  In particular, the student only got 2 questions right and the Lexile level seems to indicate above grade level.  

In addition, she said that per the administration instructions, she gave--pronounced--the words that the student stumbled on and could not be read independently.  The teacher wondered if this would skew this student's results.  

Answers to more administrative questions that were raised:

• We were unsure about the different font sizes for different passages.
  The reading passages for different students (3rd graders) were in different font sizes. Some of our low readers had passages that were in a very small font. It was extra challenging for them. We didn't want to interrupt them while they were taking the test to see if we could adjust it in any way.
  I checked with the RAPID assessment team and the RAPID program.  They said the difference in font size would not be a based on the functionality of RAPID.  They thought it could have something to do with the browser settings and suggested that you may want to zoom in or out using the browser settings.
• Can kids adjust We wanted to know if we could divide the test into sections? If so, do we just X out? Many of our lower Grade 3 readers could not remain focused throughout the entire test. It would be great to be able to do the entire reading comprehension part on a different day, when students are fresh. Is this permitted?
  Response from the Lexia RAPID Assessment team. It sounds like they're asking about spacing out the administration of the tasks. This is definitely okay! Students can complete the Reading Comprehension task on a different day, as long as it's within 30 days of their "first click" (when they first started the test). The order of the tasks cannot be changed, but how spaced out they are administered is up to the teacher.
• If kids do not perform as expected because they were having a bad day, or feel sick, can we retest? Response from the RAPID Assessment Team.  If a student performs worse than expected, we recommend that they re-administer the test in 8 weeks. This allows educators to collect another data point, as opposed to deleting data and potentially getting the same results. In general, a score should only be reset if there are concerns around validity: a student logging in under another name; technology issues getting in the way of testing; etc.

Ways to utilize Lexia Core5 n a Montessori Environment

Below are insights from Lexia facilitators who have worked with Montessori schools.

- Random rotation: Having Core5 as an available center for students to choose supports the philosophy that students should be in charge of their own learning. This is also supported by the way in which students can pick what they work on within Core5.

- Skill Builders: While some Montessori teachers will bristle at what they perceive to be "worksheet" work, it is useful to highlight the fine motor skill development that our Skill Builders offer younger students (cutting, pasting, etc.). This occurs while they are working on vital reading skills.

- Blank Flash Cards: Students can use our resources to create their own flashcards for vocabulary, sight words, etc.

- Accentuate diagnostic reporting over Performance Predictors: In the Montessori model, it may be less important that students meet a particular grade level benchmark. What myLexia's reports can offer is a very clear picture of where the individual student is skill-wise, and what they individually need for support. The program cares about where the student IS instead of where one assumes they should be - and we work in a personalized way from that starting point.

- Mixed-grade classes: The automatic differentiation that occurs within Core5 is something that can work quite well if you've got varying levels of mastery, and grade levels in one classroom.